Agency Social Worker of the Year

Emily Moran

Nominated by Synergy Group, London 

Supported by Charterhouse Group International

London social worker Emily Moran is in the running to be crowned UK’s top temporary worker that carries the prestigious title of One in a Million.

Emily has won the Agency Social Worker category of the One in a Million Award.

Nominated by London recruitment agency, Synergy Group,  Emily came to England from her native Australia 18 months ago having qualified with a Bachelor of Social Work. She signed up with a number of agencies prior to her departure.

As a result, Synergy assigned her to a role as a Qualified Social Worker in an inner city “Looked After Children’s Team” in Brixton, London where she looks after 14 children who have been removed from their homes.

Her role is to look after them especially in the areas of health and education. She said that the children could often go through several social workers and then get lost in the system so it takes a while for her to connect with them.

Among the children she looks after is a young girl whose mother was murdered and Emily was the one who had to break the tragic news to her. The girl said of her: “Emily was very kind and arranged a lovely funeral for my Mum, and was with me on the day. “

She encourages all her children in her care to do life story work so they can produce a folder or record of their family trees.

Emily was also recently praised by judges on her first Final Hearing in court, commending her standard of work, her court documents and commitment to the case.

One of the reasons she has chosen to work as an agency social worker is the flexibility it offers her so that she can pursue her other love of travelling. One of her ambitions is to work in an orphanage in Kenya for six months, which has been set up by two of her friends.

Joanna Walkley of Synergy said: “Working long hours and often having to travel out of London to visit her clients, Emily has demonstrated dedication, diligence and commitment to her allocated children over the last 11 months and impressed management with her ability to achieve permanency for more than half of her original caseload.”

Helen Reynolds, the REC’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, said: “Emily is a great example of how temporary work can be the solution to still having the freedom to pursue other interests, which in her case, is travelling. She has set a very high standard within her team and we wish her well in her future endeavours.”