Advocate

Lambeth Council; London; Hybrid; GBP 61,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A local council in London seeks a Children's Social Care Advocate to provide high-quality legal advice and representation in child protection matters. The successful candidate will have advocacy skills and experience in child litigation. This position offers a competitive salary, hybrid working, and a range of employee benefits, including generous annual leave and professional development opportunities.

Benefits

Participation in Staff Networks

Generous annual leave entitlement

Membership in the Local Government Pension Scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Occupational Sick Pay

Discounts at local restaurants

Learning and Development opportunities

Cycle to Work Scheme

Qualifications

• Experience in childcare or child litigation is essential.
• Ability to deliver high-quality legal advice in a variety of forums.
• Proven track record in advocacy and client relations.

Responsibilities

• Provide advocacy in Social Services matters including hearings.
• Deliver cost-effective, strategic legal advice to the Council.
• Manage complex legal matters with minimal supervision.

Skills

Child protection law

Public sector experience

Legal analysis

Client relations

Advocacy skills

Education

Qualified Solicitor or Barrister

CILEX Advocate

Job description

Overview

Children's Social Care Advocate x2 posts

PO7: Starting salary £61,686 pa rising in annual increments to £64,938 per annum incl LW plus £5,000 pa market supplement

In addition to the salary, we also offer legally qualified new starters a £5,000 welcome bonus which is payable 50% after 6 months and 50% after 12 months in the role.

Hybrid working

About Us

It is an exciting time to join Lambeth Council, we have bold ambitions for the future of Lambeth’s communities and residents through our Lambeth 2030 Plan ‘Our Future, Our Lambeth’.

To deliver on these ambitions, we have embarked our transformational One Lambeth Programme ensuring we are ‘connected by purpose,’ in everything we do to deliver excellence. We are proud to have recently developed a refreshed set of One Lambeth Values and Behaviours that were developed for staff by staff; Equity, Ambition, Kindness, and Accountability. For more information, please have a look at our dedicated One Lambeth Values and Behaviours page.

About the Borough

Located in the heart of South London, Lambeth Borough is a vibrant community of over 317,600 residents. Stretching from Streatham in the South to Waterloo in the North, we are proud to be the 9th largest borough in London. Our diversity is our strength, with more than 130 languages spoken, making Lambeth the home of the Windrush generation, London\'s largest LGBTQ+ community, and a thriving Portuguese-speaking community.

With exceptional schools, lush green spaces including Brockwell Park, cultural gems like the Black Cultural Archives, and world-renowned institutions such as St Thomas's Hospital, Lambeth offers an enriching and dynamic environment.

About the Team

Lambeth Legal Services is an in-house practice, committed to providing a high quality, effective and value for money legal service to the Council's support officers and members, to ensure that the Council exercises its powers and duties lawfully. We are passionate about driving excellence and innovation to ensure we meet the evolving needs of our borough and council. We are embarking on a period of transformation, building an operating model that meets the needs of the business and aligns with the council’s strategic objectives. Legal Services is committed to the Law Society's Practice Management Standard (Lexcel).

You will be joining a specialist child litigation team which offers expert legal advice and support to the Council in all aspects of child protection and welfare law. The team prides itself on being able to provide cost effective high quality, accurate, strategic, solutions focused legal advice and representation to the Council, upholding our values of equity, kindness, accountability and ambition. You will work within a friendly, supportive, collaborative team environment.

The Role

We are looking for a qualified Solicitor, Barrister or CILEX Advocate ideally from within the public sector to join our expanding team of experienced professionals and play a vital role in helping to deliver focused, high-quality advice and representation.

The successful candidate will be expected to provide advocacy as an in-house advocate in Social Services matters to include contested and final hearings of up to 14 days including care, placement, adoption, DOL and private law proceedings.

• You will need to be able to deliver at pace, specialist advice on complex legal matters that is informed by appropriate legal and factual analysis and identifies the consequences of different options, as required with minimum supervision in a variety of forums.
• You will be responsible for ensuring the Council receives cost effective high quality, accurate, strategic, solutions focused legal advice and representation in the areas of childcare law, local government law and such other areas as are allocated from time to time.
• You will need to be enthusiastic, highly organised, proactive, flexible, able to work under pressure, manage competing deadlines and work as part of a team and on your own initiative. We are looking for individuals with a real commitment to the job.
• You will support the Principal Social Care Lawyer in meeting operational requirements, service level agreements and performance targets.
• You will build and maintain excellent client relations acting as a role model to achieve service and council wide objectives.
• This post requires a qualified solicitor, barrister, or CILEx with a current practising certificate and experience of working in childcare/child litigation.

This post is subject to a Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service. Successful candidates will be asked to apply for an Enhanced Certificate from the DBS. Further information about the DBS can be found at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/agencies-public-bodies/dbs .

For detailed qualifications and requirements, please review the job description and person specification in hyperlink below:

Job Description and Person Specification

Contact Information

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Ellie Rae at [e-mail]

How to Apply

If you\'re interested in this opportunity, click on the apply button and complete an online application. In your supporting statement, please clearly demonstrate how you meet the shortlist criteria marked with an 'A' at shortlist stage.

We operate an anonymised application process, so be sure to remove personal details when uploading your CV or personal statement.

Recruitment Timelines

Advert close date: 11:59pm on Sunday 28 September 2025.

Shortlisting: 29 and 30 September 2025.

Interviews will be held from 6 to 10 October 2025.

Benefits

We believe in rewarding our staff. When you join us, you'll gain access to a range of benefits, including:

• Participation in our 5 Staff Networks: Black, Asian, and Multi-Ethnic, LGBTQ+, Disability, Young Professionals, and Women's.
• Generous annual leave entitlement starting from 27 days, increasing to up to 35 days depending on length of service.
• Membership in the Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Hybrid Working.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Occupational Sick Pay based on length of service.
• Discounts at local restaurants.
• Discount at our Active Lambeth Gyms.
• Learning and Development opportunities, including Apprenticeships.
• Cycle to Work Scheme.
• Secure Bike Storage facilities at our Town Hall and Civic Centre.
• Trade Union Membership.

At Lambeth, we are dedicated to providing quality services and equal opportunities for all. We are committed to safer recruitment and are proud to be a Stonewall diversity champion, a Living Wage Employer, and to guarantee interviews for all disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria of the role. For a full list of our accreditations, please click here.