Senior Social Work Practitioner - First Response

Come and be part of our Outstanding First Response Service, Assessment and Screening. It's an exciting time to be a part of Children and Family Services at Leicestershire County Council, our staff are at the heart of delivering excellent services to children and families across Leicestershire. Our recent Ofsted inspection praised Leicestershire's work to build "strong and long-lasting relationships" with children and families which lead to many families achieving "positive changes" in their lives.

About the Role

We have Senior Practitioner roles within the First response, Assessment team. These are exciting opportunities to be part of a diverse and highly skilled team, we are looking for a passionate, dedicated, and child focused social worker. As a Senior Practitioner within the Assessment team, you will be within 1 of 5 team PODs, consisting of a team manager, a senior practitioner and five social workers. This is predominantly an office-based role but there is scope to work flexibly which is balanced with meeting the service needs and demands.

You will be expected to produce quality assessments that are timely and proportional to level of need. As well as support staff on complex assessments, or scenarios where greater experience is required, i.e. care proceedings. You will lead and present at development meetings, support with service performance and the learning and development of individuals as well as the team.

In Leicestershire we have a fantastic package to provide our workers. This includes the option as a full-time worker to do hybrid working, celebrating diversity with a range of events throughout the year, recognition of our staff in annual Pride in Practice events, fantastic learning and training opportunities – enabling our staff to develop and progress within their roles and committed wellbeing support.

We are proud of our continuous improvement plan – 'Achieving Excellence through Purposeful Practice' which sets out our key values, behaviours and ambitions. We have embedded the Signs of Safety approach throughout our services and this approach mirrors our values of Aspiration, Being Curious and Collaboration. We are focused on working with families and the networks of family, friends and professionals around children, to work in collaboration to achieve shared goals.

We are committed to our vision of becoming a trauma informed responsive department where we believe we are "stronger together". Our culture is one of partnership, where we look for solutions and recognise the potential impact of trauma on the children and families we work with and on our staff. We will strive to create a safe, compassionate, healing environment demonstrated through relationships based on trust, respect, hope and empathy.

We support and empower our staff to be the best that they can be. We will give you the support and resources that you need to work in collaboration with children and families. A DBS enhanced check for a regulated activity is required for this post.

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

• Be a qualified Social Worker holding a Social Work degree or equivalent, e.g., CQSW, DipSW (with specialism in children’s services) and be registered with Social Work England.
• Extensive knowledge, experience and application of social work legislation, methodologies, social care policies, guidance, procedures and case reviews. This includes demonstrating your experiences with regards to complex case work and court work in private and public law.
• Demonstrate the ability and experience of supporting with the service performance and the learning and development of the team and individuals as well as a commitment to your continuous professional development.
• Understand, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion and demonstrate this in your practice with Children, Young People, Families and your peers.
• Understand and demonstrate experience of the importance of multi-agency working and the differing roles, responsibilities, remit and functions of other parts of the wider service and agencies.
• The ability to communicate clearly and accurately, both orally and in writing, with a wide range of people, including representatives from other agencies and court, completing reports and assessments to a high standard, thus being a model of good practice.
• Excellent demonstration of the ability to prioritise effectively, manage competing demands to meet deadlines and the flexibility to respond to changing requirements. This includes stepping in and supporting staff in the absence of the Team Manager.
• Hold a valid driving licence and have access to a vehicle.

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process. Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.

Interested in Flexible Working? We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual’s personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council.

If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact: Danielle Webster – Team Manager, First Response.