Social work
Southampton Children’s Services are judged good by Ofsted: ‘All aspects of the service are now at a good level and are continuing to improve.’ Our children’s social care workforce is nearly fully permanent, but we have a small number of social work and management roles across the service. If you are a qualified social worker or psychologist and are interested in joining us, please see our current vacancies or find out how we’re making Southampton among the best places to practice social work.
Social work is a challenging but emotionally rewarding career. It is a vocation for people who care, who strive to improve the lives of adults or children and who are dedicated to working together with colleagues and partners to provide a brilliant service.
In Southampton we are a family of social workers, practitioners, managers and leaders. We believe in building thriving teams and services where practitioners feel safe, supported and inspired to be their very best. ‘Practitioners are supported by energetic and responsive frontline managers who maintain clear, confident and close oversight of children’s progress’ (Ofsted July 2023). Social workers in Southampton play a leading part in delivering effective front-line services that safeguard the welfare of the most vulnerable children, young people and adults in Southampton.
In 2024 Southampton’s Children’s Services implemented the innovative Family Safeguarding Model approach to working with children and families. This is with the sole aim of helping families to stay together wherever possible. Later that year we were shortlisted for the prestigious Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Workforce Awards. This was in the ‘Best Innovation in Recruitment’ and ‘Best Innovation in Retention’ categories as well as the highly sought after ‘Best Place to Work’.
Our work is not done. Our aim is that every child and young person growing up in Southampton should have a good start in life.
