(upbeat pop music)
- [Chipo] What I like most about
working in Children's Services in Southend
is being in Southend.
It's quite a vibrant city,
and I love working with families to support them
in their time of need.
- [Darryl] I personally find Southend a great place to live,
a great place to work.
My work impacts the community I live in,
and I see the real change in the families
that I work with.
- [Ruth] Everyday that I'm working,
I can see that we're making a difference
to the lives of children and families in Southend.
I've had the privilege of seeing our social workers
move into team manager roles,
and we provide all the support that's needed
for your career progression.
- [Darryl] The managers and the teams
are really supportive of newly qualified social workers,
and the training's in place there to help you
each step of the way in your career development.
- [Chipo] The organisational culture here in Southend
is really calm and relaxed.
If you've got a complex case,
it's a really supportive environment.
We've got really good relationships with
our partner agencies, so whenever I have a worry,
I can quickly pick up the phone and speak to someone,
and they'll be able to point me in the right direction.
- [Darryl] I work in a great team, I've got a great manager,
a great support system.
With that support system, we see great results
with the families and children we work with.
- [Penny] There's constant progress, which I like,
and as a social worker, it's really good to know that
you're getting a wide range of development.
- [Tina] I think children's services in Southend
are excellent to work with.
I find them immensely supportive,
they have a great team behind them,
they offer me therapeutic support,
the Educare support,
and somebody's always on the end of a phone call.
- [Michael] We're particularly recognised for our work
with children and people in county lines, drugs, and gangs.
We're always up for new challenges
and ideas from staff in terms of what will help them
to do their job better.
- [Penny] The leadership team are very keen
and interested in new innovations,
and it's really exciting to be part of something
that's improving and moving all the time.
- [Ruth] At Southend City Council,
you'll be provided with the ability to work flexibly,
so you maintain a good work life balance.
- [Chipo] Flexible working is really important to me.
I'm able to kind of start my day off at home,
and then do visits in the afternoon, or vice versa.
Southend is a nice, vibrant city.
I can walk to my visits or take the bus
because of the good transport links.
There's lots of places to go out to eat,
and to decompress after work.
- [Darryl] You've got theatres, you've got parks,
you've got lots of recreational things, good shops.
- [Ruth] We have museums, galleries, music venues,
it makes it a great place to live.
- [Lissa-Marie] As director,
I'm committed to creating a supportive
and nurturing work environment
for our social workers and practitioners.
We will deliver excellent supervision,
a workforce development plan, and manageable case loads,
so you can do the job that you want to do.
- [Michael] We want your innovation, your ideas,
and we want you to join us on this journey
as we improve the services and the offer
to some of the most vulnerable children
and people in Southend.
- [Darryl] The local authority, to me,
is big enough to cope, small enough to care,
and that makes it a great place to work.
- [Chipo] Come and join a very supportive local authority,
who has your career progression in mind.
(upbeat pop music)