Senior Practitioner Social Worker (Children's Services) - EAL12558

Hourly rate of pay: £26.09 - £29.14. Candidates will be assessed on the basis of appropriate relevant experience and qualifications and salary placed within the advertised scale.

Days and Hours of Work: Monday - Friday. Starting and finishing times are flexible, and flexi time is applicable. To start July 2026.

East Lothian Children’s Services have an opportunity for a Senior Practitioner Social Worker to join the Support and Intervention Team. The position may have a key role in supporting and supervising 2 of our family support workers. The team consists of 3 team leaders, senior practitioners, social workers and administrative support. Our Support and Intervention Team is dedicated to supporting children and families to have better outcomes in life. Children’s Services is located in an open plan office with onsite parking. We promote an open, trusting and communicative culture at all levels.

Applicants should have a sound value base, excellent communication and report writing skills and a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of Child Protection processes and making permanent plans for children, as well as knowledge about Children and Families social work legislation, roles and responsibilities. In East Lothian, our social workers' practice is focused on the Signs of Safety assessment framework with an emphasis on relationship-based interventions.

East Lothian Children Services are absolutely committed to following The Promise and keeping children, young people and their families' voices at the heart of everything we do. Our vision is to support children and young people to live with their families when safe to do so. We have redesigned our services to ensure the right support is offered at the right time and our staff are involved in developing services and implementing improvement activity around this goal.

East Lothian Children's Services are keen to recruit workers who are passionate about achieving the best possible outcomes for the children, young people and their families. Our staff are our greatest asset and we want to support people to have a healthy work-life balance. For this to be possible, we recognise that social workers need protected caseloads, effective supervision and support. We recognise the emotional impact of the role and benefit from access to a clinical psychologist who supports our staff with complex work and promotes staff resilience.

Working in supportive teams, you will have a varied and complex caseload which includes children who are looked after at and away from home and will strive to make permanent plans in a timely manner. You will undertake direct work with children and their families, working closely with our dedicated Family Support Work and Intensive Outreach Team. We are committed to promoting an open and trusting culture at all levels of the organisation and prioritise continuous professional development and learning.

Our staff are our greatest asset, and we strive to be supportive, inclusive and child-centred by prioritising effective supervision, manageable and protected caseloads and a healthy work-life balance. We have an accessible senior management team who are committed to recruiting the best people to complement the wide range of knowledge and experience throughout the service. Our dedication is evident through our recent Care Inspection which is available online.

If you wish to discuss this vacancy, please contact the Team Leader: Nicola Clark.

To provide and promote a high standard of practice within Children’s Services and in multi-agency settings, through the provision of a service to vulnerable children, young people and their families/carers, in accordance with statutory obligations, policies and procedures.

You must ensure you meet every 'essential' criteria stated on the Person Specification to be considered for interview. The ‘East Lothian Way’– values and behaviours we expect our employees to demonstrate in their everyday work. Should you be invited to interview, you may be asked questions based on these behaviours.

Education/Qualifications:

• Essential: Approved qualification in Social Work, and SSSC registration. Those with international Social Work qualifications should not apply unless they are fully registered with the SSSC.
• Desirable: Post qualifying award.
• Driving Licence: Full current driving licence and access to a vehicle. (Where a disability precludes you from obtaining a driving licence, ELC will take into account its responsibility to make reasonable adjustments to allow for your disability).

PVG Membership: This post is considered as a Regulated Role with vulnerable children and/or protected adults, as specified in the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020. All preferred candidates for posts carrying out regulated work with these groups will be required to become a PVG Scheme member, or undergo a PVG Scheme update if they are already a member, prior to any formal offer of employment being made by East Lothian Council.

Please note: If you have spent more than 3 months working or living outside the UK in the last 5 years then you will be required to present a copy of an overseas criminal record check.

We do not accept CVs (either electronically or by mail). All our vacancies must be applied for by fully completing the online application form. Although there is an ‘import data from my CV’ function on MyJobScotland, this only imports very limited data and should not be relied upon to complete the application form.