Job Title
Advanced Practitioner – Social Work
Hours
37 and 18.5 hours
Contract
Various: permanent and a temporary contract (maternity cover)
Location
Leeds: various office bases across South, East and West
About You
As an Advanced Practitioner you will hold an appropriate professional qualification (degree, DipSW, CQSW or equivalent) and must be registered with Social Work England on commencement in post. In addition, you will have completed Practice Educator Level 2 on commencement of post.
You will also bring to the role:
- Extensive experience in a child protection setting.
- Ability to mentor, coach and advise newly qualified and less experienced social work staff.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills to build productive working relationships in a multi‑agency environment.
- Ability to engage individuals, families and carers and use their views to inform complex assessments, plans and interventions.
- Extensive and up‑to‑date knowledge of relevant trends, policies, regulation and safeguarding.
About the role
As an Advanced Practitioner in Children and Families, you will be integral to a close‑knit, supportive team which has your professional and personal wellbeing at heart. You will provide a high quality comprehensive social work service, managing a complex caseload with a child‑focused approach, underpinned by a culture of restorative practice and family decision making. You will support the Team Manager on day‑to‑day operational issues and mentor less senior colleagues. You will model skills in relationship building, developing positive working partnerships internally and with local health and third‑sector partners. Demonstrating your social work values throughout your work, you will look to ensuring best practice and innovation.
Responsibilities
- Manage a caseload of the most complex cases.
- Undertake complex case assessments.
- Exercise increased level of autonomy and decision making based on experience and knowledge.
- Ensure practice adopts an anti‑racist and anti‑discriminatory approach.
- Co‑work and coach less experienced social workers on cases.
- Support Team Managers in overseeing and decision making with regard to allocation of cases and workloads.
- Ensure case work is appropriately planned, critically evaluated, and reviewed.
- Achieve timescales and targets in respect to performance indicators.
- Mentor, coach and advise newly qualified and less experienced social work staff.
- Carry out the role of Practice Educator (level 2) to directly supervise students, mentor new practice educators and mentor NQSW and less experienced staff with your team.
- Deliver informal and formal learning within teams and across the service.
- Provide consultation, coworking support and development in the areas of social care staff requiring skills development.
- Chair planning and review meetings such as supervision order reviews, child and family support meetings and other relevant meetings in respect of children in need or at risk.
- Lead and contribute to strategic developments and support the embedding of excellent practice across the city.
- Use and manage appropriate financial resources within available budgets.
- Provide flexible working arrangements including evening and/or weekends as necessary.
- Adapt to change to assist other services as required.
- Lead on and participate in appraisal, training and development activities to meet national standards.
- Improve own practice through observation, evaluation, discussion with colleagues and development programmes.
- Work collaboratively with colleagues, knowing when to seek help and advice.
- Contribute to the overall ethos, work and aims of the service by attending relevant meetings, training days/events as requested.
- Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures including child protection, health, safety, confidentiality and data protection.
- Promote equality and diversity, uphold the values, standards and equal opportunities of Leeds City Council.
- Recognise and appropriately challenge incidents of racism, bullying, harassment or victimisation and ensure compliance with relevant policies and procedures.
- Adhere to the flexibility protocol of the Council.
- Accept other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome.
Qualifications
The post requires an appropriate professional qualification (DipSW, Degree, CQSW or equivalent). You must be registered with Social Work England upon commencement and maintain registration, and practice educator level 2.
Candidates will be shortlisted if they demonstrate that they meet all the following essential requirements:
- Extensive post‑qualifying experience in Children and Families Work in a Local Authority setting with senior social worker level experience in a child protection setting.
- Experience developing inter‑agency and multi‑disciplinary approaches to work with children and families.
- Experience providing structured supervision for social work staff/students.
- Experience supervising, mentoring and coaching staff through assessment, care planning and court proceedings.
- Experience preparing and presenting high quality reports on complex issues to a range of audiences.
- Extensive experience using a range of social work interventions to undertake assessments of complex family situations.
- Ability to work flexibly across different work locations and areas as appropriate.
- Ability to critically apply social work theory in practice.
- Ability to identify indicators of risk and carry out effective risk assessment.
- Ability to communicate, negotiate and influence a wide range of practitioners, managers and partners from other agencies.
- Ability to present and disseminate information to support learning and development of social care staff and partners.
- Ability to chair meetings.
- Competent in the use of IT systems including Microsoft Office, Internet and Email.
Essential Behavioural & other Characteristics
- Ability to inspire and motivate self and colleagues.
- Commitment to deliver high quality social care services.
- Deliver services to children and young people with a clear child‑centred approach and philosophy.
- Take ownership for informed decisions and deliver quality outcomes.
- Committed to continuous improvement and work towards the city’s ambitions.
- Understand and observe Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
- Carry out all duties in accordance with health, safety and well‑being responsibilities.
- Willingness to actively participate in appraisal, training and development activities.
- Adapt to change to assist other services as required.
- Support equality and diversity, uphold the values, standards and equal opportunities of Leeds City Council.
- Recognise and challenge incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation and abuse of equal opportunities.
- Adhere to the Council’s flexibility protocol.
Desired Additional Requirements
Candidates are not required to meet all the desirable requirements; these may be used to distinguish between candidates.
- Possession of a full current driving licence.
We Offer You
- A competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays.
- Membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions.
- Flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements.
- A clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities.
- A range of staff benefits to support wellbeing and financial wellbeing.
Company Policies
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.
We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures, including women, carers, veterans, LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care‑experienced people.
This role is based in the UK. Candidates must evidence the right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement Scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.
We follow the UK Home Office guidance and require eligible candidates to have the right to work in the UK. If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your eligibility for sponsorship via the Skilled Worker visa route before applying.
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