Shropshire Council to recruit and train eight trainee children’s social workers

People wanting to help make a real difference to the lives of Shropshire’s children and families are being offered the opportunity to become a trainee social worker.

Shropshire Council is taking an innovative approach to addressing the need for qualified social workers by recruiting and training eight trainees.

The successful applicants will get to train on the job, while studying for a degree in social work with University Centre Shrewsbury. Once they graduate they’ll be offered a job as a qualified social worker within Shropshire.

The recruitment will offer people the chance to embark on a new and rewarding career, make a difference to the lives of local children, and also help the council to save money by reducing its reliance on agency workers.

Ed Potter, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for children’s services, said:

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the people of Shropshire to really make a difference to the lives of our local communities.

“We’re taking a really innovative approach to addressing the need for skilled and qualified social workers, ‘growing our own’ and investing in the workforce of the future. We’ll also be investing in the long-term future of the successful applicants, providing them with first class training at University Centre Shrewsbury.”

Karen Bradshaw, Shropshire Council’s director of children’s services, said:

“There is a national issue in recruiting  social workers – there are just not enough being trained to meet the increasing demand for trained and experienced staff. I’m delighted that Shropshire Council has joined forces with University Centre Shrewsbury on this innovative approach to meeting our future workforce needs and ensuring our future workforce is qualified, skilled  and experienced.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for eight lucky people to embark on a career as a children’s social worker and to make a real difference to the lives of Shropshire’s children and families.

“We’re hoping that this opportunity will appeal particularly to local people, who will then opt to stay living and working within the county once they qualify.”

For more information, and to apply, visit the Shropshire Council website at careers.shropshire.gov.uk.

To read some frequently-asked questions  about the recruitment and training please click here.

Applications will close on 5 September [2019] and interviews are due to be held on 17, 18 and 19 September.

Applicants will need to have experience of working with children, and have at least English and Maths GCSE grade C or above, or equivalent.