Ellie Openshaw

Emily Cooper

Fred Thomas

Holly Blake

Jamie Trick

Jordan Peat

Josh Da Costa

Rhys Rafferty

Tasha Kirkpatrick

Founded in 2012, Sheldon Phillips is a niche Social Work recruitment agency supplying both locum and permanent staff into the Qualified Social Work sector.With nearly 15 years experience in the Social Care sector, we focus our time on you. Your job search is personal and everyone is different, so our consultants are trained to ensure your job search is as unique as you are.

Our team are highly trained to deal with any questions you have, even if you just want some advice on where your career can go. From first year students, to experienced Heads of Service, we are here to answer any questions you might have.

APSCo Members since 2016, we go out of our way to show that we are 100% compliant as an agency. As one of the most respected recruitment bodies, APSCo embrace the Social Work and Social Care sectors whole heartedly and ensure all members are working hard to uphold their reputation.

At Sheldon Phillips, we pride ourselves on our personal service for both candidates and clients. We work differently to other agencies be getting to know you. Listening is our best skill because we want to hear what you have to say!

Founder and Managing Director, Jamie Trick entered the Social Care sector for the first time, building a successful locum recruitment desk. Working hard to build his reputation within the sector, Jamie made sure to adhere to his 5 core and key values - Honest, Excellence, Transparency, Caring and Integrity.

Sheldon Phillips was created with the goal of providing a less corporate, more personal style of recruitment into the sector. Starting from a small base in West Berkshire, the company started to grow and rapidly become a key supplier to a number of Local Authorities in London and the South East.

Mid 2022 saw Managing Director Jamie Trick become APSCo Chair for Social Work across the United Kingdom. Leading meetings with Social Work members and helping to shape delivery of content from APSCo for their members, Jamie has thrown himself into the role, bringing with him our key company viaues.

Brand new modern offices in Newbury coupled with a fantastic re brand for the business signalled the sign of a new dawn for Sheldon Phillips. With ambitious growth plans that are ramping up into 2024 and beyond, now really is the time to join us on our journey

We are proud to partner with a large number of clients across London and the South East of England. We have recently expanded our operations into the Midlands and here we have a small selection of our happy clients.

We provide you with Permanent and Temporary jobs across the UK and have access to the best jobs in Social Care. Recruitment isn’t about finding a person for a job, it’s about finding the right person for the right job; which is why we invest time to fully understand the needs of our candidates, ensuring our service is perfectly tailored to your requirements.

At Sheldon Phillips we work hard to find the best jobs for the best Social Workers! If you know any friends or colleagues that are Qualified Social Workers, we offer up to £500 as a referral bonus if we place them into work. Speak to our team for the full T's &amp; C's

Hundreds of happy candidates achieve their success in Social Work.

After sending your CV to us, you will receive a call from one of our experienced consultants to discuss your job search in detail.

Let's Talk!

Now it's our turn to put in some hard work and start collecting your previous references. We will also set up a meeting so we can follow Home Office rules and see your original documentation. The coffee is on us!

Compliance Checks

Now it's your chance to shine in front of our clients. We will offer you full and in-depth interview prep to ensure you are happy days in advance of interviews too. We will give you all of our advice and knowledge to make sure you have the tools to succeed

Interviews

We are proud to partner with a large number of clients across the whole of the UK. The majority of our operation is focussed on the South and South West of England, however we now have a commanding presence in the Midlands and North of England. Here we have a small selection of our happy clients! If you are looking for good quality, experienced Qualified Social Workers, click the link below to submit your vacancy to our fantastic team!

Locum or Permanent staffing, we have a solution that is as unique as your team!
Qualified Social Work is seeing a shortage of available staff across the sector. Whether you need locum or permanent staff, those experienced, hard working social workers are hard to find! That's why, at Sheldon Phillips we work pro actively to build relationships not just with available candidates, but we forge long term relationships with those that are not even looking!
We have been working in the sector since 2009 and over that time, we have built fantastic relationships with candidates who sometimes go on to become our clients too. By delivering a 1st class service, we know that when our candidates have friends or colleagues looking for work, they will happily tell them all about our team.

Are you a hiring manager working for a Local Authority, Charity, IFA, or other private organisation? Do you need fully compliant locum staff or even a permanent member of your team?

We take the time to listen to every candidate we speak to. This is a really key part of our service - this is not our job search, so we need to listen, understand and empathise. Only then can we provide the best recruitment experience.

Comprehensive Qualification

Before we even think about sending a CV to a client, we make sure that we have our compliance in order. Your children and families deserve to have fully vetted and safeguarded staff working on their cases, so we work hard to ensure this is done immediately. This saves you time and inconvenience before the interview process even begins!

Compliance

Then it's down to our candidate to wow you at interview! You just need to decide if you want them on board or not. As you can see, we do 90% of the work before you even receive a CV so you can trust that our candidates are right for you.

Completed Placement

A commutable distance from Reading, Basingstoke and Newbury, our office is in a fantastic location with free parking. Also, just a short walk from Newbury Racecourse Rail Station.

Our offices are based in Newbury

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Founded in 2012, Sheldon Phillips is a niche Social Work recruitment agency supplying both locum and permanent staff into the Qualified Social Work sector.
With nearly 18 years experience in the Social Care sector, we focus our time on you. Your job search is personal and everyone is different, so our consultants are trained to ensure your job search is as unique as you are.
Not looking for a job right now? Our team are highly trained to deal with any questions you have, even if you just want some advice on where your career can go. From first year students, to experienced Heads of Service, we are here to answer any questions you might have.
Want to know more? Connect with our consultants

At Sheldon Phillips we work hard to find the best jobs for the best Social Workers! If you know any friends or colleagues that are Qualified Social Workers, we offer up to &pound;500 as a referral bonus if we place them into work. Speak to our team for the full T's &amp; C's

Approved by hundreds of candidates and clients for our personal service.

<h3>Becoming a Qualified Social Worker can be one of the most rewarding things you can do.</h3>&nbsp;As a job and sector it comes with highly stressful and emotive situations, but you have the chance to affect real change for a family or vulnerable person. As business we work with Social Workers from a main grade level, Senior Social Worker/Practitioners, Assistant and Team Managers, all of the way up to Assistant Director and Director level. We are proud to offer a huge range of opportunities which range from locum and permanent jobs within Local Authorities, Charities, Independent Fostering Agencies and private businesses across the whole of the United Kingdom.

As an agency, we provide roles across the entire Social Work sector. So, whether you want to work within Children and Families, Adults services, Fostering, Family Courts, EDT or MASH; Sheldon Phillips can help you find your dream role!Becoming a Qualified Social Worker can be one of the most rewarding things you can do. As a job and sector it comes with highly stressful and emotive situations, but you have the chance to affect real change for a family or vulnerable person. As business we work with Social Workers from a main grade level, Senior Social Worker/Practitioners, Assistant and Team Managers, all of the way up to Assistant Director and Director level. We are proud to offer a huge range of opportunities which range from locum and permanent jobs within Local Authorities, Charities, Independent Fostering Agencies and private businesses across the whole of the South East of England.

Recruitment is a hard industry to work in. You have to be tenacious, work hard and really focus on your end goal to be successful. At Sheldon Phillips we reward our staff as a whole team, with great incentives - but we also reward you personally. Each consultant has their own, personalised incentive plan to ensure you are rewarded for each milestone from day 1 at the business! Read more below to discover why Sheldon Phillips should be the only Social Work agency you consider when looking for a new role!

Fine dining experiences, Directors' table lunches, all expenses paid nights out and annual trips are just some of the fantastic incentives on offer at Sheldon Phillips. As well as company incentives, consultants receive their own personal development plans to ensure there are small/medium wins for every step of their career plans. Scroll down to see some of our team photos!

What good is a market leading incentive scheme if you can't get career progression, right? We pride ourselves on promoting within, creating tomorrow's business leaders. With APSCo accredited training for new consultants, all the way up to Senior Management, we ensure you have the tools to succeed

<h2>This is a wonderful poem written by Charmaine Malcolm, a fellow of Frontline:</h2>
 Dear social worker, Waking up over the past few weeks to reports in the media that social workers are child killers, baby snatchers and evil people. Well, it simply is not true. There have been many children whose lives have been ended prematurely, by people they expected to protect them and not one of them died at the hands of their social worker, not one. Social worker, whilst you are a valuable resource to the nation you are not yet as respected as other professionals, your profession has had significant fiscal deficits and this has affected recruitment, retention, resources, caseloads and of course morale. Social worker I know you work compassionately and meaningfully with children, because you know how important it is to secure better outcomes for the children you see. Social worker, each day you wake up with a passion to help the most vulnerable members of our society, during the pandemic you have been instrumental in keeping children safe. You continued to visit children, you went the extra mile, you responded to increased complexity without additional resources, you worked whilst experiencing your own trauma and personal problems. You supported the sickness and significant bereavements without community and within your personal lives. You navigated new government systems to help our families where poverty became their new normal and food banks became their life supply. You supported families when their universal credit was reduced, you have seen mental health complexity increase amongst parents, children and amongst work colleagues. You have been exhausted, you have worked during your annual leave, you continue to come into work when you are unwell, you are anxious about your workload piling up and do not want to be a burden to colleagues. Social worker, you are always thinking, ever thoughtful, loving and kind. You visit families where at times the risks are unknown, no baton, no shield, no panic alarm yet you boldly go.&nbsp; I can imagine there have been times when your knees were knocking, armpits sweating and your thoughts were &ldquo;oh no&rdquo;, but you stayed, because your heart is full of gold and you go with the motto &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll leave no stone unturned, hell no.&rdquo; Social worker did you know that you not only keep children safe, but you also save lives. Just take a moment to&hellip;wait&hellip;what&rsquo;s the word&hellip;be reflective, stop, think and say &ldquo;ohhh.&rdquo; I helped a child live in a safer environment outside of their family home, I helped a child tell their story to the police when they were sexually abused, it was clear that the shouting and violence between the parents were too much for the child and you said &ldquo;oh no, this cannot go on any longer.&rdquo; You used your research to make an evidenced based decision and you social worker helped those parents create a safer home. Social worker, I valued so much when that mum, do you remember her she said she felt a bit low, you helped her understand her baby blues and again you said let&rsquo;s go. Off to the GP you go, mum receives the help she needs, but still you could not let it go. Organising a family group conference, helping the family develop a plan, your words &ldquo;it must be meaningful&rdquo; and you were intentional to help the family create a &lsquo;meaningful plan.&rsquo; Social worker do you remember your words &ldquo;mum can have time to JustBe&rsquo; and how wonderful it was to see the babies care supported by the wider family.&nbsp; Social worker that was you, you took the time to think and see what was needed for the mum and baby. I mean, I could go on at telling you how fabulous you are. So, you twisted my arm, close your eyes and listen to these words: you are amazing, spectacular, tremendous, energetic, wonderful, insightful, curious, exceptional, child centred, thoughtful, compassionate, kind, empathetic, research minded, reflective, awesome, skilled, professional and the reality is I could tell you how valuable and fabulous you are for hours. Each day commit to taking 5 minutes to stop and reflect on you and what you bring to the profession. Social worker think about all the miracles you make happen. Social worker you are warm, kind, strong, compassionate and full of strength. I see you, I hear you and grateful you&rsquo;re still here. Social worker the media are still learning how to respect your profession and right now you are going to rise up and not succumb to their oppression. Be courageous, be strong, be vocal and be bold because you dearest social worker are one of the mightiest and most cherished people we have in our nation overall.

'Dear Social Worker....'

<h5>We want to help change the public perception of Social Work and focus on what makes our sector such a good place to be! Yes there will always be issues as in any line of work, but being a Social Worker can bring so much satisfaction and positivity, especially when positively affecting change in the life of a person in need. Here is the first in a series of good news stories from real Social Workers, sharing their real stories. We hope you enjoy.</h5>
I was in my local Aldi queuing up with my shopping where a man stood behind me with a 11 ish year old boy. The 11 year old was huffing that there was a queue and that they should open more tills, I chuckled to myself and turned round and said &lsquo;You&rsquo;re not wrong there!&rsquo; The young boy look familiar and so did the older male he was with. It instantly clicked, he was a child that I had removed from his parents during the pandemic due to long standing neglect and his parents alcohol and drug use. The wider family were desperately sad that they couldn&rsquo;t have him long term but he was destined for great things. It was a case I was covering on behalf of my colleague whilst she was off sick- I had only met him maybe 5/6 times before I had to issue proceedings, there was always something so loveable about him. A care order was granted and it was agreed for him to go into long term foster care, his parents didn&rsquo;t contest the care plan and have never turned up to contact. I immediately said &lsquo;are you (Childs name)?&rsquo; He said yes! I introduced myself to him and said do you remember me? He took a second, I think because I was out of work clothes, in his local Aldi and didn&rsquo;t look my usual professional self. He said YES! He instantly hugged me and said &lsquo;thank you, I love my foster family.&rsquo;
I was gobsmacked at his response- he told me how he was moving up to senior school, he sees his wider family once a month for the weekend and loves his foster brother. The foster carer also put two and two together and recognised me and told me how well he was doing and how proud they were.
Whilst still waiting in the queue the foster carer quickly ran to grab something he forgot- I had a brief moment with him alone when I said &lsquo;are you sure you&rsquo;re happy?&rsquo; The young boy said his views with conviction and that he truly was happy. And I believe him.
We paid for our shopping and continue to have a catch up chat, he asked how my dog was and whether I still had the &lsquo;nice car&rsquo; that I drove him from his parents to placement in. He was so brave that day.
I wished him well and told him that if he ever saw me to come and say hello, he promised he would and we had a farewell hug, instigated by him. I packed my shopping in my car and sat there full with emotion, but happy emotions that he was doing more than just ok.
Social worker is ever demanding, ever stressful and ever scrutinised. Yet moments like that, that really do catch you off guard with real success stories are the reason we do our job. I will forever remember the bravery of him and the power of loving foster carers.
<h5>Have you got a story you would like to share with us? Contact our team on 01635 226 350 or send over your experiences via email to hello@sheldon-phillips.com</h5>

Good News Story #1

<h3>Explanation of the new IR35 Legislation, our thoughts and what Sheldon Phillips are doing to help you with the new changes.</h3>
 Following a lengthy consultation period in August of 2016, HMRC have confirmed that their planned legislation change to IR35 will go ahead, taking effect on 6th April 2017. Sheldon Phillips have been heavily involved with the consultation meetings with HMRC and our industry body, the REC. As well as a written letter to HMRC, we also took the opportunity to directly write to the Chancellor of The Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Education and Child Protection. You may have seen our letter on our website and also on Linkedin. In short, anyone falling &ldquo;inside IR35 legislation&rdquo; will be subject to deemed employment dedications which will be made by the entity that pays the worker using their own Ltd Company (PSC) which in most cases will be the Recruitment Agency, i.e. Sheldon Phillips. Off Payroll Explained Off payroll describes anyone who is paid out side of normal PAYE processes; so anyone using their own Limited Company (PSC) would be categorized under this term.
<h4>Current Process</h4>
Under the current legislation, the liability to pay all deemed employment taxes falls on the Ltd Company &ndash; Income Tax, National Insurance and Employers NI contributions. If you fall outside of IR35, you would traditionally take a lower salary via payroll and then take dividends from the company, therefore paying less tax. Falling inside IR35 means that your income is deemed as employed income, therefore income tax, etc should be paid to HMRC in the normal way. HMRC estimate there are more than 200,000 Limited Company&rsquo;s in the UK and by their own admission, cannot allocate enough resource to investigate whether each company is operating in the correct way.
​
<h4>Moving Forward</h4>
From April 6th 2017 when the new legislation is introduced, HMRC will move the liability to make deemed employment payments for workers operating their own Ltd Company to the entity who pays the invoice; Sheldon Phillips. There are a number of criteria that would place a worker within IR35 legislation but the main parameters for this would be if the worker is providing a personal service, if they are subject to supervision, direction and control and also the right to provide a substitute. Due to the Professional code of practice and criteria from both BASW and the HCPC it is our belief that all social workers will be subject to the new changes within IR35 legislation. Receiving supervision or working in a controlled way is something all social workers are subject to and as a contractor, you cannot simply send a substitute worker to carry on with your allocated cases should you not be able to attend work in your assignment. That person would be subject to an interview process, compliance checks and it would not provide continuity or stability to the service users of the authority, therefore it would not be accepted.
Local Authorities and MSP&rsquo;s In the coming weeks, once official communication has been received by HMRC, Local Authorities and MSP&rsquo;s (Matrix, REED, De Poel) will need to decide on their own action regarding these changes and in some cases, may mean that using a PSC (Ltd Company) will simply not be allowed. Other options available will be to use a compliant Umbrella Company and for your agency to put you through their own PAYE processes. In practice, going through agency PAYE will dramatically reduce your hourly rate and so it is our understanding that you will be better off using a compliant Umbrella Company, through which you will be eligible for employment rights like holiday pay, sick pay, etc. Our Commitment To You To ensure that these changes are handled correctly and to avoid any disruption to your assignments, we at Sheldon Phillips are here to help guide you through every step of the way. We will be arranging an event in London for all of our Social Workers to attend, along with any colleagues who would be interested to talk about the legislation face to face and provide you with viable options for compliant Umbrella Companies. There will be a dedicated Q&amp;A section to try and put any concerns you have to rest, so you can concentrate on your busy working lives. This will be communicated shortly via email, our website and on Linkedin.

Becoming a Qualified Social Worker can be one of the most rewarding things you can do.

Key Consultants

Candidate

Working in Social Work

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'Dear Social Worker....'

Good News Story #1

IR35 - The Facts

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