Social Worker, Family Worker; Link – Mid

About the Role

Social Worker, Family Worker (Link Role) – Mid Essex – Permanent, Full Time.

We’re recruiting Social Workers (Link Family Workers) to join our high‑performing Family Solutions team based in Witham, Mid Essex. This is a fantastic opportunity to work within a service described by Ofsted as “exceptional”, delivering early help to families facing multiple and complex challenges. Family Solutions is part of Essex’s Children & Families service, working holistically with disadvantaged families to help them make meaningful and lasting changes.

Salary: £37,185 to £50,081 per annum

Location:

Silver End
Working Style:
Community‑based worker
Closing Date: 29th January 2026

• Act as a source of advice and support for colleagues, including joint visits and joint working on complex cases such as concerns around neglect.
• Support the team to build positive and constructive working relationships with statutory children’s services colleagues.
• Manage your own caseload and assess safeguarding risks.
• Work in partnership with the team manager and practice supervisor to review referrals and support threshold decisions.
• Build strong, trusting relationships with families to promote positive change.
• Provide practical and specialist advice.
• Facilitate complex family meetings and coordinate additional support services.
• Offer emotional and practical support in homes and community settings.
• Work closely with your manager or senior social worker through regular supervision.
• Support the further integration of Family Solutions and Children Social Care as part of the Family First Partnership Programme.

• Support manager and practice supervisor to undertake screenings of new contacts and understand thresholds.
• Determine the direction and actions required to progress cases forward on a day‑to‑day basis, recognising when key decisions need to be referred to the Team Manager or Practice Supervisor.
• Act as a source of advice, guidance and support to colleagues in relation to complex cases, mentoring and guiding alternative qualified colleagues in best practice.
• Undertake holistic assessments of family needs, create intervention plans, and identify how outcomes can be achieved that fully reflect the family and young person’s views and aspirations.
• Facilitate complex family meetings, managing the potentially competing views of families and professionals to find achievable solutions.
• Undertake individual and group programmes of work to enable children and families to develop their skills to resolve issues and problems themselves.
• Provide specific practical, personal and emotional support to families in their homes or other settings as part of an agreed plan to achieve sustainable outcomes.
• Actively participate in regular supervision to review work and ensure effective interventions.
• Embed principles of effective practice in service delivery and collaborate with staff and partners to ensure effective risk management.
• Define specific individual and shared targets and objectives annually within the performance management framework.

• Qualified Social Worker, registered with Social Work England, and post‑ASYE.
• Recent experience in frontline children’s services, completing assessment and managing CIN and/or CP cases.
• At least three years’ experience post‑qualifying.
• Willingness to work towards Practice Educator Qualification.
• Strong commitment to uphold the standards and values of the social work profession.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and commitment to evidence‑based practice.
• Significant practical experience working with families with multiple and complex needs.
• Effective communication, problem‑solving and assessment skills with a demonstrable track record of building and sustaining positive professional relationships.
• Experience of applying a solution‑focused approach and providing practical advice and support to families to enable them to achieve positive and sustainable outcomes.
• Ability to work in partnership with others to maximise outcomes for families in line with the Family Solutions operating principles.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team and to…