Starting a social care career

A career in social care is one that you will find challenging and rewarding.

Social care has many job roles, depending on what interests you, who you want to work with and where you want to work. We can guarantee that no two days will ever be the same.

Further information on the types of careers available can be found on the Skills for Care website.

Becoming a social worker

The role of a social worker is to support and protect vulnerable children and adults, their families, carers and communities. The work focuses on helping individuals to maximise their potential within society.

Depending on your role, you will work with: 

  • vulnerable adults or children
  • older people
  • people who have a disability
  • people who have a physical or mental illness
  • children we care for
  • children who have emotional or behavioural needs.

You can find out more from the national careers website

Social work training

There are several routes to becoming a social worker in Oxfordshire:

  • Undergraduate or post-graduate (for those already holding an undergraduate degree) Social Work degrees.  Contact your local university for more details and entry criteria. You may be eligible for a social work bursary to help with living costs and tuition fees.
  • Social Work Degree Apprenticeship (see below for more information) 
  • Graduate training schemes. For those who hold a suitable undergraduate degree, Oxfordshire County Council offers two fast-track postgraduate routes into social work (Frontline and Step Up to Social Work – see below for more information) .

Social Work Degree Apprenticeship

This trainee role involves completing a Social Work Degree Apprenticeship over three years, while learning and studying alongside gaining practical work experience. The apprenticeship is a full-time post (this is a requirement of the apprenticeship), with one day each week attending university to complete an honours degree.

Eligible applicants must have:

  • a qualification in both Maths and English at level 2 (GCSE grade C/4, O-Level C or Functional Skills at L2) - You must have the original certificates for these qualifications and provide clear scanned copies of these with your application form as part of your cover letter. We cannot progress applications without these. 
  • been resident in the UK for at least three years

Successful candidates must pass both our recruitment and selection processes through Buckinghamshire New University. This includes interviews, a written task, a Disclosure and Barring Service check and an occupational health check. 

Buckinghamshire New University run virtual briefing and Q&A sessions, through MS Teams, for interested applicants. The next briefing will be held:

7th April 2024, from 10am – 11:30am,  join the meeting via MS Teams

Available applications will be added to this page in future.  Register an interest on Oxfordshire county Council Apprenticeships. 
 

Frontline 

Frontline is a social work charity working to ensure that all children in England have a safe and stable home and that their chances in life are not limited by their social or family circumstances. 

They create social change for these children and their families by developing excellent social work practice and leadership through their programmes, and by building a movement of leaders in social work and broader society as part of their Fellowship.  

Frontline is a paid 2-year programme that allows you to earn as you qualify as a social worker and complete a fully funded master’s degree. You will receive a tax-exempt bursary of £20k (London bursary) in year one. 

Oxfordshire has worked with Frontline for several years, hosting units for trainee social workers in our Children’s Social Care Family Solutions Plus teams, who then move into Newly Qualified Social Work roles with us.  

If you want to find out more and meet the eligibility requirements, you can sign up

Step Up to Social Work

The Step Up to Social Work programme is a unique opportunity to receive support while you are training to start a new career in social work. 

On the 14-month training programme, you will receive hands-on experience of working in a real-life social work role through placements in the local authority while undertaking your qualification. 

Once you’ve successfully completed the course, you’ll be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work, enabling you to apply to register and practice as a social worker.  

The Department for Education covers the cost of your university tuition on the programme and provides a tax-free bursary of £19,833 paid over the duration of the programme to support you during your training. 

Oxfordshire County Council is part of the South East Partnership (covering Oxfordshire, Milton Keynes, Central Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire), working with the University of Bedfordshire to deliver the programme. 

You can find further information about the programme here and sign up to express your interest in the next cohort. 

Please also see details of the University of Bedfordshire Step Up to Social Work Course, including videos from the Course Coordinator and former trainees.

Return to social work

At Oxfordshire County Council, we recognise that returning to practice after a period away can be tough. 

We want to help social workers regain their confidence, experience, and knowledge to enable them to meet the Social Work England (SWE) requirements for restoration and return to a career which makes a difference.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Children’s Social Care’s Return to Social Work Programme can support Social Workers returning to practice through:

  • An individualised rolling programme of learning, based on learning needs and other commitments
  • A maximum six-month programme which is flexible and adaptable
  • Supervised practice opportunities in a statutory social work team
  • Supervision of practice by a registered social worker who has at least three consecutive years’ of experience
  • Mentoring and coaching from our Early Professional Development team 
  • Access to Research in Practice to assist with private study
  • Access to e-learning via the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children’s Board (OSCB)
  • Opportunities to attend locally run webinars and briefings 
  • Opportunities to attend development sessions run by our Early Professional Development Team
  • An opportunity to access practice guidance, tools, and resources
  • A guaranteed interview for a social work post following the programme (Grade 10 - 12 depending on experience)
  • A reference from their supervisor
  • If successful, a bespoke induction and probation plan supported by our Early Professional Development Centre
  • The returner will be appointed to a Family Support Worker role Grade 9.
  • An opportunity to progress via our Career Progression Scheme after successful completion of probation
  • An opportunity to access our Year 2 development offer after the first year back in practice 

For more information or an informal discussion, contact workforus@oxfordshire.gov.uk or simply complete our application form (doc format, 128 Kb)

For more information on restoration, go to Social Work Restoration Guidance.

It’s never too late to change careers or retrain to become a social worker and make a huge difference for children and families.