Job summary
- Main area
- Learning disability
- Grade
- Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (office hours)
- Job ref
- 350-SC7181726
- Employer
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Greater Manchester Specialist Support Team
- Town
- Eccles, Manchester
- Salary
- £37,338 - £44,962 per annum/ pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 18/05/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Senior Social Worker
Band 6
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Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
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Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen to recruit two Band 6 (2.0 wte) Senior Social Workers to join an established team within the Greater Manchester Specialist Support Team (GMSST), which provides a service across Greater Manchester to service users with a learning disability and/or autism who present with risk of hospital admission, placement breakdown or forensic risk.
The service is very supportive of training opportunities to ensure that we continue to be aware of new developments which can be adapted and developed to support our service users. There are frequent opportunities to input into GM SST service development initiatives and represent the team in GM-wide projects.
You will receive regular supervision from a Highly Specialist Social Worker in the Specialist Support team and will also have access to direct and peer supervision across the Secure Division and from members of the multi-disciplinary team.
Main duties of the job
The post will be as part of the Greater Manchester Specialist Support Team (SST) based in Eccles. The GM SST is a multidisciplinary team consisting of Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Social Work, Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy, and Support Workers. You will be expected to work in all areas of Greater Manchester and liaise with the local Learning Disability, Mental Health and Autism services to develop proactive and preventative risk mitigation support, as well as discharge support for current inpatients.
You will have the opportunity to work within a team of skilled experienced social workers who have developed a core and specialized role within the wider team. You will provide specialist knowledge of Care Act assessment, Mental Capacity Act assessment and safeguarding to support colleagues across inpatient and community services.
GMSST aim to reduce risk of unnecessary hospital admission and facilitate discharge (from acute and secure settings) at the earliest opportunity and reduce restrictive practice where possible.. We also offer advice and consultation and training to external agencies.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
See job description and person specification for more detail.
To provide a specialist social worker role into the Greater Manchester Specialist Support Team; supporting people with a learning disability and / or autistic people who are at risk of hospital admission, placement breakdown or criminal justice system contact.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Degree in Social Work or DipSW or CQSW
- Current Social Work England registration
- Post-qualifying training (formally or work based) in relevant areas of social work and/or mental health, learning disability or forensics
- Evidence of significant continuing professional and personal development
Desirable criteria
- additional relevant qualifications
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Legislative Framework
- Health Act. 1999, National Service Frameworks, Mental Capacity Act (2006), Mental Health Act 2007
- Underpinning Knowledge and Understanding requirements of relevant legislation, Childcare legislation and criminal justice system, Care Programme Approach, Social work models in forensic work, Drugs, alcohol and substance misuse, Interaction between learning disabilities and offending behaviour within a family and social context
- National and local policies
- Models of risk assessment and risk factors and management, Financing of community care
- Housing and welfare provision, roles, responsibilities of other agencies, Learning from enquiries’ reports, Role of Mental Health Review Tribunals, Victims
- Theoretical models of forensic social work/forensic psychiatry/forensic psychology
- Significant Post Qualification experience
Skills
Essential criteria
- A demonstrated understanding of Equality and Human Rights
- Ability to work in a multidisciplinary setting.
- Ability to apply social work practice in the framework of a nonmedical model.
- Complex Risk Assessment & Complex Risk Management skills
- Recording and preparing assessment and Mental Health Review Tribunal reports
- Ability to travel nationally at short notice to complete assessments and visit families
- To be able to practice as an autonomous professional
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Patricia Matapo
- Job title
- Highly Specialist Social Worker
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0161 383 4460
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