Barnardo's Adoption North England have a fantastic opportunity for a social worker (including Newly Qualified) to join our busy team on a permanent full-time basis.

Location of Post:  the successful candidate will be on a hybrid contract with an office base in Leeds. They will be expected to work primarily across the region of their office base, however at times may work across the whole of the North of England depending on service need.  Attendance at regular team meetings at the Leeds office will be required.

We are looking for enthusiastic individuals who bring a passion for adoption work and for developing secure permanent homes for children.

Objectives of Service

As an Adoption Social Worker, you will work within a team of social workers, managers, and admin staff to recruit, train, assess and support prospective adopters in the North of England to provide safe, loving and nurturing families for children in need of permanent homes. To work with our adopters, the placing authorities and other professionals to maintain the best quality of service, support and outcomes for children.

Key tasks include:

• Assessment of prospective adopters and completion of assessment reports
• Attending relevant multi agency meetings such as CLA reviews, Placement Planning meetings and panels
• Timely recording and good communication with all professionals involved in placements
• Training delivery in both Group and Individual settings

The post holder will contribute as part of the team to the training and assessment of new carers, and to maintaining the office duty system. After a suitable induction period the post holder will join the Out of Hours support rota. Please note this is not a full job description; other duties and responsibilities are allocated within the team according to experience and particular skills and service need.

Any newly qualified applicants will have the opportunity to complete the ASYE programme. The assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) programme helps newly qualified social workers develop their skills in a supported environment.

How you're supported

During your ASYE you'll have:

• regular supervision
• a protected caseload
• protected time for critical reflection

You'll draw up a personal development plan with your supervisor at the start of your ASYE. It sets out the support you'll get and how you'll be assessed.

The support you can expect to get includes:

• half a day per week of protected development time
• a 10% reduction in workload
• the opportunity to shadow experienced social workers

 

Supplementary Information

A professional Social Work qualification and SWE registration are essential for this post.

The duties of this post require the applicant to have a full current driving license that enables them to drive in the UK and have use of a car and business use insurance. Barnardo's is, however, willing to consider any proposals put forward by applicants that would allow them to do the job by other means.

When completing your application please refer to your skills and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information Document. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

For further information or an informal discussion contact Hayley Hurrell or Lisa Massey on 0800 1577015.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people. 

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. 

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application. 

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

History of Service

Barnardo's is the largest UK children's charity with over 100 years of experience with successfully placing children & young people with families. You will join our Family Placement team which has over 30 fostering, adoption and short break services across the UK.

Our head office is in Barkingside, Essex with branches throughout the UK. The Adoption North England team is part of the wider Family Placement service which also has adoption and fostering services throughout the UK. The Adoption North England team has office bases in Leeds and North Tyneside, however, covers a wide geographical area of North East, Yorkshire and North West areas.

At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

• Reference number:21784
• Job Title:Adoption Social Worker
• Location:Barnardo's Adoption North
• Contract type:Permanent
• Hours:37
• Salary:£35,713.60 - £47,793.20 FTE
• Closing Date:23 October 2025
• Interview Date:13th and 14th November 2025