Assistant Care Manager

Working for us at West Sussex County Council is all about making a positive difference to the people of West Sussex. This is a great opportunity for you to join us as an Assistant Care Manager. You will act alongside our social work and health care colleagues responsible for delivering a statutory social work service to adults in the locality of West Sussex.

Salary: £23,194 - £27,852
Working Pattern: 2 x Vacancy at 37 hours a week & X1 Vacancy at 27 hours a week
Contract Length: Permanent
Location: Office base is Durrington (BN12 4SE) but the roles covers Littlehampton caseload.

In this exciting opportunity, you will, under guidance and regular supervision, provide a social care service to those people who access or need the service to include assessment, planning and review within the Supporting Lives, Connecting People framework. You will lead on a challenging portfolio of casework, attending multi-disciplinary meetings, working in partnership with our Health, Community and Third Sector colleagues. You will have access to professional social work colleagues or a manager for advice and guidance on unusual, complex or difficult problems.

You will have an opportunity to progress to Assistant Care Manager - Grade 7 after completion of 12 - 24 months service at Assistant Care Manager – Grade 6 and a formal assessment by the Team Manager that evidences the ability to work at the higher grade.

There will be some requirement to work flexibly out of office hours to assist customers, carers and families, and you will be required to travel throughout the County including to locations that are not always easily accessible by public transport.

What you’ll need to succeed
For this role, you will be required to assess, plan, implement and monitor support packages in accordance with statutory requirements and departmental procedures. You will be required to use your initiative where appropriate, utilising good support and supervision. An awareness of the policies, practices and procedures in relation to Social Work and a good understanding of the role as part of the wider community and voluntary sector is required. There is a requirement to have good up-to-date working knowledge of legislations relevant to the specialist area of the post. Demonstration of good resilience is required as you could have exposure to challenging behaviours from people who access or need the service.

Experience and Skills

Required experience and skills
(These will be used as the shortlisting criteria)

Key Skills:
1. Ability to analyse and interpret information and prioritise needs in order to make recommendations/decisions which will have a positive outcome.
2. Ability to work independently and as part of a team, working under pressure and to tight deadlines.
3. Ability to work in a multi-agency environment to deliver a service to those people who access or need the service.
4. Ability to communicate complicated or sensitive information, both orally and in writing, to a range of audiences to achieve positive outcomes; to be able to communicate clearly with customers, reflecting the service objectives and standards.
5. Sound and accurate IT and keyboard skills.
6. Ability to recognise the limits of own accountability and responsibility, and to seek appropriate support, advice and supervision.

Key responsibilities
Deliver a professional service and operate in accordance with Social Work England Codes of Practice.
Assess, plan, implement and review packages of care and ensure the effective implementation of departmental policies and procedures in accordance with statutory requirements.
Develop a good knowledge of all relevant services in the area and establish rapport with key partner agencies.
Provide advice and guidance to those people who access or need the service. This may include participating in an access point/duty system under guidance.
Maintain accurate records of all work undertaken and produce reports and correspondence for a variety of audiences including meetings, conferences, court, panels and other agencies.

Manage a challenging portfolio of casework, attending multi-disciplinary meetings and working in partnership with our Health, Community and Third Sector colleagues.
Responsible for the care of, accuracy, confidentiality, security and maintenance of all individuals’ records and related manual and/or computerised information, including highly sensitive and confidential adult/child protection issues.

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do.

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

Thereference number for this role is CAFHE04287.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Ellen Munkley at Ellen.munkley@westsussex.gov.uk or on 0771 3822687 For issues or queries regarding your application please contact hrrecruitment@westsussex.gov.uk.

To apply, upload your CV and complete the application explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran’s Guaranteed Interview Scheme, this can be found on our application help page.