Job summary
Are you ready to make a genuine impact in a council where children and the social workers who support them are our top priority?

We are looking for an experienced and skilled Senior Social Worker to join our Family Safeguarding Team as a Parenting Assessor. This is a non-case holding role, offering a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact on childrens lives through focused, specialist assessment work.

Main duties of the job

• To complete in-depth, analytical parenting assessments (including pre-birth), with a clear focus on parental capacity and capacity to change within PLO and care proceedings, and to produce high-quality reports that provide robust analysis and clear recommendations within stipulated timescales.
• Complete additional assessments, such as risk assessments or 'Together and Apart assessments, when required.
• Promote listening to children at every opportunity; ensuring their views are heard, recorded and acted upon in an appropriate and timely manner.
• To coordinate multi-agency contributions to assessment, planning and intervention, working within the multidisciplinary Family Safeguarding Model to drive change and provide effective support.
• Attend Permanency Planning meetings and contribute to the care planning for children.
• Participate in regular reflective supervision, providing analytical assessment findings and recommendations in monthly group case supervisions alongside the allocated social worker and partners.
• To support and mentor less experienced colleagues including newly qualified Social Workers, Family Workers and Social Work Students.

About us
Our Children's Social Care service is proudly Outstanding in all areas - Ofsted, December 2025, with inspectors calling our practitioners effusive about working in Bracknell and praising our highly effective Social Work Academy. Learn what OFSTED say about us here.

We are a small, welcoming and friendly local authority where you will have the opportunity to build strong, positive and supportive working relationships with colleagues and peers with an embedded culture and ethos of bettering vulnerable children's lives. You will experience leaders who are visible, approachable and a service who collectively has unwavering commitment to children.

Job responsibilities
To complete in-depth, analytical parenting assessments, including pre-birth, with a clear focus on parental capacity and capacity to change within PLO/care proceedings and produce high-quality reports with clear analysis and recommendations.
Attending court as required to provide robust and clear oral evidence as part of care proceedings

Please see the attached job description for full details of this role.

Person Specification
Experience
Essential

• At least three years of post qualifying experience within childrens social care that includes extensive experience in complex child protection cases, care planning and legal proceedings.
• Successful completion of the ASYE programme.
• Evidence of relevant continued professional development.

Qualifications
Essential

• Degree in Social Work or equivalent.
• Social Work England registration.

Desirable

• Post qualification - for example: practice educator
• ABE Training
• Motivational Interviewing training
• Age Assessment training Human
• Rights Assessment training
• Parent Assess Training

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).