Our Services within Children Social Care
We have committed to a restorative and trauma-informed practice approach to delivering Children’s Social Care, reflected in the way we work with each other and our internal and external partners. Our ambition is to develop and deliver outstanding services that will achieve the best outcomes for all of our children and for those most vulnerable, including children in need and those looked after.
Social Workers within Children’s Social Care at Sutton ensure that children are appropriately safeguarded through the application of robust assessment, thorough planning and through the coordination and execution of interventions necessary to meet the identified needs.
Service Managers and Team Managers within Children Social Care have oversight of all cases and ensure the quality of statutory responsibilities including that of assessment. They are responsible for assessing the quality, compliance and effectiveness of all Child in Need work, Child Protection work, Pre-proceedings works (PLO) and Court work.
Roles and salaries within the Service
We have a range of jobs available within Children's Services, including social work and other qualified roles.
Some of these roles and their current salaries are outlined below:
- Specialist Support Workers (inc. Personal Advisers) (Grade 7) - Up to £44,019*
- Parent Locality - Contact Referral Information Officers (Grade 7) - Up to £44,019*
- Newly Qualified Social Worker (NQSW) / Social Worker (Grade 8) - Up to £49,083*
- Team Manager, Child Protection Chairs (CPO) / Independent Review Officers (IRO) (Grade 9) - Up to £56,172*
- Service Managers / Service Leads - Up to £66,156*
* Unconsolidated maximum through performance related progression.
Children's Social Work Recruitment and Retention offer
- Welcome Bonus* of £1,000 paid in your first month salary.
- Retention Bonus* of £1,000 for your first completed year of service, £2,000 for your second completed year of service, £3,000 for your third completed year of service and each year thereafter.
- Reimbursement of SW England renewal fees*
- Supplementary Annual Leave* of 1 extra day per year up to a maximum of 5 days, giving a total annual leave entitlement of up to 32 days)
* Eligible to Social Workers, Team Managers and Service Managers on a starting salary of £40,833/scale point 30 and above.
General Social Care Benefits Offer
Our general benefits offer for all social care employees includes:
- Discounted car-parking permit during working hours at Gibson Road Car Park, Sutton*
- Fuel allowance
- Use of Zip car scheme
- Subsidised gym memberships
- Discounts in local shops
- Season ticket loan
Family Support and Care Planning
Locality Teams
We have 3 Locality teams in Sutton (Red East, Blue Central, and Green West).
Our Locality teams are staffed by family support workers, social workers, and managers. The teams work within specific local areas to provide consistent social care support to children as well as young people who are living at home with a child in need or a child protection plan. We take a restorative practice approach - working collaboratively and in partnership with children, young people, and families to develop action plans that address both the presenting concerns and the underlying difficulties. The teams work with multi-agency professionals, so that children and their families receive the right service from the right person at the right time.
We are committed to working in partnership with the family and their network to form robust assessments and SMART planning that support children and young people to achieve positive outcomes within their families and communities.
Court and Adoption Service
The Court Team works with children, young people, and their families when a decision has been made to begin legal proceedings. They are responsible for leading on the analysis and decision making regarding the care planning for children and young people, and making decisions to court regarding long term permanence arrangements. They progress all directions outlined within the Family Justice legal framework and those associated with permanency planning for children.
For those small numbers of young children where the court determines that adoption is in the child’s best interest, the court and adoption service will subsequently work with adoption colleagues to identify forever families for these children
Corporate Planning
Children Looked After (CLA)
The Children Looked After (CLA) Team works with children and young people whose long-term or permanent plan is to be looked after by the Local Authority for the duration of their childhood. Social workers ensure that children in our care are regularly visited and have robust care plans. Where appropriate, children will be moved into adoption or become subject to special guardianship or residence orders.
Leaving Care Team (LCT)
The Leaving Care Team works with young people between 16 and 24 years old who are or have been looked after by the local authority, or are unaccompanied young asylum seekers who fall within the Hillingdon Judgement. Social workers support young people under the age of 18 years and Personal Advisers support those over 18. The Leaving Care Team are co-located with Integrated Youth Services based at the Quad site in Carshalton.
Special Guardianship Kinship and Permanence
The Special Guardianship, Kinship and Permanence team assess Regulation 24 foster carers (connected persons) and provide special guardianship assessments to the court. This social work team also supports children and families post special guardianship.
Fostering and Placements Team
The Fostering Team provides placements for children who cannot live with their birth families. The core tasks are to recruit, assess, and approve foster carers, as well as supervise and support them to enabling carers to provide high quality care for our children. The team consists of Supervising Social Workers and managers. Our Placements team supports the wider service by searching and securing fostering, residential and semi-independent placements for children in our care and supporting placement stability through regular communication with our placement providers.
Children’s First Contact Service (CFCS)
CFCS is the front door for referrals of children from pre-birth to 18 years old. We work with professionals from a range of agencies to share information and make evidence-based decisions. We safeguard children, promote their welfare, and ensure they receive the right help at the right time through:
- early interventions and prevention
- safeguarding and child protection
- early support for children with disabilities
Jobs in this service include:
- contact referral information officers (CRIO)
- Social Workers
- Team Managers
- Service Managers
Children’s Emergency Duty Team (CEDT)
CEDT responds to out of hours referrals made when it is not safe, appropriate, or lawful to delay intervention in order to safeguard a child in need or at risk.
The team also handles referrals that are not assessed as emergencies but where delayed intervention could harm the welfare or safety of a child.
Jobs in this service include:
- Social Workers
- Team Managers
- Service Managers
Children and Young People’s Service (CYPDS)
The Children and Young People’s Disability Service (CYPDS) supports children with complex social care needs and when concerns about parenting or high risk activity of a young person have been identified.
We provide a full statutory social work service and an allocated social worker. Specialist support workers (SSW) complete Early Help Assessment Tools (EHAT) for children who have been referred for short breaks. They work with children who are within Tier 2 of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children's Partnership (LSCP) Multi-Agency Threshold Guidance.
CYPDS jobs include:
- Service Manager
- Team Manager
- Specialist Support Worker
- Send Support Coach
Targeted Early Help & Integrated Support
Sutton Youth and Justice Service
Sutton Youth Justice Service is a multi agency service consisting of staff from a range of organisations. This includes a number of LBS employed staff, including Social Workers, Specialist Support Workers, an RJ Coordinator, Victim Liaison and Reparation Coordinator, and Education Worker. There are also seconded and commissioned staff from the Police, Probation and Health (School Nurse, Speech & Language Therapists, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Clinician).
The service supports young people aged between 10 and 18, their families, and other relevant professionals to offer:
- Supervision to young people involved in the Criminal Justice System with the aim of reducing their risk of offending and helping them to lead an offence-free life
- Preventative and diversionary work for children at risk of becoming involved in offending
- Support to victims of youth crime
Adolescent Team
The Adolescent Team is a small team that works intensively with children and young people deemed at risk of entering care or becoming victims of child exploitation (i.e. sexual or criminal exploitation). All the children the team supports are deemed children in need or are subject to child protection plans and therefore also open to a social worker.
The staff are all Specialist Support Workers who are trained in restorative and trauma-informed practice, as well as CBT approaches. Staff support both young people and their families, with the aim of keeping young people safe and living at home with their families. The Specialist Safeguarding lead also sits amongst this service. They are responsible for leading the support for children at risk of exploitation and supporting the Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) panel.
School Team
The School Team is another small team consisting of Specialist Support Workers who are based in mainstream secondary schools across the borough. The staff work intensively with children who have been identified by their school as being at risk of permanent exclusion.
Targeted Early Help
The Targeted Early Help Service delivers whole family support to children aged 0-18 years (25yrs with a disability) who have complex or persistant needs. These children are deemed to be at Tier 2 of the LSCP Threshold Guidance. To be eligible for Targeted Early Help support, families must be assessed to meet at least three Supporting Families criteria. Families will be allocated a Specialist Support Worker who will complete an Early Help Assessment Tool (EHAT) with the family and formulate a plan of support.
Therapeutic Hub
The Therapeutic Hub is a multi-disciplinary team of therapeutic workers that are based within Sutton Children's Social Care, although it operates independently of the social work teams. Hub practitioners work together to try and support the children and families that are open to social care. Short-term interventions can be provided to children and families but the Hub also works with the professionals who are involved with families to make sure that they too understand and are supporting families in the best way. The work of the Hub consists of four key components:
- Consultation and advice to staff working with children and young people; including supporting and upskilling the CSC workforce through both training and tools.
- Supporting parents and carers to manage the complex needs of young people, in the guise of direct work, training or psycho-educative support.
- Direct work with the child/ young person and/or their families.
- Restorative/Reflective Group Supervision for staff and individual clinical supervision when required.
Willow Rise Residential Services
Willow Rise Residential Services is a provider of residential care to children who are looked after by the local authority. The service currently operates three children’s homes in Sutton. The Residential Manager oversees the operations of the home(s) and is supported by a number of Deputy Managers, Lead Care Coordinators, and Residential Care Support Workers.
Quality Assurance, Performance & Practice Team
Quality Assurance
The Quality Assurance Team executes the Quality Assurance Framework for the Directorate, working with Children’s, Adults, and SEND. This framework comprises of audits, and business activities with which to gather evidence and assess the quality of services provided. The team ensures learning is taken forward from activities into actionable recommendations after each audit cycle, and presents regularly to SMT. The QA Team also does discrete project work across the directorate where required.
Safeguarding
The Safeguarding Team delivers primarily statutory work. It includes a range of roles: Independent Reviewing Officers, Fostering Independent Reviewing Officers, Child Protection Chairs.
Data
The Data Team provides regular data reports to senior leaders in the People’s directorate. The team also responds to data requests at all levels of management in both Adults and Children’s Social Care. The Data Team also provides insight into data to management. The team consists of Data and Insight Officers and Analysts.
Business and Professional Development
The Business and Professional Development team is responsible for the Learning and Development programme delivering a comprehensive range training opportunities. .
The management of Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) also sits within this area, and delivers a range of functions including working with the Partnership and coordinating Multi-Agency Safeguarding Quality Assurance activities.
