Practitioner - Children’s Centres in Milton Keynes

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of benefits including:

• Great holiday benefits - most roles include 28 days annual leave every year on top of public (bank) holidays, increasing to 32 days after five years. There is also a holiday purchase scheme allowing staff to purchase up to 5 additional days of leave each year.
• Excellent pension – everyone who works for us can join the national Local Government Pension Scheme, widely regarded as one of the best available.
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity support and a childcare subsidy.
• Award-winning employee benefits programme that includes a health cash plan, a low-cost bike purchase scheme as well as high street discounts and money off entertainment and travel.
• Salary sacrifice car scheme - eligible employees can access low-cost leasing of electric and low-emission vehicles.
• Blue Light Card - employees working within social care can qualify for an additional range of discounts from national retailers and local businesses.

Our roles are either designated ‘site based’ or ‘home based’. ‘Site based’ roles can include up to two days a week working from home whilst ‘home based’ roles are based at home four days a week. Of course, managers designate which category roles are in based on the needs of the service and the circumstances.

We’re recruiting two Practitioners to join our Family Centre Teams at Milton Keynes City Council. Our Family Centres support families at the very start of Early Help, with a strong focus on areas of disadvantage and outreach to new and growing estates. The team provides early support to families experiencing domestic abuse and safeguarding concerns, helping children stay safe and thrive. Centres deliver a strong cost of living offer alongside development sessions that support children’s early learning and school readiness, with particular support for families with English as an additional language.

Family Centres are a key part of the Best Start to Life offer and play an essential role in meeting citywide objectives for children and families. Our centres are busy, welcoming spaces with over 46,000 attendances each quarter, offering universal, targeted, youth and wider community services.

As a Practitioner, you’ll deliver group sessions, provide direct work with parents, and contribute to Early Help across a large and varied remit. This is a key, front-line role within a dedicated and collaborative team, working directly with children and families to make a real difference.

This is a Site-Based role, and you’ll be expected to work from the designated workplace:

• Tickford Meadow Family Centre, MK16 9DS
• Saplings Family Centre, MK2 2HB

Interviews for this role will be held on 15th June 2026.

At Milton Keynes City Council, we aim to make a difference every day. We’re dedicated, respectful and collaborative. We act as one council, and we work hard to create cleaner, safer and healthier communities while tackling inequalities and supporting people to thrive.

Key Responsibilities:

• Plan and deliver Stay and Play, universal and targeted sessions that support the Early Years Foundation Stage and school readiness.
• Provide one-to-one and outreach support to parents of children under five, helping them understand child development and build confidence in their parenting role.
• Contribute to outreach work that engages families who find it difficult to access services, including those in new estates and areas of disadvantage.
• Work as part of a multi-agency Early Help approach, completing assessments and care plans where appropriate and acting as a lead professional when required.
• Support safeguarding practice and respond appropriately to families experiencing domestic abuse or other risks.
• Work flexibly across centres that operate fifty-two weeks of the year, from early to late, including youth and community provision.

Ideal Candidate:

• Qualification in Early education or Childcare related.
• Experience of planning or delivering activities for young children, ideally linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage.
• Confidence in supporting parents or carers, either through structured sessions or informal guidance.
• An understanding of the importance of outreach and engaging families who may find services hard to access.
• The ability to work collaboratively with colleagues, volunteers, and partner organisations.
• A caring, respectful approach that reflects our values of being dedicated, respectful, and collaborative.
• Good communication skills and a willingness to learn and develop within the role.

As part of the pre-employment checks, should you be offered the role, we’ll carry out an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, unless you are currently registered with the DBS Update Service.

Milton Keynes City Council is a large, modern and financially stable employer with around 2,500 people working across our eight areas. Together we provide local residents and businesses with a wide range of important round-the-clock services and aim to make our city a better place to live.

We work hard because of the demands placed on us, like protecting children from harm or preventing homelessness. However, working for the city is always rewarding and everyone has the opportunity to make a real difference.

We’re very proud of our diversity and are committed to having a workforce that reflects the community we serve. Whatever your background, you will be welcome here if you share our values of being dedicated, respectful and collaborative.

We offer great training and support and because of the size and scale of the organisation there are always new opportunities to explore when it’s time for a new role.