Hammersmith and Fulham is a thriving borough that is always striving to develop and improve. Children’s Social Care was judged ‘Good’ in our last Ofsted inspection and the Youth Justice Service has received an overall rating of ‘Outstanding’ following an inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation in July 2022.
It’s an exciting time to join us with opportunities to work in a range of teams with different specialism.
Our Family Support Services returned inhouse in 2021 to deliver a range of interventions, offering targeted support to ensure families get the right help at the right time and avoid unnecessary escalation into statutory services.
The Initial Consultation and Assessment Team (ICAT) is a unique service offering consultations and advice to partners on any issues, big or small, impacting on the safety and wellbeing of a child.
ICAT has been developed to move away from paper referrals, enabling better communication with referrers and promote better joint-working with professionals.
Our Contact and Assessment Service (CAS) consists of 4 teams leading on initial engagement with families in a respectful and thoughtful way. In 2022 Ofsted recognised exemplary practice seen on this visit with our highly capable social workers working hard to understand parental vulnerabilities and fully consider the trauma adults have experienced while prioritising the need for children to be safe and cared for.
Our Family Support and Child Protection (FSCP) consists of 5 teams working in collaboration with families to address risk to children on Child in Need and Child Protection Plans. Our social workers know their children well, with direct work with children and families being a strength.
Youth Justice Service (YJS) provides services to children in custody, those leaving custody and in need of resettlement services and those given community sentences or similar. The YJS has good relationships with CSC and wider children’s services with weekly multi-agency meetings are held to review children who are moving through the system. This ensures that they receive the right support and step down to an appropriate service
Social workers build strong relationships with children within our Children Looked After Service. Workers can visit children regularly and have opportunities to undertake sensitive direct work that support children as they develop.
Our Leaving Care teams work with young people aged 16 to 25. The service is unique with social workers taking on the role of Personal Advisor. The service supports our asylum-seeking young people and actively involve our young people in developing their pathways. We pride ourselves in the services we offer young people to prepare them for independence. Young people speak positively about their social workers and the support they receive.
Our Fostering Service is shared across the three boroughs, Hammersmith and Fulham, Royal Borough of Kensington and Westminster and is known to efficiently recruit potential carers who can meet the needs of individual children. Support for foster carers is a strength of the service.
The service is responsible for the statutory review of children in care and children subject to child protection plans, and for the quality assurance functions within Family Services. The service includes Child Protection Advisers (CPA), Independent Reviewing Officers (IRO), a safeguarding manager for education, designated manager who deals with allegations against professionals (LADO), Quality Assurance Manager, Family Group Conference Manager, Children’s Advocate, Lead for Child Exploitation and an Independent Reviewing Officer for foster carers (FIRO) (a shared services role across H&F, RBKC and WCC).
The team provide a wide range of services to children and young people with SEN aged 0-25 to secure the best outcomes for them.
H&F is a great place to work with a strong development offer. This includes secondments and specialist training opportunities
All newly qualified social workers will be enrolled into our ASYE programme. We have a well-established offer that supports workers through their first year of employment. You will be offered group and individual reflective supervision and our Practice Development Coordinator assist our workers in the development of the ASYE portfolio.
Social workers are supported to consolidate practice and build their experience. Social workers who are performing well and demonstrate exemplary practice have the opportunity to apply for accelerated financial progress.
Experienced practitioners can apply for Senior Social Worker roles with opportunities to lead on areas of practice. Accelerated financial progression is also available to Senior Social Workers who demonstrate exemplary practice.
Experienced practitioners who want to move into management while remaining in practice can take on Principal Social Worker roles.
Our practice leaders include our Team Managers, who leads teams of up to 8 practitioners. Team managers have a range of opportunities to participate in leadership programmes to develop their leadership and management skills.
