Advanced Social Worker

London Borough of Hounslow; Hounslow; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

London Borough of Hounslow is seeking an Advanced Social Work Practitioner to lead complex child protection cases and drive safeguarding outcomes for children and families. You will act as a practice lead, mentor colleagues, and contribute to quality assurance and professional development across the service.

Working closely with managers and partner agencies, you will support high-quality decision-making, oversee court work, and help develop improved safeguarding practices that promote the

Qualifications

• 3 years post-qualifying experience in Children's Social Care, with experience of managing complex child protection, pre proceedings, and court cases.
• Expert knowledge of relevant childcare legislation, statutory guidance, Public Law Outline (PLO) processes, and legal frameworks affecting children and families.
• Is highly skilled in completing robust, analytical, and evidence-based assessments that support effective decision-making and withstand legal scrutiny.
• Has extensive experience of preparing high-quality court statements, care plans, and reports, and presenting evidence confidently within court proceedings.
• Can provide professional leadership, mentoring, and coaching to social workers, helping to strengthen practice standards and improve outcomes for children.
• Possesses excellent analytical skills and professional curiosity, with the ability to assess risk, identify emerging concerns, and make defensible decisions in complex situations.
• as a strong understanding of permanence planning, including rehabilitation, kinship care, Special Guardianship Orders, adoption, and long-term care arrangements.
• Is confident in advising and supporting practitioners on legal thresholds, care planning, and complex casework, ensuring decisions are child-centred and evidence-based.
• Builds positive and effective working relationships with legal representatives, CAFCASS, health professionals, education services, police, and other partner agencies.
• Is committed to reflective practice, continuous learning, and driving service improvement through quality assurance, audit activity, and dissemination of learning from court outcomes and reviews.

Responsibilities

• Keep children safe by undertaking or contributing to child protection investigations and providing clear assessments and recommendations to support decision-making.
• Assess the needs of children and families, including pre-birth assessments, ensuring their views are considered and comprehensive plans are agreed wherever possible.
• Work collaboratively with professionals across Children's Services and other multi-disciplinary teams to deliver effective plans in the best interests of children and families.
• Produce high-quality verbal and written reports for meetings and legal proceedings.
• Gather information through interviews, observations, and engagement with families and partner agencies.
• Develop, implement, and review care and protection plans within statutory frameworks, including child protection and pathway plans.
• Fulfil statutory responsibilities, such as visiting children, arranging reviews, and preparing court reports.
• Conduct ongoing, evidence-based assessments of complex needs and risks to ensure robust safeguarding.

Skills

Advanced practice

Court work

Mentoring

Leadership

Risk assessment

Child protection

PLO knowledge

Legal frameworks

Job description

About us at Hounslow

We'd love you to join us at the London Borough of Hounslow! Our people are deeply committed to providing excellent services to our residents, doing all we can to make lives as good as they can be.

We are an outstanding council, serving an outstanding borough. With brilliant, visionary leadership, a dynamic Cabinet and a can-do culture, we've built strong partnerships which have transformed how we serve one of London's most diverse boroughs. Hounslow is the world in one place and full of potential. We are stepping up for our residents like never before.

About our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We live by five core values: Lead with Heart, Do New, Pass on the Power, Harness the Mix and Be a Rock. All our work has equality, diversity and inclusion at its very heart, best articulated in "Harness the Mix". It's about breaking down barriers between our parts and people and unlocking the problem-solving power of our amazing mix of minds. We serve a diverse community, we have a diverse workforce and we are committed to being an inclusive employer.

We work hard to create representation across our workforce and leadership community, we have thriving employee network groups and our learning and development programmes help us lead, model and breathe ways of working that eliminate inequality, inequity, injustice and bias.

As part of this and under our commitments as a Disability Confident Employer, we make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates. There's space for you to tell us what you need within our application form.

Our Benefits

If you join us, you'll have access to a range of employee benefits. Read more about these here.

About The Role

Join Hounslow's Safeguarding and Support Team as an Advanced Social Work Practitioner, providing expert leadership on complex and high-risk cases while driving excellent outcomes for children and young people. You will act as a practice lead, mentoring and coaching colleagues, leading on a court work specialist area of practice, and supporting high-quality decision-making across the service. Working closely with managers and leadership teams, you will contribute to quality assurance, reflective supervision, service development, and the continuous improvement of safeguarding practice.

About The Team You'll Be Working In

Safeguarding and Support team's key purpose is to protect and promote the welfare of children and young people, ensuring they are safe and supported to thrive. The impact on children and families is life-changing helping families overcome challenges, reducing risk, and improving long-term outcomes for children.

Within the team, roles include Social Workers at different levels, Senior Practitioners who provide advanced expertise and mentoring, and Assistant Team Managers who oversee practice quality. You'll report to an Assistant Team Manager and work closely with multi-disciplinary professionals to deliver high-quality safeguarding services for children and young people in Hounslow.

About You

We're looking for someone who:

• Has 3 years post-qualifying experience in Children's Social Care, with experience of managing complex child protection, pre proceedings, and court cases.
• Demonstrates expert knowledge of relevant childcare legislation, statutory guidance, Public Law Outline (PLO) processes, and legal frameworks affecting children and families.
• Is highly skilled in completing robust, analytical, and evidence-based assessments that support effective decision-making and withstand legal scrutiny.
• Has extensive experience of preparing high-quality court statements, care plans, and reports, and presenting evidence confidently within court proceedings.
• Can provide professional leadership, mentoring, and coaching to social workers, helping to strengthen practice standards and improve outcomes for children.
• Possesses excellent analytical skills and professional curiosity, with the ability to assess risk, identify emerging concerns, and make defensible decisions in complex situations.
• as a strong understanding of permanence planning, including rehabilitation, kinship care, Special Guardianship Orders, adoption, and long-term care arrangements.
• Is confident in advising and supporting practitioners on legal thresholds, care planning, and complex casework, ensuring decisions are child-centred and evidence-based.
• Builds positive and effective working relationships with legal representatives, CAFCASS, health professionals, education services, police, and other partner agencies.
• Is committed to reflective practice, continuous learning, and driving service improvement through quality assurance, audit activity, and dissemination of learning from court outcomes and reviews.

As a Social Worker in our Safeguarding and Support Team, you will:

• Keep children safe by undertaking or contributing to child protection investigations and providing clear assessments and recommendations to support decision-making.
• Assess the needs of children and families, including pre-birth assessments, ensuring their views are considered and comprehensive plans are agreed wherever possible.
• Work collaboratively with professionals across Children's Services and other multi-disciplinary teams to deliver effective plans in the best interests of children and families.
• Produce high-quality verbal and written reports for meetings and legal proceedings.
• Gather information through interviews, observations, and engagement with families and partner agencies.
• Develop, implement, and review care and protection plans within statutory frameworks, including child protection and pathway plans.
• Fulfil statutory responsibilities, such as visiting children, arranging reviews, and preparing court reports.
• Conduct ongoing, evidence-based assessments of complex needs and risks to ensure robust safeguarding.

Read more about the work you'll be doing in the Role Profile.

When Interviews Will Be Held And Who To Contact

The key information you need about the role should be in the role profile, but if you have any further questions about the role, please contact:

Email: [e-mail]

Telephone: [phone]

Interviews for this job will be held during week commencing 16th November 2026.