Advanced Practitioner: Championing Restorative Child Care

Advanced Practitioner – Children We Care For

Permanent, Full time Band F - £45,091 - £51,356 per annum.

At Solihull Council, we pride ourselves on being a Council that is small enough to care, but big enough to make a difference. We have been rated Good in our most recent Ofsted Inspection in 2025 but continue on our transformational journey, designed to improve the experience of the children and families we work with. Children’s Services is our top priority within our Council Plan, and we are placing children at the heart of all that we do. We’re excited to be implementing the Social Care Reforms in Solihull.

We are recruiting an Advanced Practitioner for our Children We Care For Service. We are looking for an exceptional candidate who is passionate about improving the lives of children, young people and their families at this exciting time, here in Solihull.

You will be responsible for ensuring high quality and effective social work practice within your team and will lead and develop the professional practice of team members and model and facilitate restorative practice. As an Advanced Practitioner you will hold a reduced caseload of complex and challenging children and young people, line‑manage alternatively qualified staff within the social work team and assist and deputise for your Team Manager. You will support best practice development, through sharing expertise and providing support and development for other practitioners. You will use your social work expertise and a clear child focus to secure the best for our children, young people, and families.

Due to our investment and commitment to ensuring additional resources are in place, our Social Workers have genuinely manageable caseloads, to ensure the best possible outcomes for our children, young people and their families.

You will be Social Work qualified, registered with Social Work England and have substantial post‑qualifying experience of practice with children, families and their carers. You will also have:

• Significant experience working within a pressurised children’s social work environment.
• Knowledge of relevant up‑to‑date social work legislation, statutory guidance, theories and research and how it impacts on practice.
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills, to enable you to build strong relationships with children, young people and their families / carers, as well as wider partners and voluntary agencies.
• A full driving licence and access to a car, though reasonable adjustments will be made for disabled applicants where required.
• A passion and understanding of permanence for children we care for.

We are ambitious in Solihull and are building a stronger Solihull for our children, families and workforce. Connecting Families is the name of Solihull Children’s Services practice framework. At its core Connecting Families demonstrates the beliefs, values and principles of restorative practice and gives us a consistent relationship‑based way of practising to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families.

We believe that families and their relational networks are of primary importance and are the most important influence on improving outcomes for children. We believe that children and their family networks are experts in their own lives and experiences and that children and their family networks have strengths, on which they should be empowered to build, and draw on through effective family‑led decision‑making. We take the approach that children re‑in our care for now and not forever – with an ambition to support our children and young people to live within their own relational networks wherever safe to do so.

In return, we offer the opportunity to work in a highly motivated and supportive team where your contribution will really be valued. We also offer:

• Flexible working arrangements
• Family and carer friendly policies
• Access to the local authority Pension Scheme
• Employee benefits including staff discounts, subsidised travel passes, and Cycle 2 Work
• Generous annual leave of 25 days a year plus bank holidays, with the opportunity to buy a further 10 days leave.
• Our Employee Assistance Programme, a 24‑hour independent, free, and confidential advice and support service.

This post will require an enhanced DBS and barring list check. This is an essential car user post as the demands of the job make it operationally essential and there is a contractual requirement to make a suitable vehicle available to ensure the requirements of the job can be carried out effectively. Applicants must be able to drive, have a driving licence and be a car owner / have access to a suitable vehicle; however for disabled applicants, reasonable adjustments will be made where required.

This post is covered by the Fluency Duty, as outlined in the Code of Practice on the English language requirements for public sector workers. Solihull Council is proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees – a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. Solihull Council has a responsibility for, and is committed to, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk, and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.