Advanced Practitioner - Corporate Parenting

Bellebrows; Catford; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Lewisham Council is seeking an experienced Advanced Practitioner for its Corporate Parenting team. The role involves leading a social work focused caseload, deputising for the team manager, and working in a hybrid office/home environment at Laurence House, Catford.

You will support looked-after children, collaborate with partners, supervise AYSEs and apprentices, and contribute to high-quality services for children and young people.

Qualifications

• Hold a recognised social work qualification and be registered with Social Work England.
• Substantial experience working with Children Looked After and in care proceedings.
• Demonstrate excellent knowledge of statutory safeguarding practices for children in need of help and protection in the context of corporate parenting.
• Experience supervising and mentoring staff, including AYSEs and apprentices.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with children and families where children are in care, including care proceedings and permanence planning.
• Collaborate with other professionals and agencies for coordinated support to children in care.
• Deputise for the team manager and provide leadership to a team of social workers and family practitioners.
• Monitor team performance and implement improvements in partnership with the team manager.
• Provide line supervision for AYSEs and social worker apprentices, mentoring staff in complex cases.

Skills

Social work

Leadership

Supervision

Mentoring

Job description

Advanced Practitioner - Corporate Parenting

Lewisham Council — proud to be recognised as the UK's first Borough of Sanctuary for its work championing the rights of refugees and migrants — has an exciting opportunity for a social work qualified Advanced Practitioner to join its Corporate Parenting team. This is a unique opportunity for a skilled and reflective practitioner who is creative and can work with children and their families in an innovative way to ensure they receive the right help at the right time.

You will work in a diversified team including advanced practitioners and social workers. This pivotal role offers the opportunity to manage a focused caseload and oversee duty responsibilities, while actively deputising for the team manager. The role is primarily based at Laurence House in Catford SE6, with two local train stations within a 3–5 minute walk and excellent bus links. Lewisham operates a hybrid approach, with a regular mix of office and home working.

Key responsibilities include:

• Working directly with children and families where children are in care, including those in care proceedings and progressing care plans for permanence, including adoption work
• Working collaboratively with other professionals and agencies to ensure a coordinated approach to supporting children in care
• Deputising for the team manager and providing leadership and support to a team of social workers, ensuring the delivery of high-quality services for children and young people
• Supporting the team manager to monitor team performance, identifying areas for improvement and implementing necessary changes
• Providing line supervision for AYSEs in their assessed year, social worker apprentices, and mentoring team members in complex cases

About you

Lewisham is looking for a confident, dynamic and forward-thinking practitioner with the expertise and passion to help shape its service and drive positive outcomes for children and their families. The successful candidate will bring strong leadership skills alongside a solid grounding in statutory children’s social care, and will be able to inspire, motivate and support those around them.

The ideal candidate will:

• Hold a recognised social work qualification and be registered with Social Work England
• Have substantial experience working with Children Looked After and in care proceedings
• Demonstrate excellent technical knowledge of statutory safeguarding practices for children in need of help and protection, in the context of corporate parenting
• Be experienced in progressing permanence planning, including adoption work
• Have the confidence and ability to deputise for a team manager and provide leadership to social workers and family practitioners
• Be motivated, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic, with a creative and reflective approach to practice
• Have experience of supervising and mentoring staff, including those in their assessed year (AYSEs) and apprentices

Lewisham Council is a Disability Confident employer and welcomes applications from candidates of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the application or interview process, please contact the recruiting manager. This post is subject to an Enhanced DBS check.

About Lewisham

Welcome to Lewisham – a vibrant and culturally diverse borough that is bursting with fantastic things to see and do. As a truly international borough with over 170 languages spoken in our homes and businesses, a thriving cultural scene, and a treasure trove of indie shops, bustling markets and more, it’s a great place to start and build a career.

Social work in Lewisham is changing and we have set out our vision and values for how we practice. In Lewisham Children’s Social Care (CSC), we know what good social work looks like and we are passionate about creating the right conditions and culture for good practice to thrive.

Our social workers benefit from working in small, supportive teams with caseloads on average between 15-20 children. Our ‘Signs of Safety’ practice framework means we are committed to working in a relationship-based way with children and families, focussing on strengths in the family network to effect change. A positive learning culture which promotes opportunities for reflection and relationship-based practice is important to us. We are committed to developing our practice using reflective practice spaces such as case mapping, thinking spaces and group supervision.

Our permanent and stable senior management team are visible and approachable. Our dedicated PSW and workforce team supports professional development across the service so that you will;

be supported through our comprehensive learning and development offer, which includes subscriptions to ‘Research in Practice’ and ‘Making Research Count’.

receive regular supervision and appraisal.

have 1-1 practice development coaching as a case holding practitioner, and professional development coaching as a manager.

have access to regular ‘Signs of Safety’ training and the opportunity to become a practice leader through attending our bespoke practice leader course.

have access to external leadership development opportunities such as Pathways and the Black and Asian Leadership Initiative (BALI).

have a clearly defined career progression pathway with opportunities for professional development at all levels.

We have a strong working relationship with Goldsmiths, University of London as part of the South East London Teaching Partnership so our practitioners have the opportunity to teach on social work courses as teaching consultants. We host ‘Step Up’, ‘Frontline’ and traditional route students and social workers have the opportunity to become practice educators.

Core CSC Staff Benefits include:

We have been awarded the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard – a benchmark for high employment standards. We are also one of the first London Councils to be accredited a London Living Wage employer and are a Disability Confident employer as well as a Timewise accredited Flex positive employer. We offer a 35-hour working week, and:

The opportunity to work in a thriving, diverse and developing inner London borough with a stable management team, manageable caseloads and a workforce group committed to promoting your development and emotional wellbeing

Generous salary for social workers at all levels

Generous holiday entitlement - starting at 27 days a year(pluspublic holidays)rising to 32 and 35 days after 5- and 10-years’ continued service.

Oyster card access for travelling in and around London for work and we are exploring initiatives, including Zip cars

Flexible working policies and a variety of hybrid, and flexible working options – we know how important this is to you

Smarter Working with new modern technology and training to support this

Career average pension scheme

Family friendly policiesincluding maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, and special leave for emergencies.

Variety of support schemes including key worker housing, tax-free childcare scheme, access to Civil Service Sports Club which offers financial discounts and savings on days out and entertainment. KAARP activities and entertainment discounts. We offer a shop local discount scheme, volunteering leave, long service awards, membership of the Crownsavers Credit Union and access to Payroll Giving.

Health and Wellbeing support includes a staff support hub and 24/7 employee assistance programme which incorporates mental health support, counselling services and access to the PAM Assist health and wellbeing app.

We have signed the Menopause Pledge and offer gender specific and gender-neutral health and wellbeing support with access to financial advice. We offer discounted gym and leisure centre membership including free lunch time swimming; interest free loans for season tickets, nursery childcare, and bikes, a “try before you buy” bike scheme and cycle training, smoking cessation, free eye tests and money towards glasses.

Active Employee Groups including the Black and Multicultural Forum, Anti-racist Network Group, LGBTQ+ Forum, Disabled Staff Forum, Climate Emergency Staff Forum, Trade Union Memberships, and a staff-led Change Network

Staff tell us they feel valued and enjoy working in Lewisham and are well supported by their managers with regular reflective supervision and good access to training.

“Lewisham has so much to offer any social worker. I feel supported, respected and valued every step of the way”

Lewisham Social Worker

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