Placement Assistant (Maternity Cover)
Darlington Borough CouncilDarlington Town Hall, North East
AI insight: this role at a glance
This role involves working as a Placement Assistant on a 12-month maternity cover contract, supporting service arrangements for children in line with their Education Health Care Plan or social care assessed need. The job requires a motivated and passionate individual with experience in implementing policies and procedures. This role suits someone who wants to make a difference to the lives of children and young people in Darlington.
Key points
- Salary: £27,254 - £28,598 per annum
- Contract: Fixed Term, Full time
- Location: Darlington Town Hall
- Closing date: Sep 1, 2026
- NJC pay grade applies
- Standard Disclosure and Barring Service check required
You'll need
- GCSE English and Maths at a pass grade (or equivalent level award)
- NVQ level 3 or equivalent experience
- Approximately 3 years’ experience of implementing policies and procedures
- Understanding of Children, Adults, Education or Health related services
Helps to have
- Ability to develop strong and effective close working relationships with operational colleagues in social care and SEND
- Flexible approach to a fast-changing working environment, demonstrating emotional resilience
- Ability to navigate and update a range of administrative and management information systems
- Awareness of the national children’s social care and SEND agenda and local delivery priorities
How to stand out
- 1Ensure your application explicitly addresses every essential criterion listed in the person specification
- 2Highlight your experience in implementing policies and procedures, and your understanding of Children, Adults, Education or Health related services
- 3Showcase your ability to work in a fast-paced environment and develop strong relationships with colleagues
- 4Demonstrate your awareness of the national children’s social care and SEND agenda and local delivery priorities
- 5Use the STAR method to provide specific examples of your experience and skills in your application and potential interview
- 6Visit the council's website to learn more about the role, the team, and the benefits of working for Darlington Borough Council
Recommended reading: How to get a job in local government
Recommended reading: Writing a public-sector CV that gets shortlisted
Generated by AI from the advert text — it can miss detail or misread nuance. Always check the official advert and person specification before applying.
Job description
Are you a motivated and passionate individual, looking to bring your experience to an exciting role?
Look no further! We are now recruiting for a Placement Assistant on a 12 month maternity cover contract.
This is an exciting opportunity for someone who wants to make a difference to the lives of children and young people in Darlington.
Reporting to the Placements Officer you will work in a fast paced and rewarding role to progress referrals for external placements and support service arrangements for children, in line with the child’s Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) or social care assessed need.
External placement arrangements include, but are not limited to: Ofsted registered external foster care, residential care and supported accommodation placements, regulated community care and support services and independent special school placements.
About you: We are seeking applications from individuals who have GCSE English and Maths at a pass grade (or equivalent level award), hold an NVQ level 3 or equivalent experience. Have approximately 3 years’ experience of implementing policies and procedures and have an understanding of Children, Adults, Education or Health related services.
- Have an ability to develop strong and effective close working relationships with operational colleagues in social care and SEND.
- A flexible approach to a fast-changing working environment, demonstrating emotional resilience.
- A demonstrable ability to navigate and update a range of administrative and management information systems, including databases and spreadsheets with a high degree of accuracy with attention to detail.
- Have an awareness of the national children’s social care and SEND agenda and local delivery priorities particularly in relation to children’s placements.
If this is you, we’d love to hear from you.
The rewards for working at Darlington Borough Council go beyond the salary you will receive; we have numerous additional benefits such as:
- 32 days Annual Leave, plus Bank Holidays, with option to purchase additional Annual Leave (pro-rata for part time working)
- Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme with option to make Additional Voluntary Contributions
- Flexi-time scheme
- Flexible working
- Generous Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave schemes
- Staff equality forums
- Access to a wide range of training, learning and development
- Physiotherapy service
- Confidential counselling service
- Great wellbeing offer
- Cycle to Work Scheme
- Dolphin Centre Fit for Life Discounts
- Local and National retailer discounts
- Vivup employee benefit app and Lifestyle Savings
- Arriva Employee Travel Club
For the full range of benefits we offer, please see our Why work for us internet page, which also includes our Total Reward Booklet and Employee Benefit Video.
https://www.darlington.gov.uk/jobs-and-careers/why-work-for-us/
Find out further information about us and what it’s like to work for our great team by visiting the Jobs and Careers home page.
https://www.darlington.gov.uk/jobs-and-careers/
For detailed information on this role, please refer to the Role Profile and Person Specification.
The successful applicant will be subject to a standard Disclosure and Barring Service check.
For an informal discussion please contact Placements Officer Toni Mace on 01325 406768 or 07384533842.
If you have any further questions regarding applying for this role or the questions and required fields within the application form, please contact the HR Support team on 01325 403217 or HR@darlington.gov.uk.
If you are experiencing problems with the NE Jobs website, such as logging in, saving pages, on account queries please fill out the form within the link below.
https://www.northeastjobs.org.uk/contactus
All applicant email correspondence will come from donotreply@northeastjobs.org.uk and may be directed to your Junk folder depending on the settings of your email account. Please check both your email and Junk folder as all applicants will be notified whether they have been shortlisted.
You must ensure that anything submitted in your application is factually accurate. Plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own. Whilst we accept candidates may use AI tools within job applications; submissions must be truthful and relevant to your own experience.
We are an equal opportunities' employer. We welcome applicants from all sections of the community. We aim to interview any applicant who declares a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job.
How this role compares
We hold 350 council vacancies in North East that publish a salary, and their median advertised starting figure is £33,699. This role pays less than about 77% of them.
There are 4,945 council roles open across the UK on GovJobs right now, 555 of them in North East.
You have 2 days left to apply. Council adverts we hold typically run for around 26 days, so this is a shorter window than usual.
Darlington Borough Council has 16 other vacancies open on GovJobs, with a breakdown of what they pay and the kinds of roles they recruit for.
These figures are calculated from the vacancies GovJobs currently holds, not from official pay statistics. They are a guide to the market, not a valuation of this post.
How to apply
GovJobs does not take applications or send your details to the employer. Use the apply button to open the official Northeast Jobs advert, then check the employer's instructions, attachments, person specification and closing time before applying.
This listing was last checked on 28 Aug 2026, 15:09. If the official advert has changed or closed, report it and we will review the listing.
Why this listing is on GovJobs
GovJobs indexes public-sector vacancies from official sources, normalises the title, employer, location, salary and deadline, and links back to the source so you can verify the advert yourself.
The source for this role is Northeast Jobs. Applications stay on the official employer or source website, not on GovJobs.