Social Worker
Barnardo's Scotland have a fantastic opportunity in the North of Scotland for a Social worker to work across our Fostering and Adoption team.
Join our busy team on a part time (22.2 hours) permanent basis.
Location: The successful candidate will work hybridly, with some travel required across the Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire area and other areas as required. Please also note that some meetings and training occur Scotland Wide, this is often virtual. The Service has an office base in Aberdeen. You will work within a team of supervising social workers, children's workers, therapists, managers, and administrative staff responsible for the recruitment and support of foster carers and adopters who provide care to looked after children and young people.
Some of the key responsibilities are:
- Work alongside others in undertaking assessments, providing supervision, support and advice to carers, being able to demonstrate initiative whilst also being part of a team.
- Ensure that Children & Young Peoples welfare remains paramount and central in all aspects of the service.
- Incorporate the voice of children/young people and carers in all areas of practice
- Deliver relevant training to Barnardo's cohort of foster carers and adopters to the relevant standards on both a group and individual basis.
- Be flexible to respond to the needs of young people, carers and colleagues.
Candidates should be able to:
- Demonstrate both excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience of Fostering/Adoption assessments or similar.
- Have a good understanding of the legislation and National Standards we work within.
- Qualified Social Worker and valid Social Work Registration with SSSC.
- Demonstrable and applied knowledge of child protection and safeguarding procedures.
- Relevant experience in child and families or family placement settings.
- Ability to demonstrate knowledge of therapeutic resources to be able to support adopters and foster carers in challenging circumstances.
- Hold a full UK driving licence with access to their own vehicle or have ability to travel.
Due to a high number of applications for some posts, please note this vacancy may close before the displayed closing date. We recommend you apply 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 require colleagues to be UK residents, based in the UK and to complete their roles from within the UK (with the exception of colleagues providing Barnardo's services in Jersey and colleagues who live in the Republic of Ireland providing services in Northern Ireland)
- 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 Buy Your Leave 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
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:23008
- Job Title:Social Worker
- Location:Barnardo's Scotland Fostering (North) – Aberdeen
- Contract type:Permanent
- Hours:22.2
- Salary:£36,428 - £42,244 FTE (£21,857 - £25,347 pro rata) + £312 Office at Home Allowance per annum
- Closing Date:1 June 2026
- Interview Date:TBC