Practice Development Manager in Gloucester

Location: Badminton Road

How you'll make a difference:

Joining a Good rated children's social care service, you will have the opportunity to contribute to practice that is child-centred, relationship-based and focused on continuous improvement. As Practice Development Manager for Risk Outside the Home (ROTH), you will provide professional expertise and strategic leadership to strengthen high-quality practice across Family Help and Social Care. You will lead the strategic response to risks outside the home, maintaining oversight of ROTH themes across the service and helping practitioners, managers and partners respond confidently to complex safeguarding concerns affecting children and young people.

What you will be doing:

• This role provides strategic practice development leadership across Family Help and Social Care, with a particular focus on strengthening how we respond to Risk Outside the Home.
• Working alongside practitioners, managers and partners, the post helps build confident, consistent and child-centred practice in complex safeguarding situations.
• By using research, audit, quality assurance and direct practice insight you will understand where practice is working well and where improvement is needed.
• Through coaching, mentoring, group learning and constructive challenge, the role supports staff to reflect on their work, strengthen professional judgement and embed systemic, relationship-based practice.
• You will work across Family Help and Social Care service areas and multiple teams, influencing practice and improvement activity without directly managing those teams.
• You will lead and guide practice development in relation to Risk Outside the Home, supporting consistent, confident and child-centred safeguarding practice across Family Help and Social Care.
• Use audit, quality assurance, research and casework evaluation to identify strengths, risks and improvement needs, working with Service Managers to support practice development.
• Provide coaching, mentoring, group training and reflective challenge to help practitioners and managers strengthen professional judgement and systemic practice.
• Contribute to panels, specialist meetings, partnership workstreams and targeted change activity where practice improvement, inspection preparation or service development is required.

What we need from you:

We require you to be a qualified Social Worker with current Social Work England registration and substantial post-qualifying statutory child protection experience. You will have expert knowledge of child protection law, statutory guidance and local procedures, with confidence applying significant harm and Section 47 thresholds consistently. You will have proven ability to lead and chair complex multi-agency safeguarding meetings, including Strategy Discussions and Child Protection Conferences. You will be skilled in overseeing the child protection process, analysing complex risk and evidence, balancing professional views and making clear, defensible decisions. You will bring strong collaborative multi-agency working skills, supporting effective information sharing, coordinated partner contributions and a shared understanding of risk. You will be committed to child and family participation while managing complex workloads, urgent safeguarding decisions, statutory timescales and accurate records. You will need to bring clarity, confidence and professional curiosity to a high-volume and complex safeguarding environment, supporting consistent thresholds, reducing drift and helping partners work together effectively in the best interests of children and families.

What you need to know:

Although this post is advertised as a full-time position, we encourage and welcome applications from experienced practitioners and managers who may be seeking flexible working arrangements. Please note that due to the nature of this role, it is a requirement of employment that an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is obtained. You may be required to work from any Council office location and may at times be required to work outside normal office hours.

How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different:

As part of our benefits package, you will receive generous annual leave (pro rata), employee wellbeing support and you will have access to a range of staff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities. We recognise that our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities. We are recognised for the quality, breadth and depth of our training and development offer, which helps our people make the greatest long-term difference in their work. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, ensuring all our staff are given the right skills, knowledge and support to recognise and respond effectively to potential abuse or neglect.

Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here. We're building and shaping communities which people are proud of. We're providing essential services across our communities to ensure they are safe and well maintained. We've achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference. We're making a difference, be part of it!