Social Worker - Information Management

Job Introduction

Our Story:

Halton is a vibrant local authority with a rich history and heritage, featuring two iconic bridges that connect communities across the River Mersey. Located in Cheshire, Halton boasts excellent transport links between Liverpool and Manchester, as well as close proximity to both Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester Airports.

Our progressive community strategy aims to bring about meaningful, long-term improvements that enhance lives. It’s an exciting time to join us as we develop new policies and transform the way people access services.

We are immensely proud that when asked what’s great about working for Halton, the most popular response from our workforce has been ‘our colleagues’. 

Our Team:

This role is based within our Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Unit, which is a strong, stable and supportive team.

We require an experienced Social Worker to join us to support individuals to access their social care records.      By providing dedicated social work support, we go beyond merely granting access to files; we help individuals truly understand their content and their life experiences.

This approach is a groundbreaking initiative, unique to our local authority, as no other council currently offers such a comprehensive and supportive service. We are committed to ensuring that service users are not retraumatised during the process of accessing their records. 

Hours: 37 hours 

Your Contributions:

As the Social Worker, you will be responsible for managing access to Children’s Social Care records, including the right to access, rectification, and erasure (the right to be forgotten). Additionally, you will handle Freedom of Information requests submitted to Children’s Social Care.

Once a request is approved, you will provide systemic sessions to service users to help them understand and explore the narrative behind their request. Following this, you will retrieve the relevant files and engage in life story work to support their journey, as needed.

Providing compassionate support to help care-experienced individuals understand the reasons they were placed in care, you will establish a clear pathway that ensures all care leavers can access their records promptly, accompanied by personalised, trauma-informed support tailored to meet their unique needs.

This position involves close collaboration with the Information Governance Team and the Data Protection Officer (ICT Services) to ensure that:

• Information released to requestors, particularly concerning children, is carefully risk-assessed and reviewed to protect the Council from potential data breaches.
• Service users are provided with the necessary support when accessing their records and are directed to additional resources if needed.
• Halton Borough Council remains fully compliant with all relevant legislation.
• Any risks to a child or adult are thoroughly considered before any data is released

Our Offer:

Aside from working with a great team, our employees have access to a fantastic range of benefits, including:

• A generous annual holiday allowance starting at 34 days per year (including bank holidays), increasing with long service
• Membership of our defined benefit, salary-linked Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with generous employer contributions

• • 3 x Salary Life Cover via Local Government Pension Scheme
• • Investment in your personal development
• • Free Car Parking at HBC sites
• • Flexible working arrangements
• • Extensive employee benefits platform including discounted shopping, car leasing, gym memberships, wellbeing hub and Employee Assistance Programme.

The Market Supplement applicable to the advertised role is as follows: 

For salaries of HBC8 - £2,710 per annum

Market Supplement's may be subject to early removal should there be rational to do so.

Next Steps:

At Halton Borough Council, we want all of our candidates to feel well-informed so if you would like to have an informal chat about this role, please contact Susanne.Leece@halton.gov.uk

Interviews will provisionally take place on 4th June 2025. 

At Halton Borough Council we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce and a vital part of this is to encourage diversity in all respects. We are committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and tailored to best suit the needs and strength of the individual. This includes making adjustments for people with a disability, neurodiversity or with long-term health conditions. If you require accommodations, please reach out during the recruitment process so that we can make this the best possible experience for you – resourcing@halton.gov.uk

Please refer to the attached Job Profile for further information about the role and our values.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications. If you’re interested, please complete your application as early as possible.

We look forward to receiving your application!