Our Services
All social work roles in Newham share the same core job description, which explains the key responsibilities involved. Social workers operate in various services within the Children and Young People’s Directorate.
The information below introduces you to our Heads of the Service and outlines the different areas of work and specific requirements.
All of our current roles are listed on our Vacancies page. You only need to make one application, even if you are interested in more than one role – just remember to tell us which services most interest you.
MASH (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) and Assessment Service
Head of Service - Mahfuzul Khan
Our MASH and Assessment services work closely together, ensuring we act quickly and appropriately to ensure the best decisions are made for children and young people.
Our MASH is a single point of contact for all safeguarding referrals. It provides a framework for partner agencies to work together to best support and safeguard children by sharing and analysing information that is held about them.
The MASH aims to provide a proportionate, timely and coordinated approach to children in need and/or at risk in the borough – through collaborative partnership working that places the child at the centre of decision making and ensures the right help is identified at the outset.
The Assessment service has six teams working to ensure families receive timely contact when a referral is made for a statutory intervention. We follow a systemic approach to working with families, listening to children to ensure their needs are at the heart of our intervention. We work with families to deliver timely assessments with clear and meaningful plans to enable positive outcomes.
Please click here to see specific requirements for this service.
Intervention and Safeguarding
Head of Service - Sandra Reddie
Newham’s Intervention and Safeguarding service provides the majority of support for families under Child in Need and Child Protection plans, up to shortly after a child becomes looked after.
Our Intervention and Safeguarding social workers operate in four area teams, giving them the opportunity to become familiar with the schools, health visitors and other community services in their area – and enabling them to build relationships with the partners they will encounter regularly.
Please click here to see specific requirements for this service.
Children in Care, and Leaving Care
Head of Service - Carlos Galaz
Social Workers in Children in Care receive support and supervision from a Practice Leader and work within a close-knit team of five-to-six social workers.
Social Workers in Leaving Care Work with a Practice Leader and four-to-five Personal Advisors, acting as fully qualified support for our care leavers.
We have focussed our resources to support social workers to deliver high quality assessments, plans and direct work to improve the lived experience and outcomes for children. We are committed to a work culture where staff are listened to and engaged with developing a new practice model.
We are providing new learning and development opportunities for social workers to ensure their knowledge and skills, creating opportunities to expand interests and skills further.
Please click here to see specific requirements for this service.
Care Provision and Support (including Fostering)
Assistant Director for Quality Assurance - Victor Cook
Victor is our Assistant Director for Quality Assurance, leading our comprehensive
quality assurance programme, which involves practice-learning conversations, thematic audits, dip sampling, performance dashboards, and ongoing scrutiny of practice.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (0-25)
Head of Service - Alexander Webley
The Special Educational Needs and Disability service bridges social care and education to work with children whose needs require significant additional support. As these needs are not confined to one of these environments, these combined services are able to focus on the child and their family’s needs, rather than trying to address these separately in the school and at home contexts.
Clinical Team
Senior Family Therapist and Social Worker - Philippa Simons
The Clinical Team provides support and expert advice to social care staff in using systemic ideas in their Social Work practice and interventions. All are dual qualified as Social Workers and Systemic Family Therapists who work alongside the allocated social worker and support with group supervsion and case consultation.
This service is fundamental to helping embed the Practice Framework, giving practitioners practical support so that they can learn systemic theory and tools by applying them to their cases in real time.
The Clinical Team is currently fully staffed, meaning all children’s social workers in Newham enjoy access to their expertise and support.
