Social Worker/Senior Social Worker - Children in Care

Social Worker/Senior Social Worker - Children in Care

Job Location: Cheltenham

This is a Gloucestershire County Council job.

• Job Location: Grosvenor Hall

• Salary: £39,152 - £47,181 per annum

• Hours per Week: 37.00

• Contract Type: Permanent

• Closing Date: 28/06/2026

• Job Requisition Number: 14323

• This post is open to job share

We are currently recruiting for a Social Worker to join our dedicated Children in Care Team in Cheltenham.

Reward and Support

For all your hard work, you will receive the following:

• between £39,152 - £47,181 per annum subject to experience (pro rata for part-time staff)

• £4,000 welcome payment

• £2,000 retention payment

• up to £8,000 relocation package

• flexible and agile working opportunities

• 25.5 days annual leave rising to 30.5 days after 5 years continuous service (pro rata for part-time staff)

• option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year (pro rata for part-time staff)

• family friendly policies and benefits to help support you and your family

• supportive and positive working environment with regular, robust supervision

• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

• access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides free, confidential, counselling and advice for employees, available 24 hours a day, online and by telephone

• an in-house Occupational Health service

• employee discount scheme

• links to employee networks such as Prism (LGBT+) and the Young Employees Network

• career development and qualification opportunities

• access to our Social Work Academy

• Cycle to Work scheme (eligibility criteria and t&cs apply)

• Green Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme (eligibility criteria and t&cs apply)

Please note that all our welcome and retention payments are subject to terms and conditions as well as tax and national insurance deductions

Please note that our relocation policy is subject to terms and conditions

Right child, right support, right time, every time

In our recent inspection in June 2025, our Children's Services have been officially judged as 'Good' with 'Outstanding' elements. Ofsted also said 'Leaders have set out a clear vision for delivering success for children, by modelling values and creating a culture where the workforce, children and families feel valued and heard; risk is managed confidently with bottom lines clearly set out.'

This marks an important step in our journey to improve outcomes for our children and young people, and we remain focused on our mission: to continue building on this success and ensure that every child and young person in our county has the opportunity to thrive.

Gloucestershire offers a range of opportunities to develop your career, supported by a phenomenal Social Work Academy offer, a developing systemic practice methodology, an ambitious leadership team and an award-winning workforce.

We are a local authority adopting, and training all colleagues in, systemic social work practice. If you would like to be part of an authority that takes a relational approach to working with families and focuses on what needs to change in the system around a child and family to enable children to thrive, then consider a role with GCC.

About the team

The Children in Care teams are made up of 5 Social Workers, and an Advanced Practitioner. The teams often have a newly qualified Social Worker, a Senior Social Worker and Experienced Social Workers, so you will always have support around you.

Social Workers enjoy meeting up and sharing their expert knowledge about casework and we make the learning times an enjoyable occasion.

The Gloucestershire Social Work Academy provide many training sessions to increase knowledge and understanding of the specialist work we do, such as Life Story Work for young people, to help them understand why they came into care.

Also, we have team away days to consolidate our learning, and share our expertise throughout the team, as well as weekly team check ins, so that you never feel isolated as a practitioner.

About you

As a Social Worker within our Children in Care teams, you will be instrumental in delivering a first-class service to ensure the best outcomes for the children and young people of Gloucestershire. Through building positive relationships with colleagues within the service and partner agencies you will ensure we are able to provide support and protection for children and young people in need and at risk.

As well as your experience as a frontline social worker, there are some things we require of you to be successfully appointed to this post:

• Social Work England registration

• a recognised qualification in Social Work

• to have passed your Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) if qualified after 2012

• a full driving licence and willingness to drive

• DBS clearance (Enhanced Adult's and Children's)

How to apply

For an informal chat about this role, please contact .

We reserve the right to close an advertisement earlier than the stated closing date if we receive a suitable number of applications.

Interviews are due to take place in person Thursday 9th July 2026

If you would like to find out more about our Children's Service please take a look here: Children's Social Care Careers Careers hub