Social Worker - Family Help & Child Protection | Gateshead

Social Worker - Family Help & Child Protection (Gateshead)

We're recruiting an experienced Children's Social Worker to support both short-term and long-term work across Family Help and Child Protection in Gateshead. This is a varied and rewarding post where you'll work directly with children and families to reduce risk, build safety, and achieve meaningful, sustainable change. Some cases may progress into PLO (Public Law Outline), so confidence in robust decision-making and timely planning is important.
If you're passionate about purposeful, relationship-based practice-and you want a role that genuinely fits your strengths and working style-this could be the opportunity for you.

🔎 The Role: What You'll Be Doing

You'll manage a caseload spanning Family Help and Child Protection, including both short-term intervention and longer-term planning. Your work will be focused on ensuring children are safe, supported, and their voices remain central throughout.
Key responsibilities include:

Undertaking statutory social work with children and families across Family Help, Child in Need and Child Protection
Completing high-quality assessments, analysis, safety planning and SMART interventions
Chairing/attending key multi-agency meetings (strategy discussions, core groups, conferences)
Delivering direct work with children and families to support change and improve outcomes
Managing risk effectively and progressing plans with clear timescales and purposeful review
Contributing to pre-proceedings work and supporting cases that may move into PLO
Producing clear, evidence-based records and reports to a high standard

✅ What We're Looking For

Social Work qualification (DipSW/CQSW/BA/MA Social Work)
Social Work England registration
Recent experience in Family Help, Child Protection (and ideally some exposure to PLO)
Confident with assessment, analysis, safeguarding thresholds and multi-agency working
Able to prioritise, plan and evidence decisions in a busy frontline environment

🤝 Why Work With Me (Davina) & Caritas Recruitment?

When you partner with me at Caritas, you get more than a job search-you get a recruitment approach built around finding the role that genuinely works for you.
What you can expect:

Tailored matching: roles aligned to your experience, preferences and working style
Access to opportunities not on the wider market: I often have vacancies before they're advertised publicly
Honest, upfront guidance: realistic insight on teams, expectations, interview focus and local market conditions
Fast, supportive process: smooth onboarding/compliance support and clear communication
Representation that protects your interests: I'll advocate for what matters to you (role fit, flexibility, start dates)Whether you're looking for a fresh challenge, better balance, or a team where you can thrive-I'll help you get there.

🔍 SEO Keywords

Gateshead Social Worker, Child Protection Social Worker Gateshead, Family Help Social Worker, Children's Social Worker North East, PLO Social Worker, Public Law Outline Social Work, CIN CP Social Worker, Children and Families Social Worker Gateshead, Agency Social Worker Gateshead, Safeguarding Social Worker North East
For more information on this role or for a discussion about opportunities across England and Wales please contact Davina at Caritas Recruitment - Davina.Cripps @ (url removed) / (phone number removed)

Caritas Recruitment is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy