Social Work Trainee Scheme

The Social Work Trainee scheme was introduced in 2004 . Since then there has been an intake of trainees every year. Some years we have had an external advert to recruit graduates and in other years recruitment has only been open to staff already working for Wandsworth Council.

This year  we will be recuiting graduates to study for the MSc in Social Work however the advert will be restricted to staff who work in the Children's Services Department. This is in keeping with our commitment to train and develop existing staff.

Trainees are studying for either the BSc or MSc in Social Work and spending time working in a variety of social work settings within  Children Services  and Adult Services. University tuition fees are paid by the Council and Trainees receive a salary. This is currently within the range of £22,086 - £23,916. The Children's Services  Learning &   Development Team offer ongoing support throughout the period of the traineeship.

You should be aware that you will need to be able to demonstrate previous experience of direct work with children and families in a multi-racial social care setting in either a paid or voluntary capacity, for example working in a residential setting, a school or nursery.

You can also get information on careers and training in social work from the social care careers website at www.socialworkandcare.co.uk  or you can call their recruitment hotline on 0845 604 6404.
The General Social Care Council (GSCC) also has a website with useful information on education and training, including a list of the approved universities for the new degree in social work. The website details are www.gscc.org.uk.

Wandsworth Council is an equal opportunity employer. This means that every job applicant is given an equal chance when they are considered for jobs. Because of this, we do not maintain waiting lists of potential applicants or accept CV's. All our job vacancies are advertised and applications are  only accepted from people who respond directly to an advert.

All vacancies are advertised on the Wandsworth Council recruitment  website  www.wandsworth.gov.uk. We may also advertise in Community Care, The Guardian, the local press and similar publications. The recruitment website has a range of easy-to-use tools to help you search for a job and complete an application. You can register to receive job alerts by email and there is an online application form service that can store your details so that when you want to apply for further jobs you will only need to answer questions specific to each new job.