Advanced Practitioner Leaving Care

Gloucestershire County Council; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

A local authority in Gloucester seeks an Advanced Practitioner Leaving Care to join their Staying Close Team. This role involves delivering core services to care leavers, holding a reduced caseload, and embedding systemic approaches. Candidates should have experience or interest in systemic social work practice. The position offers a salary between £48,226 and £51,356, with additional benefits including a relocation package and a supportive working environment.

Benefits

£4,000 welcome payment

£2,000 retention payment

up to £8,000 relocation package

25.5 days annual leave

flexible working opportunities

Local Government Pension Scheme

employee assistance programme

Qualifications

• Experience or strong interest in systemic social work practice.
• Willingness to drive.
• DBS clearance required.

Responsibilities

• Deliver core leaving care services.
• Hold a reduced caseload.
• Embed systemic approaches within the team.

Skills

Systemic social work practice

Collaboration

Creativity

Adaptability

Job description

Advanced Practitioner Leaving Care

Job Location: Gloucester

This is a Gloucestershire County Council job.

• Job Location: Shire Hall
• Salary: £48,226 - £51,356 per annum
• Hours per Week: 37.00
• Contract Type: Permanent
• Closing Date: 16/11/2025
• Job Requisition Number: 12724
• This post is open to job share

We are looking for two passionate and forward thinking Advanced Practitioners to join our Leaving Care Staying Close Team. We welcome applicants with experience or a strong interest in systemic social work practice, or a motivation to develop their skills in this area. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a developing model of support for care leavers, where creativity, collaboration, and innovation are central. The successful candidates will deliver core leaving care services, hold a reduced caseload, and play a key role in embedding systemic approaches within the team and the work they do.

Reward and Support

For all your hard work, you will receive the following:

• between £48,226 - £51,356 per annum subject to experience
• £4,000 welcome payment*
• £2,000 retention payment*
• up to £8,000 relocation package*
• flexible and agile working opportunities
• 25.5 days annual leave rising to 30.5 days after 5 years continuous service (pro rata for part-time staff)
• option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year (pro rata for part-time staff)
• family friendly policies and benefits to help support you and your family
• supportive and positive working environment with regular, robust supervision
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides free, confidential, counselling and advice for employees, available 24 hours a day, online and by telephone
• an in-house Occupational Health service
• employee discount scheme
• cycle to work scheme (eligibility criteria and t&c apply)
• links to employee networks such as Prism (LGBT+) and the Young Employees Network
• career development and qualification opportunities
• access to our Social Work Academy
• Green Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme (eligibility criteria and t&c apply)

Right child, right support, right time, every time

In our recent inspection in June 2025, our Children’s Services have been officially judged as ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ elements. Ofsted also said ‘Leaders have set out a clear vision for delivering success for children, by modelling values and creating a culture where the workforce, children and families feel valued and heard; risk is managed confidently with bottom lines clearly set out.’

This marks an important step in our journey to improve outcomes for our children and young people, and we remain focused on our mission: to continue building on this success and ensure that every child and young person in our county has the opportunity to thrive.

Gloucestershire offers a range of opportunities to develop your career, supported by a phenomenal Social Work Academy offer, a developing systemic practice methodology, an ambitious leadership team and an award-winning workforce.

We are a local authority adopting, and training all colleagues in, systemic social work practice. If you would like to be part of an authority that takes a relational approach to working with families and focuses on what needs to change in the system around a child and family to enable children to thrive, then consider a role with GCC.

About the team

As part of a project team, we actively encourage new ideas and are testing fresh ways of working to better meet the needs of care experienced young people and the wider service. The direction of travel for our service is evolving in response to the national and local agenda, including changes to the Staying Close framework, so we’re looking for individuals who are adaptable, open to change, and motivated to take on emerging responsibilities as our work develops.

The team currently consists of one Senior Leaving Care Personal Advisor, who leads on group work, independent living skills, and ASDAN, and two Leaving Care Personal Advisors, each of whom are anticipated to lead on specific areas of service such as housing.

About You

As well as your experience, there are some things we require of you to be successfully appointed to this post:

• a full driving licence and willingness to drive
• DBS clearance
• You have completed your ASYE year (if you qualified after 2012)

How to apply

For an informal chat about this role, please contact Tina Philp at [e-mail]

We reserve the right to close an advertisement earlier than the stated closing date if we receive a suitable number of applications.

Interviews are due to take place in person on Thursday 27th November 2025.

If you would like to find out more about our Children's Service please take a look here: Children’s Social Care Careers | Gloucestershire County Council