In a move to encourage more people to become social workers, councils across London including Ealing Council have worked together to create a new website for people to find out about opportunities in social work.
The online offering London Social Work for Children features all 33 London local authorities who will be posting their job adverts as well as the site offering more information and advice on careers in social work.
According to London Councils, which is a collective of all London boroughs, there are around 5,600 children’s social workers across London but as support for young people increases, there is a need for more people to join the profession.
Ealing’s own dedicated page on London Social Work for Children site is located at: www.londonsocialworkforchildren.com/our-councils/ealing
By working together, London Councils said in a statement: “Through collaboration, boroughs are determined to reduce competition between one another over children’s social workers and to ensure all London’s services have the staff they need.”
Councillor Ian Edwards, London Councils’ executive member for Children & Young People, commented: “Children’s social workers play a crucial role in supporting vulnerable young Londoners, ensuring they get the care and opportunities they need. It can be a challenging but also an immensely rewarding job. Boroughs want to recruit talented, dedicated social workers who are ambitious for their careers and ambitious for the children and young people they work with.
“Through this new collaborative website, boroughs are making it easier for those interested in opportunities to develop their social work careers in London, as well as supporting our drive as employers to attract and retain the staff we need in our local services.”
Nigel Chapman, workforce policy lead for the Association of London Directors of Children’s Services added: “To achieve our collective ambitions for London’s children, we need our workforce to thrive. Through London Social Work for Children, each borough can celebrate its own unique identity and individual offer to social workers that is responsive to the need in their local area. Allowing each borough to play to its own strengths – while working together as a region as much as possible – helps us deliver better outcomes for all our children.”
