Family Drug and Alcohol Court Social Worker

We are looking for an FDAC Social Worker to cover our Tewkesbury locality. You will hold an FDAC family and work alongside the multi-agency service and TACS. You will work to deliver evidence-based therapeutic interventions in the collaborative, problem-solving court, FDAC. A crucial aspect of these roles will be to bring learning back into the locality teams and further enhance services to locality families and communities. As a locality FDAC Social Worker, you'll experience:

• systemic practice that is curious, courageous, and compassionate
• trauma-informed approaches
• multi-professional collaboration and planning
• deeper understanding of Hidden Harm and its impact on children
• confidence in court settings and the expert voice of social workers
• restorative practice with high support and high challenge
• development of multi-agency interventions
• use of language that cares
• collaborative permanency planning
• equal access to FDAC for families across all localities
• you'll be the 'spoke', holding one FDAC case from your locality
• TACS will be the 'hub', supporting you as part of the wider family team
• you'll deliver interventions and share learning with your locality team
What it will involve:
• hold one FDAC case (approx. 2 days/week)
• reduced caseload to support this work
• attend fortnightly FDAC hearings with your family
• write and curate all FDAC reports (review, evidence, final)
• attend formulation and intervention planning meetings
• deliver interventions and support permanency planning
• work within a multidisciplinary team (including nurses, therapists, and support workers)
• receive a full induction, peer and 1:1 supervision, and contribute to transformation reviews
  
  Social Work England registration
• a recognised qualification in Social Work
• to have passed your Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE)
• DBS clearance
We welcome applications from newly qualified and social workers in the early years of their career. Depending on your qualification date and previous experience, you will be invited to either join our accredited ASYE programme or to complete an alternative early-career development in-house pathway. The appropriate option will be explored and confirmed as part of the interview and offer process.

Gloucestershire Children's Services is committed to working in partnership with families and communities to ensure every child has the best chance at a happy and fulfilling life. Guided by the principle of "right child, right support, right time, every time," the service is built on values of kindness, respect and fairness. Children are actively seen and heard in decision-making, and those who cannot live safely at home are given compassionate support The workforce is skilled, collaborative and courageous-delivering evidence-based help and advocating boldly for children's futures. With a clear mission and ambitious vision, the service empowers children to shape their own lives, families and communities. We have been working hard on our recent improvement journey and excited to share our recent news that Ofsted have rated us 'Good' with elements of 'Oustanding'. County council Children's Services judged Good with Outstanding elements by Ofsted During the inspection, which took place from June 9 to 20 this year, the inspection team found the council's Children's Services to be Good in its overall effectiveness, with judgements of Outstanding in two of four categories, and good in the remaining two categories. Services showed significant improvement since the last full inspection when they were judged to require improvement in 2022. Ofsted found that 'children in care experience exceptional care and support' and that those who need help and protection 'benefit from high-quality, effective early help services'.


• between £39,152 - £47,181 per annum subject to experience
• £4,000 welcome payment
• £2,000 retention payment
• up to £8,000 for relocation funds
• flexible and agile working opportunities
• 25.5 days annual leave rising to 30.5 days after 5 years continuous service
• option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year (pro rata for part-time staff)
• family friendly policies and benefits to help support you and your family
• supportive and positive working environment with regular, robust supervision
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides free, confidential, counselling and advice for employees, available 24 hours a day, online and by telephone
• an in-house Occupational Health service
• employee discount scheme
• cycle to work scheme
• links to employee networks such as Prism (LGBT+) and the Young Employees Network
• career development and qualification opportunities
• access to our Social Work Academy
Right child, right support, right time, every time In our recent inspection in June 2025, our Children's Services have been officially judged as 'Good' with 'Outstanding' elements. Ofsted also said 'Leaders have set out a clear vision for delivering success for children, by modelling values and creating a culture where the workforce, children and families feel valued and heard; risk is managed confidently with bottom lines clearly set out.' This marks an important step in our journey to improve outcomes for our children and young people, and we remain focused on our mission: to continue building on this success and ensure that every child and young person in our county has the opportunity to thrive. Gloucestershire offers a range of opportunities to develop your career, supported by a phenomenal Social Work Academy offer, a developing systemic practice methodology, an ambitious leadership team and an award-winning workforce. We are a local authority adopting, and training all colleagues in, systemic social work practice. If you would like to be part of an authority that takes a relational approach to working with families and focuses on what needs to change in the system around a child and family to enable children to thrive, then consider a role with GCC.