Benefits - Adult Services
Located in the heartland of Britain and easily accessible from all regions, Staffordshire is a fascinating County, combining natural beauty with a tradition of world-shaping industry.
Find out more here: Enjoy Staffordshire!|||
We are committed to attracting new staff and retaining, and investing in them. We offer an excellent benefits package which includes:
Competitive salary
The salary range for social workers (from 1 April 2010) is £28,636 - £32,800 per annum (pay award pending)(pro-rata for part-time positions).
Appointment salary within this range is dependant on work experience and qualifications.
Practicing practice teachers also receive a payment of £300 per student.
Training & development
Working in an environment committed to continuous improvement you will enjoy exceptional opportunities for learning and development so that you can build on your skills and further your career.
We provide excellent induction, a full range of in-house development opportunities linked to national standards, along with funding for team development and external conferences.
Our dedicated Staff Development Centre provides training, conference and meeting facilities. The Centre is accredited as an Assessment Centre for NVQ awards in:
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Care;
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Management;
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Administration;
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Transport;
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Learning and Development.
We are well respected in the region for our high quality post qualifying opportunities.
We are committed to social care education and are proactive in national and regional learning and development networks. We are represented on the social work programme management boards and selection panels of our local universities. We also manage the Regional Practice Teaching Consortium; a partnership made up of four local authorities and two universities.
As part of a planned programme, we place 70-90 student social workers within the directorate each year. This not only provides the benefit of quality placements for the students but brings fresh ideas in to the directorate as well as providing existing staff the opportunity to re-examine their practice, update their knowledge and develop their skills to act as practice teachers.
Excellent support mechanisms
We have a strong team ethos and have put in place an excellent structure of support for our staff, including:
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Regular supervision
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Annual personal development and performance reviews
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Free staff counselling service
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Regular staff conferences
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Colleague support groups accessible in work-time:
• Black and Minority Ethnic support group
• Disabled Staff Network
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender support group.
Regular communication and consultation through:
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Regular team meetings and staff briefings cascaded through the directorate with feedback to the Leadership team
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A staff newsletter
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Weekly global email updates
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Access to our local intranet
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Annual staff survey
Family friendly policies
We offer a range of policies to enable our staff to achieve a work-life balance. These include:
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Flexitime scheme
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Flexible working
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Job Sharing
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Supportive Leave
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Work breaks
Staff Recognition Scheme
We value our staff and recognise the contribution they make; our staff recognition scheme offers quarterly awards of £50 and we host regular award ceremonies and also acknowledge staff gaining qualifications.
Generous Annual Leave
We offer generous annual leave based on length of service and grade. In to public holidays, our staff receive two discretionary days a year, attached to statutory bank holidays.
Pension Scheme
You will benefit from the opportunity to join our generous final salary pension scheme, which has recently been recognised as the best performing local government pension scheme in the UK.
Relocation Allowance
We offer generous relocation allowances of up to £7,000 for staff moving to within 15 miles of their new work base. In addition lodging allowances may be payable for up to six months to help new staff to find suitable accommodation.
House prices in staffordshire tend to be lower than the national average:
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Stafford: £151,879
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Newcastle (ST5): £135,771
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Burton-On-Trent: £145,738
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Lichfield: £195,773
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Cannock: £131,360
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Tamworth: £145,992
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Leek: £165,747
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Wombourne: £152,571
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National average across England & Wales: £191,438 (These figures are a guideline and are based on semi-detached properties dated: July - September 2008)
Green travel policy
Staffordshire is committed to helping to preserve our environment and have a Green travel policy in place - find out more about our environmental work here|||. We offer incentives to car-sharers and support to purchase cycles at a reduced cost.
Car Leasing & Purchase Schemes
In recognising that some of our staff need a car to work, we also have a car leasing scheme (find out more - Lease Car Scheme brief guide|||) and can offer loans to purchase a car. We also offer car allowances as well as mileage payments.
Childcare vouchers & other staff benefits
'youatwork' provides a host of nationally negotiated staff benefits and discounts including a child-care voucher scheme providing tax relief on childcare costs as well as discounts with major retailers including PC World, Currys, CDWOW and lastminute.com to name a few. In addition, we have agreements for discounts with a large number of local suppliers.
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