Benefits - Children & families
We are committed to attracting new staff and most importantly retaining them. We offer an excellent benefits package that includes:
Competitive salary
The salary range for social workers (from 1 April 2010) is £28,636 - £32,800 (pro-rata for part-time positions).
Progression Scheme
Our excellent progression scheme enables staff to progress through the range and provides our more experienced staff the opportunity to progress to the role of senior practitioner with post qualifying development.
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; the Staff Development Centre is an Assessment Centre for the PQ1 award and is an active member of the West Midlands PQ consortium, leading in PQ development.
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 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 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 workers support group
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender support group.
Regular communication and consultation through:
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Regular team meetings and staff briefings
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A staff newsletter
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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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Flexible working
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Job Sharing
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Supportive Leave
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Workbreaks
Staff Recognition Scheme
We value our staff and recognise the contribution they make; our 'All About You' awards recognise our staff's achievements and we host regular award ceremonies to acknowledge staff gaining qualifications.
Generous Annual Leave
We offer generous annual leave based on length of service and grade. In addition to public holidays, our staff receive two discretionary days a year, attached to statutory bank holidays.
Pension
You will benefit from the opportunity to join our generous final salary pension scheme.
Relocation Allowance
We offer generous relocation allowances up to £7,000 within policy guidelines and at the discretion of appointing officers.
Green travel policy
We are committed to helping to preserve our environment and have a Green travel policy in place. We offer incentives to car-sharers and support to purchase cycles at a reduced cost.
Car leasingand purchase schemes
In recognising that some of our staff need a car to work, we also have a car leasing scheme and can offer help to purchase a car. We offer car allowances as well as mileage payments negotiated with union colleagues.
Other locally and nationally negotiated staff benefits
'youatwork' provides a host of nationally negotiated staff benefits and we will shortly have a child-care voucher scheme in place. We also have agreements for discounts with a large number of local suppliers.
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