Advanced Practitioner - Children's Brokerage and Quality Assurance

London Social Work for Children; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

£4,000 annual market supplement for CP

Generous pension scheme

Part-time/0.5 FTE potential

Job summary

The London Borough of Havering seeks an experienced Advanced Practitioner for its Children’s Brokerage and Quality Assurance service. The role blends supervision, complex case management and strategic input to improve outcomes for children in care.

You will supervise a small team, support quality assurance across contracted providers, and contribute to service development with commissioners and care providers. DBS check applies.

Qualifications

• Must hold a recognised social work qualification and be registered with Social Work England.
• Specialist knowledge of social work practice with children and families.
• Experience in managing or supervising staff in a children’s services setting.
• Ability to manage complex cases, including home-searches for children in care.
• Experience of quality assurance processes and working with contracted providers.

Responsibilities

• Directly managing and supervising a small team of staff.
• Support the Team Manager in maintaining high professional standards.
• Provide consultation, coaching and mentoring within the team.
• Develop skills and knowledge across a range of practice issues.
• Support recruitment and team development.

Skills

Staff supervision

Complex case management

Analytical assessment

Mentoring and coaching

Strategic liaison with commissioners

Education

Social work qualification

Job description

Advanced Practitioner - Children's Brokerage and Quality Assurance

The London Borough of Havering is looking for an experienced and knowledgeable Advanced Practitioner to join its Children's Brokerage and Quality Assurance service. This is a specialist role that combines direct supervisory responsibility, complex case management, and a strategic contribution to improving outcomes for children in care.

In this role, you will manage a caseload of complex and challenging searches for homes for children, whilst overseeing the quality assurance of providers contracted by the council. You will bring specialist knowledge of social work practice with children and families to support the brokerage service in identifying good homes for children in care, and will represent the service in developing key service provision or local strategic initiatives with commissioners and care providers.

Key responsibilities include:

• Directly managing and supervising a small number of non-social work staff
• Supporting the Team Manager in maintaining and developing high professional standards across the team
• Providing consultation, coaching, and mentoring within the team, including effective case management, analytical assessments, and high-quality written work
• Taking responsibility for developing skills, expertise, and knowledge across a wide range of practice issues
• Supporting team development and the recruitment process

For an informal discussion about the post, please contact Simon Brown at [e-mail] . The closing date for receipt of applications is 25 October 2026; however, interest in this role may be high and Havering reserves the right to close the vacancy early. Please attach a supporting statement of no more than two A4 sides explaining why and how you meet the criteria for this role. Havering practises anonymised recruitment — please ensure you remove all personal information from any documents you upload.

About you

We want everyone to choose Havering. Our residents and service users come from all walks of life, and so do our employees — applications are considered on their merits regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, faith, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

The successful candidate will have specialist social work knowledge and demonstrable experience in a similar advanced or senior practitioner role. The ideal candidate will:

• Hold a recognised social work qualification and be registered with Social Work England
• Have specialist knowledge of social work practice with children and families
• Have experience of managing or supervising staff within a children's services setting
• Be able to manage complex and challenging cases, including searches for appropriate homes for children in care
• Have experience of quality assurance processes and working with contracted providers
• Be skilled in analytical assessment and producing high-quality written work
• Be able to provide consultation, coaching, and mentoring to colleagues
• Have experience of, or the ability to, engage with commissioners and care providers at a strategic level

The London Borough of Havering has important responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults. This post involves working with these groups and will therefore be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

About Havering

A message from our director:

There has never been a more exciting or meaningful time to join Havering Children’s Services.

Following the outcome of our Ofsted inspection in December 2023, we have embraced a clear and ambitious improvement journey, one defined by honesty, reflection and a genuine commitment to delivering the very best outcomes for children and families. As we move into year three of our improvement plan, we are not starting from scratch, we are building on strong foundations already laid and accelerating the pace of meaningful, sustainable change.

Alongside our improvement journey, we have continued to make strong progress in delivering the Families First Partnership Programme (FFPP) reforms. A key milestone in this has been the launch of our first Family Help pilot team in April 2026, developed in line with the national reforms to provide earlier, more joined up and relationship-based support for families.

Havering is an outer London borough like no other. Sitting in Northeast London (Zone 6), we have three Crossrail stations in borough which means we are only 30 minutes from Oxford Street. We are well connected to the hustle and bustle of the city, whilst just a short drive or bus ride from the surrounding Essex countryside and coast, giving our residents the best of both city and rural living.

It’s no wonder that we have one of the fastest growing and increasingly diverse child populations in the country, who benefit from living in one of the greenest areas in London. We have some amazing parks, 16 of which have green flag award status, and we are served by a rich mix of foundation, community, voluntary aided and academy schools with great Ofsted ratings.

Havering Town Hall, which hosts our main offices, is in the centre of Romford - our largest town and home to a vibrant street market dating back to 1247. Our offices are a 5 minute walk from the main shopping centres which host a range of popular shops, restaurants and gyms.

We are dedicated to creating the right conditions to support our social care practitioners to thrive by fostering an environment where you can develop your skills and knowledge alongside like-minded individuals. We value our employees and offer a range of benefits:

• A commitment to manageable caseloads and stable teams
• A clear and supported improvement journey, with a leadership team that is visible, committed and invested in your success
• £4,000 annual market supplement for Social Workers, Advanced Practitioners, Team Managers and Service Managers
• Accredited systemic training, in-house practice application workshops and reflective practice opportunities
• A tailored training programme and development opportunities through our dedicated Social Care Academy, plus a corporate offer of 10 days of learning per year
• A family-friendly employer welcoming applications for part-time roles at 0.5 full time equivalent
• Generous local government pension scheme and leave entitlement
• A strong corporate health and wellbeing offer, discounted gym membership, employee assistance programme and much more
• Annual staff recognition schemes (STAR awards and Social Care awards) celebrating staff commitment and achievement
• Access to a range of staff forums including LGBTQI+, RISE, Faith, Ability, Women's and Men's forums
• Modern workplace equipped with the latest technology
• Subsidised parking at various council-owned car parks across the borough