Career Progression

Social Worker - Level 1 (Grade G)

£36,363 - £39,862

Building strong foundations

As a newly qualified or early-career social worker, you'll develop the skills, confidence and expertise needed for effective social work practice.

You'll work directly with children, young people and families, undertake assessments, develop plans and learn from experienced colleagues through supervision, mentoring and reflective practice.

You'll build your knowledge of safeguarding, child development, risk assessment, court processes and partnership working, while developing the professional curiosity and relationship-based practice that underpin great social work.

You'll be developing:

• Assessment and intervention skills
• Direct work with children and families
• Evidence-informed decision making
• Multi-agency working
• Confidence in statutory social work practice
• Independence through supported professional development

Social Worker - Level 2 (Grade H)

£40,777 - £45,091

Growing confidence and autonomy

Once you've successfully completed your ASYE and gained experience in practice, you'll progress to managing increasingly complex work with greater professional autonomy.

You'll lead family network meetings, coordinate multi-agency responses, contribute to statutory decision-making and support children and families through significant periods of change and challenge.

At this stage, you're not just managing cases. You're helping shape outcomes through confident analysis, professional judgement and collaborative working with partners, families and communities.

You'll be developing:

• Advanced risk assessment and analysis
• Complex case management
• Leadership within the professional network around the child
• Court and permanence planning experience
• Mentoring and supporting others
• Specialist knowledge and expertise

Advanced Social Work Practitioner (Grade I)

£46,142 - £50,269

Leading practice excellence

Advanced Social Work Practitioners are our expert practitioners. They work alongside teams to support the most complex children and families, provide professional challenge and help maintain high standards of practice across services.

They play a key role in developing others through coaching, mentoring and reflective discussion, while bringing specialist expertise to the most challenging situations.

This is a role for highly experienced social workers who want to remain closely connected to practice while influencing service-wide quality and outcomes.

You'll be:

• Providing professional leadership and practice expertise
• Supporting complex safeguarding decision-making
• Leading complex assessments and interventions
• Coaching and mentoring colleagues
• Quality assuring practice
• Influencing strategic responses to risk and need
• Working collaboratively across services and partner organisations
  

For those looking to move into management, opportunities exist to progress into Team Manager, Service Manager and wider leadership roles.

Our leaders create the conditions for great social work to flourish by:

• Supporting and developing teams
• Embedding reflective supervision
• Driving service improvement
• Building strong partnerships
• Championing excellent outcomes for children and families
• Creating inclusive and collaborative working environments
  

Wherever you are in your career, you'll have access to:

• Reflective supervision
• Coaching and mentoring
• Continuing Professional Development
• Practice development opportunities
• Leadership development programmes
• Student and practice educator opportunities
• Learning that supports progression into specialist and leadership roles

We believe great social work happens when professionals are empowered to build meaningful relationships, work collaboratively with families and partners, and use their skills to achieve lasting change.

That's why our career pathway is about more than moving through grades. It's about growing your impact, strengthening your expertise and becoming part of a service that's committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for Nottingham's children and families.

Wherever you are in your social work career today, Nottingham can help you take the next step.