Ozone has a selection of vacancies across the UK, most, but not all of which can be found on our vacancies page. Social worker requirements in the UK have changed over the last couple of years or so and although temporary (locum) and permanent vacancies are still plentiful, more and more employers are asking for previous experience.
Most importantly, you’ll need to bear in mind that it is not possible to work as a social worker in the UK unless you are registered. This is a legal requirement (you are committing a criminal offence in the UK by saying you’re a social worker if you’re not registered) so there’s no getting round it. If you are coming from overseas, we recommend you get your registration application in at least 6 months before you plan to travel.
The major employers of social workers are local authorities or councils (known as boroughs in London). There are 150 councils with responsibility for providing social care across England & Wales and each one has a separate adults and a children and families department. Although we tend to specialise in finding positions in London and the South East, we can and have placed workers across the country including in Wales and Scotland.
As long as you’re flexible and willing to work where the vacancies are, variety really shouldn’t be a problem. Do remember that for your sake as well as theirs, UK employers will want you to have some experience in the area you intend to work in. In other words, it may not be that easy to find you work in a children and family support team if you have only worked in adult mental health and vice versa.
Obviously having spent all that time studying you’ll want to use your skills and knowledge to earn good money. However, if you qualified outside the UK, working here is going to be a different experience. Like everywhere, the UK has its own history and way of doing things so don’t get too dispirited if you don’t seem to be able to find the sort of work you’ve been used to. Just go with the flow and enjoy the opportunity to gain experience doing something different.
Wherever you qualified, Britain’s a great place to live and work and welcomes qualified individuals with enthusiasm, energy and a positive outlook. Ozone will do as much as we possibly can to get you the job that you want where you want it. But if this isn’t going to be possible for any reason, we won’t string you along and we’ll let you know why and we’ll give you an honest appraisal of the sort of work we believe we can get you.
If you’re already living and working in the UK you’ll probably have most, if not all of the documents you need to start working and you’ll probably also know all about the sort of social work jobs that are available. But if you’re overseas and you’re either at the ‘about to travel’ stage or still trying to get your head round what you’ll need, please use our check list and do contact us with any questions you may have.