Southampton’s social care reform journey
The national picture
In 2023, the ‘Stable Homes Built on Love’ strategy was published, followed by the November 2024 policy paper ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’. The ‘Children and Well-being Schools Bill’ then put many of these reforms into law.
The factors influencing national social care reform include:
- Working with families earlier to prevent crises
- Improving how agencies work together
- Updating legal practices
- Responding to increasing concerns about children’s wellbeing and safety
- Correcting inconsistencies in care services, which varies region to region
What does this mean for children and young people growing up in Southampton?
What have we done so far?
When Ofsted inspected our Children’s Services in 2023, they rated us as ‘good’ with ‘outstanding leadership’. We saw that change was coming, and we acted. We wanted to transform our service to deliver the best outcomes for every child and young person in the city. So, we took a fresh look at everything from how our teams were structured, how we work together and how we work with our partners, and we improved. We redesigned our social care service and adopted the innovative Family Safeguarding Model approach. This was with one simple aim: to keep families together wherever it is safe and possible to do so.
Ofsted returned in 2024 to inspect how our services are planned and commissioned for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). They returned again in 2025 to carry out a ‘Joint Target Area Inspection (JTAI)’ into how we work with partner agencies. They recognised how “leaders across the multi-agency safeguarding partnership are ambitious for children and families”. They also noted how the improvements delivered a positive impact.
But we are ambitious for our children and young people, so our journey continues.
So, what is next?
Put simply, we need you!
Our ambition is that every child and young person growing up in Southampton should be happier, healthier and safer, with opportunities to grow with the city and raise their own families in the future. And it all starts here.
If you would like to join Southampton City Council and be part of our story, here are some of the roles we are recruiting for right now:
Social workers
We aim for low caseloads, better relationships with children and young people and better outcomes. We believe in work-life balance and supporting our social workers in everything they do. We are looking for talented social workers with a gift for seeing the potential in every child and young person they work with. If you are a social worker looking for promotion, we would love to talk to you!
In Southampton we do not employ staff, we welcome new members to our family.
Read more about our social worker roles.
Practitioners and recovery workers
Family challenges may cause mental health issues, leading to alcohol or substance use, or domestic abuse. Sometimes this results in children living in care. It takes a special person to learn how to manage and overcome their challenges and addiction. Someone with empathy and compassion, who is committed to supporting people. Our teams include adult mental health workers, alcohol and substance use recovery workers and domestic abuse practitioners. They help support the whole family to help families stay together wherever possible. So, if you are looking for a new opportunity, we would love to talk to you!
Read more about how we use the Family Safeguarding Model approach to support families.
Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
We are working hard to deliver the very best experience for children, young people and adults with special educational needs and disabilities. It is something we are passionate about. We have a dedicated team of people who care. It is what makes our service special. We are working with young people to share their voices and experiences. This is to help others realise the potential they have within them and the opportunities available across the city. To help us build on this, and continue to evolve our service, we are always looking for people who have the patience and skill to support everything from speech and language development, through to working with businesses and partner agencies. If you are passionate about working with people with special educational needs and disabilities, we would love to talk to you!
Read more about how we work to support children, young people and families with SEND.
View available SEND roles.
Housing and benefits
We believe a person’s basic right is to have somewhere to feel safe. A place to call home. For the children, young people and families we work with, this is often one of the biggest challenges. It is why we are looking for people with the skills and knowledge to support our teams. Giving people a place to live provides everything from stability and comfort to employment opportunities. Helping children and young people to flourish, adults and families to thrive. If you share our vision and would like to make a difference, we would love to talk to you!
Management
It is not always easy to get into management, but at Southampton City Council, we recognise talent. Nurturing staff, thinking strategically and spotting opportunities to improve are skills we believe give our services structure, direction and purpose. Our management team consists of assistant team managers, team managers, service managers, heads of service and directors. Every voice is heard. If you are looking to take the next steps in your career and think management is for you, we would love to talk to you!
Read more about how we invest in people.