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Brighton & Hove City Council

A recent staff survey showed that 74 per cent of employees thought we were a good employer, and 87 per cent said they enjoyed their jobs. Like every major city, we do have our share of social and economic problems. These are characterised by high levels of unemployment, especially among young people, as well as crime and homeless issues. We are tackling these problems head-on through regeneration projects and joint working with our city partners.

Employment opportunities

We have posts available in most of our children and families teams, particularly in our duty and assessment team and long-term fieldwork teams. The duty and assessment team is primarily responsible for undertaking initial and core assessments, particularly in cases where child protection concerns exist. Cases that require longer-term involvement are transferred to the long-term fieldwork teams.
These teams focus on providing services for children who are the subject of child protection plans (and their families) and looked-after children. The focus is on ensuring there is thorough child-centred planning for children to return home or settle in long-term/permanent placements. The services also include a dedicated team for young people preparing to leave the care system as well as teams focusing on youth offending and drug and substance misuse. Many of these teams are multi-disciplinary and at the forefront of implementing the Every Child Matters agenda. Family support services are currently being strengthened with a greater emphasis on targeted preventative interventions.

Best practice

We have established strategic priorities, which include working corporately to achieve the best possible outcomes for children and vulnerable adults within our communities. A combined children, families and schools department was established three years ago and the directorate is striving to achieve multi-disciplinary services, delivered mainly by locality teams and operating within new governance arrangements as part of the children's trust. Partnership working with the local health services means some adult social care services are now integrated with the NHS and "hosted" by South Downs NHS Trust, jointly commissioned with Brighton and Hove City Primary Care.

Training and development

All staff have access to a wide range of learning opportunities including
the learning and development guide - an annual programme of tutor-led learning events, the learning resource centre and the managers development modular programme.

Salaries and benefits
 
 - Salaries range from £22,512 to £26,157 (accelerated increments on completion of post-qualification training)
 - Career break scheme, childcare vouchers, flexible hours, help with housing, job share, pension scheme and relocation package of up to £10,000
 - PQ1 can be accessed in the first year followed by accelerated progression M11 £26,703 to £29,004.

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