Benefits of working for us [DRAFT]

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Training offer

Merton has an extensive training offer and plan programme. There are core models for both practitioners and managers and our offer is further extended to more specialist and accredited training opportunities. Matched with online platforms such as RIP, we are passionate about supporting your development and awareness and we can offer direct support to consider career progression and your continued professional development with us. We have invested in a specialist learning platform and we also buy into bespoke training packages to enable us to support our continued commitment to you and to provide relevant and current training opportunities for benefit of our service provisions and to enhance the expertise for our staff.

Learning and development

Merton offers a comprehensive training package to all the staff working in children’s Social Care and Youth Inclusion. We have a workforce and practice development team that coordinates your training and development needs. We provide you with a range of learning opportunities that includes short courses, reference materials and sponsorship for accredited learning. We will help you to build on your knowledge and skills to guide you through your social care career. We are committed to supporting you in your continued learning and development aspirations.

Our academic partners are:

• Kingston University through our membership of the Developing Together Teaching Partnership.
• Royal Holloway University of London through our Step-UP to Social Work programme and also for their Post Qualifying Social Work modules.
• Lancaster University who provide the academic teaching to our Frontline Participants.

Our leaning and development opportunities are constantly reviewed based on feedback from our staff and collaborative audits. We aim to offer you what you need so that you can follow your chosen career pathway.

• You can book onto a range of short courses using our CPD platform. This enables you to capture the detail of your training for your continuing professional development and Social Work England registration purposes. 
• We have a strength based practice model. We know that you’ll come to us with expertise. We build on that by offering comprehensive training in both Signs of Safety and Systemic Practice. Our Practice Lead is available to support you in your learning before and after you’ve attended formal courses.
• Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) Programme. We offer support, guidance, dedicated workshops and action learning sets for our newly qualified social workers. Your caseloads are protected to allow you time to develop your knowledge and skills.
• Regular in-house workshops are available for practice educators, student social workers and ASYE assessors.
• Sponsorship for Accredited Modules at our partner universities. Our permanent staff can apply for sponsorship for a range of post-qualifying modules including a systemic practice foundation year and practice educator professional standards (PEPS).
• Management and Aspiring Managers Offer. We want you to stay with us so our development offer includes opportunities for experienced social workers who are or who wish to be managers. You’ll be offered advanced Signs of Safety training so that you can support your staff to develop their skills. Our managers have been able to access management modules at Kingston University, ‘FirstLine Managers’ module, the staff college Black and Asian Leaders Initiative, Leaders for London, and the Practice Supervisors Development programme. We will continue to explore possibilities for opportunities that we can offer to you.
• Research in Practice Licences are available to all our staff. This gives you access to reference material, virtual training events and recorded podcasts.   
• Reference Materials from our social work library are now available in the Morden Public Library with books available on a click and collect basis and a wide range of e-books for you to loan for us.

Competitive salary ranges

• Social Worker pay ranges from £34,209 to £38,883 per annum
• Experienced Social Worker pay ranges from £39,867 to £42,855 per annum
• Consultant Social Worker pay ranges from £42,855 to 45,834 per annum

Other benefits

• Annual leave of 26.5 days rising to 31.5 days after 5 years continuous local government service
• 'Golden hello' payment of £1,500 for qualified social workers starting in Help and Family Assessment and Family Support and Safeguarding
• Essential user car allowance - £963 per annum, plus mileage and car park permit
• Retention payments for social workers who remain in a qualifying team for the agreed periods. Current scheme is to pay £1500 in June 2021 to those who have worked in a social work post in an eligible team between 1^st March 2020 and 31^st May 2021 (and remain in post until 31^st August 2021). Those staff who have 3 years+ service in a qualifying post will also receive a top up bonus of £1000.
• Funded systemic social work postgraduate university course and relocation packages available for successful candidates who meet our eligibility criteria.

Supervision and support

We value our staff and appreciate the hard work they do and difficult and challenging situations they manage on a daily basis. We have regular supervision, which includes individual and group supervision for staff so we can talk about personal career development and case management. We also use this time for reflection and enable our staff to speak to a manager with trust and confidence.

Employee assistance programme

An employee assistance programme (EAP) is a confidential employee benefit designed to help you deal with personal and professional problems that could be affecting your home life or work life, health and general wellbeing. Our EAP service provides a complete support network that offers expert advice and compassionate guidance 24/7, covering a wide range of issues.

Discounts available to staff

There are a range of discounts available to staff ranging from hair and beauty, leisure centres and an employee discount scheme.

Career development – what to expect

Progression table for social workers i.e. SW PO1 up to £37k

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