About Essex County Council
What is Essex County Council?
Essex County Council is the county council for Essex, in the East of England, established in 1889. It delivers services across children's and adults' social care, education, transport, environment, public health, planning, finance, legal and digital — including the award-winning Essex Social Care Academy (ESCA) for social-work learning and development.
Where will I work?
On-site or hybrid from County Hall in Chelmsford and across Essex, depending on the role.
What is the team like?
A public-sector workforce of around 7,100, including frontline social workers, planners, lawyers, public-health specialists, finance and digital teams.
Work-Life Balance
Essex County Council has introduced a 9-day fortnight on full pay for its frontline children's social workers. From the Children & Families directorate page: "We support our social worker colleagues to deliver fantastic social work through our comprehensive learning and development offer, delivered by our award-winning Essex Social Care Academy (ESCA). We also champion social worker wellbeing and have recently been able to implement a 9-day working fortnight for our frontline childrens social workers." Note the 9-day fortnight is currently scoped to frontline children's social-work roles; other roles may have access to flexi-time, hybrid working and other compressed-hours options under the Council's flexible-working policy.
Perks and Benefits
- 9-day fortnight for frontline children's social workers, on full pay
- Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
- Generous annual leave plus public holidays
- Flexible working (hybrid, flexi-time, part-time)
- Essex Social Care Academy (ESCA) — award-winning learning and development
How to Apply
Current openings are posted on the Working for Essex jobs portal at workingforessex.com.