Principal Social Worker posts created
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
17/06/2008
New position created
Brand new principal social worker posts have been created as Hammersmith & Fulham Council pulls out all the stops to retain, quality and experienced staff.
The new post provides a career grade for retaining experienced practitioners and forms part of the reorganisation of the council’s complex needs division.
Cllr Antony Lillis, Cabinet Member for Community and Children’s Services, said: “The recruitment climate for social workers across the country, and particularly in London has been very difficult for a number of years. There has been a heavy reliance on young social workers just starting out in London, who generally gain a little experience and then move on to boroughs outside the city centre. There has also been extensive use of social workers from abroad and those employed through recruitment agencies, neither of whom provide a long-term service.
“As a result, the council has put in place a career structure to enable it to recruit and, retain, quality and experienced staff. This is an excellent example of H&F being a borough of opportunity in terms of recruiting and retaining high calibre staff.”
As part of the new role, there will be scope to provide mentoring for less experienced staff, undertake the supervision of social work students and develop areas of special interest that can be called upon as a resource by other team members e.g. domestic violence.
Principal social workers are expected to be able to work with the most complex cases within their particular area. There is provision for one post per team – a total of 24 across the complex needs division. These are not additional posts and can only be filled when a team vacancy becomes available. Appointment is by interview, through the normal recruitment process.
Cllr Lillis, added: “These new roles will enable the council to provide the right staff at the right time to support vulnerable children and to maximise their life chance. The consequences of these children not receiving appropriate services can be very expensive for the borough, both in human and financial terms, so the more we can improve social care practice, the better it is for all concerned.”
The new post will be officially launched on Friday 20 June at the Playfair Room, Hammersmith Town Hall, from 12 noon to 2.30pm where a presentation will take place to recognise for the first group of principal social workers appointed within the new structure. In attendance will be Cllr Antony Lillis, Andrew Christie (director), Andy Ferguson (assistant director), principal social workers and senior managers.
Prospective employees wanting to know about social work within H&F should contact Kati Maskell, principal recruitment and workforce planning officer on 020 7853 3666. For the social work graduate trainee scheme (which is full for this year) the contact is Doreen Brown, principal learning and development advisor. She can be contacted on 020 7853 3974.
