A career in social care could be for you!

A job in Social Services can offer excellent career development opportunities and give you the chance to make a real and valuable difference to people's lives.

Do you like working with people?

Would you like to make a difference to people's lives?

Do you want a job that can offer flexible hours to meet your needs?

Would you like to have a job with real variety?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then a career in social care could be for you.

Social Care in Partnership South West (SCiP) is encouraging people to consider a career in social care. We are not promoting specific posts at the moment, but if you want to find out more about working in social care in general, please contact us.

Social care is about working with and for people who need a little extra help to live independently or safely. This may be for a short period, helping them to sort out problems or get over the affects of an illness, or on a longer-term basis for people who find it difficult to manage because of a disability or old age.

Social care is about making a real difference to people's lives through providing the right level of support at times when it is needed most. A lot of the work involves direct contact with service users, giving personal or practical care, advice or emotional support.

There are also opportunities for people who prefer to office-based clerical and administrative posts to look after the paperwork and help to ensure that services run efficiently. Social care workers do a range of different jobs, but that they all have in common is an interest in making a positive difference to people's lives.

Social care provides opportunities for on-the-job training and career progression. Social care staff are encouraged to work towards qualifications such as NVQs, as well as to keep up to date with new developments and changes in the law through training courses.

What qualifications do I need?

To practise as a social worker you would need a university qualification in social work, however, there are many social care jobs where you can learn as you work and often gain.

What age do I need to be?

People of all ages can enjoy a career in social care. If you are older, you might be able to bring valuable life experience to a service or the experience you have gained working in other areas might have given you transferable skills.

For further information on the opportunities available please see our website - www.npt.gov.uk/scip