Hear from our staff

Gerard Jones – Managing Director of Children and Young People’s Services

In Oldham we want all children and young people to have a safe, happy and healthy life with access to a great education giving them the best possible start in life. We want children and young people to be at the centre of everything we do. As a council we are committed to providing outstanding practice to our children and families and recognise the importance of providing our staff with supportive environments to nurture good practice.

We are committed to supporting your development through regular supervision and training opportunities as we recognise our workforce is our greatest asset. You will be joining us at an exciting time as we start to develop our systemic model of practice and you will be supported to build open, honest and strong relationships with families.

Elaine Devaney – Director of Children’s Social Care

In Oldham, we are committed to providing our social workers with good quality reflective supervision, continuous professional development and career progression. Our practitioners are encouraged to share their views and contribute to our service improvement plan, ensuring we work in collaboration to improve outcomes for children and families. We recognise the investment in our practitioners is the golden thread to achieving best practice for our children and families. Through our new model of systemic practice, you will be encouraged to think creatively and will be provided with regular reflective supervision where you will be provided with good quality support from your manager.

If you are interested in developing innovative practice and feel passionate and ambitious for children and families come and join our team. We have the full support of Oldham Council to drive forward practice development to achieve the very best outcomes for children and families, it really is an exciting time to get involved and change lives.

Our staff

“I have worked at Oldham council as a social worker since 2015, I was offered a 6 month role following qualifying as a social worker and after the 6 months I was offered a permanent contract. Throughout my employment I have felt really supported, the social work teams have always been welcoming and if I ever have a query or need help I feel that as a service everyone is approachable. I feel valued as a member of Team Oldham, I have regular supervision and I attend forums that allow me to have my voice heard. I feel that management take note of social worker’s views and this is shared with senior leaders in order to shape the way we continue to practice. I feel proud to be a part of Team Oldham.”

Leanne, Social Worker

“I have been with Oldham Childrens Services since February 2020, my journey began as a final year Masters student on the Childrens Assessment Team right as the COVID-19 pandemic started. Around two weeks after I started, we went into national lockdown which meant that the normal ways of working stopped. It was a very scary and unpredictable time, I worried that my placement would be stopped and postponed. I felt extremely passionate about ensuring that I did what I could to support the service for the children and families we are here for. Although was given the option to postpone my placement felt I was needed even if only to support with basic tasks.

Now I am at the end of my ASYE journey and have been with Oldham for nearly 2 years (they couldn’t get rid of me). I am certain that although times have been very hard throughout this time, I made the right decision to stay. I only interviewed with Oldham for a permanent position because I felt that Oldham held all the values that are close to my own heart. It goes without saying that we follow the values of social work practice and advocating for children and families, but what I liked about Oldham was the support, family vibe I got from my own team as well as others and the value in staff welfare.

I have always felt supported, not only from my own team but from management, other colleagues across all areas of service and especially the training team. I have had space to have wobbles and been given the support to break this down into manageable pieces that no longer overwhelm me, a skill I will always carry with me. I have been able to express my views whether they are the same as others or not and have felt able to have open conversations about not only my cases but my home/personal life and been supported along the way.

I have been given not just practical time and space to learn but the emotional space to reflect and understand the difficult role we do and in turn have been provided excellent feedback from others. I have never been made to feel that there is a wrong question or opinion but have been able to debate, consider and reflect on others views as well as my own in order to provide our children and families with good outcomes.

I have been and hope to continue to be happy and feel part of the Oldham Childrens Services family and look forward to a long career with them.”

Kelly, ASYE