At Portsmouth City Council, we’re proud to employ dedicated, qualified, and experienced social workers across both adult and children’s social care. Our teams make a real difference—supporting children, families, and adults in diverse and meaningful ways throughout our community.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your social work career, join a team that’s truly #ProudToBePortsmouth.
Our adult social workers support people through some of life’s most difficult moments — whether due to a life-changing event, an accident, or a sudden shift in circumstances. Adult social work is a practice-based, profession-focused role that promotes independence, resilience, and wellbeing.
In Portsmouth, we follow a strengths-based approach that puts the person at the centre of everything we do—focusing on what’s strong, not what’s wrong—and promoting social change and development.
The work is varied and rewarding, supporting adults with a wide range of needs including mental health, learning disabilities, and other challenges. It’s a demanding and sometimes emotional role—but one that can truly change lives.
There are several different routes you can take into adult social work:
Once qualified and registered, you’ll complete an Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) with Portsmouth City Council or another local authority—building on your skills and applying your learning in practice.
Our children’s social workers are at the heart of supporting young people and their families through life’s most challenging moments. Using a restorative, relationship-based approach, we work in a high-support, high-challenge environment to help families thrive.
Portsmouth’s unique model of practice ensures that those who need support receive it—empowering families to reach their full potential.
If you are at the start of your social work career, children’s social care open applications for Portsmouth’s Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) programme every year. You will need to be leaving or have graduated university with a degree or master’s in social work to qualify and demonstrate your knowledge and expertise. Our 12-month ASYE programme provides ‘on the job’ training to help you understand and unpick the work you are completing. In addition, we offer monthly half day study days, funding to purchase your own resources*, on-site assessors and peer led action learning sets.
We’ve also introduced a range of exciting new benefits to support our team members:
Want more information about working in children’s social care? Visit Stronger Futures to discover more from this service.
Find out more (www.strongerfutures.co.uk)
“I love being a social worker, meeting the residents of Portsmouth, supporting and empowering them to live the life they want to live. It’s a very rewarding job – seeing the impact of my interventions, making a positive difference and finding creative ways of helping people achieve their goals.”
“I really enjoy working with a wide variety of clients in different community settings. It’s great to know I’m making a positive difference every day. Studying while working is such a good mix: I can apply my learning to my role, my new-found knowledge means I have so many more questions now, and I’m definitely becoming a more seasoned professional.”
"I joined Portsmouth City Council as a student and have progressed to the role of Advanced Social Worker. I work within the Family Support and Safeguarding Team, where we support families through Child in Need planning, child protection, and legal proceedings. I value Portsmouth’s commitment to building strong relationships with families, partner agencies, and colleagues. My role also involves helping our team grow through reflection and learning, so we can deliver effective interventions for our community."
"I started working in Portsmouth within the central one locality team as a social worker in 2017. I completed my ASYE in this team and progressed to an experienced social worker in 2019. I became a team leader in July 2023 and manage the family support and safeguarding south team."
Visit our careers page to find all our latest social worker vacancies and submit your application. We look forward to hearing from you!