Job Title: Social Worker – Kinship & Fostering
Hours: 37 per week
Salary: HC8 £36,363 – £40,777 (plus £5,000 market rate supplement per year £41,363 - £45,777)
Welcome payment: £10,000 (see attached guidance)
Relocation package of up to £10,000 available
Contract: Permanent
Closing date: 12/10/2025
Come and join us on our Restorative Journey of Improvement to gain the best for children and families in Herefordshire
Are you passionate about supporting children to remain within their family networks? Do you have a strong background in completing robust, child-centred assessments? If so, we’d love to hear from you!
Herefordshire Council’s Kinship Team is looking for a dedicated Kinship Assessing Social Worker to join our friendly and supportive service. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a specialist team focused on ensuring children can thrive in safe, nurturing kinship arrangements.
About the Role
As a Kinship Assessing Social Worker, your primary focus will be on completing full kinship assessments for Kinship carers. You’ll work closely with families, children, and professionals to explore the suitability of kinship placements, ensuring assessments are thorough, evidence-based, and reflective of the child’s needs.
Key responsibilities include:
- Undertaking full connected persons (kinship) assessments, including viability assessments and Special Guardianship reports.
- Engaging with families in a sensitive and respectful way to understand their strengths and challenges.
- Working collaboratively with colleagues across fostering, and safeguarding teams.
- Presenting assessments to fostering panels.
- Contributing to the development of best practice in kinship care across the service.
What We’re Looking For
We’re seeking a qualified social worker who:
- Has experience in completing assessments, ideally within fostering or kinship care.
- Is confident in analysing risk, attachment, and family dynamics.
- Communicates effectively and builds strong relationships with families and professionals.
- Is passionate about keeping children within their family networks wherever safe and possible.
What We Offer
- A supportive and experienced team environment.
- Regular supervision and opportunities for professional development.
- Flexible working arrangements.
- Access to training specific to kinship care and assessment.
- A chance to make a real difference in the lives of children and families in Herefordshire.
If you’re ready to bring your assessment skills to a team that values compassion, professionalism, and child-centred practice, we’d love to hear from you.
If you would like to know more about the role please don’t hesitate to contact team manager Sarah Gray – [email protected] Herefordshire is on a journey, and we would like you to be part of our next chapter. This is an exciting opportunity to have a genuine impact and help improve and protect the children and young people within the county.
Curious about what it’s really like to be a Social Worker with us?
Want to know what it really feels like to work with our passionate and dedicated Social Work teams? This short video gives you a glimpse into the heart of our service and shows why Herefordshire Council could be the perfect place for your next career move.
https://youtu.be/FSjU-FV5uic
We Offer
A competitive salary, generous holiday entitlement, and access to our contributory pension and staff benefits scheme, which includes:
- Social Worker starting salary: HC8 £36,363 – £40,777 per annum
- Market rate supplement: plus £5,000 per year
- Welcome payment: £10,000 for experienced social workers joining our children’s teams (see attached guidance)
- Relocation packages: support of up to £10,000
- Pension Scheme: Enrolment in the Local Government (LGPS)
- Professional development: protected time and budget to support social workers develop themselves and their careers.
- Career progression: clear pathways to progress to senior social worker level
- Generous Annual Leave: 31 days (pro rata) plus bank holidays. You can also purchase an additional 10 days per annum
- Flexible working: flexi-time, job-share, part-time hours and, in some instances, home working
- Employee Assistance Programme: 24/7 access to support and counselling
- Payment of professional membership fees
- Pick your perks – our benefits include access to a range of retail, leisure, holiday and health benefits. This includes savings, cash back and discounts.
About Us
Herefordshire is a beautiful, historic county located in the heart of the Marches on the border with Wales. We are one of the most rural and sparsely populated counties in England with a wealth of unspoilt countryside, distinctive heritage, and lively and attractive market towns.
Our priority in Herefordshire is to keep children safe and give them a great start in life. It’s the priority for the council, our partners and for all of us who work with Children & Young People.
How do we do this? By having dynamic, dedicated, passionate and professional staff who work in a culture that focuses on what we can achieve with children, what they can achieve themselves, and the relationship we build with families and partners to enable this. We have invested heavily in training and developing staff in our relational practice approach with our improvement partner Leeds City Council, so it's an exciting time to join Herefordshire – we believe in investing in you so you can be the best you can be!
Herefordshire has a really strong team ethos. Our teams are passionate about the work they do and the positive difference they and the teams they are in make to people’s lives. This is all underpinned by the focus and support from their managers and the council as a whole.
We will deliver better support to our most vulnerable children and their families, develop stronger relationships with partners across the region, and beyond.
Therefore, we take our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults seriously and expect all of our staff, visitors and volunteers to share in this commitment.
Come to Herefordshire and join the journey.
Herefordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children & young people and vulnerable adults. If you are offered this position, it will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service enhanced check and further pre-employment checks.
We welcome applicants whatever their personal characteristics or social identity. All requests for flexible working arrangements and reasonable adjustments will be considered.
The following candidates will be interviewed if they meet the essential criteria for the post they are applying for:
- Those who indicate that they have a disability. This is part of our commitment to the “Disability Confident” scheme;
- Those who indicate in their supporting statement that they serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, or their families. This is part of our pledge to support the Armed Forces Covenant; and
- Those who indicate in their supporting statement that they are a Herefordshire care leaver. This is part of our commitment to supporting young people leaving our care.
Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for more details of this role.
To apply, please submit your CV and complete the supporting statement within the application form, referring to the job description & person specification, detailing how you meet the specific requirements of the role.
If you would like an informal conversation to discuss the role, please contact Sarah Gray (Kinship Team Manager) on [email protected] and we can then arrange to time to speak.
Please note: the council is currently unable to offer overseas visa sponsorship for Social Worker roles in Children & Young People. Overseas prospective candidates that require sponsorship to work in the UK should not apply for these roles. We appreciate your interest in Herefordshire Council and would encourage you to consider other opportunities with us that may be open to sponsorship. A full list of current vacancies can be found here: https://spiritofherefordshire.com/children-young-people/jobs/