Children and Families Advanced Practitioner

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

Job summary

A local authority in Tewkesbury is looking for an Advanced Practitioner in Children and Families to provide expert guidance and support to a dedicated social work team. The successful candidate will model systemic practice, oversee quality assurance, and facilitate team learning. Competitive salary and benefits such as welcome payments and flexible working options are offered. A valid Social Work England registration and experience at a Senior level are required.

Benefits

Welcome payment of up to £4,000

Annual retention payment of £2,000

Relocation package up to £8,000

25.5 days annual leave

Flexible working opportunities

Qualifications

• Must be registered with Social Work England.
• Have experience working as a Senior Social Worker.
• Hold a recognised Social Work qualification.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate team development and deliver complex social work practices.
• Model Gloucestershire’s relational systemic practice model.
• Provide direction and support to Less Experienced Social Workers.

Skills

Social Work England registration

Experience at Senior Social Worker level

Driving licence and willingness to drive

Education

Recognised qualification in Social Work

Completed ASYE year

Job description

Overview

Children and Families Advanced Practitioner

• Job Location: Tewkesbury & Stroud

• Salary: £48,226 - £51,356 per annum

• Hours per Week: 37

• Closing Date: Ongoing

• Job Requisition Number: 9624

• Open to job share or part-time hours

We are currently seeking Advanced Practitioners to join our Children and Families teams in Tewkesbury and Stroud.

About us

• Between £48,226 - £51,356 per annum subject to experience

• Welcome payment of up to £4,000*

• Annual retention payment of £2,000*

• Relocation package up to £8,000*

• Flexible and agile working opportunities

• 25.5 days annual leave rising to 30.5 days after 5 years continuous service

• 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.

• In-house Occupational Health service

• Employee discount scheme

• Cycle to work scheme

• Links to employee networks such as Prism (LGBT+) and the Young Employees Network

• Career development and qualification opportunities

• Access to our Social Work Academy

• Paid SWE registration renewal

Our vision

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 you

As an Advanced Practitioner you are at the heart of Gloucestershire’s practice model. You will hold an expert role within your team. Your role includes facilitating the team and service’s ability to develop and deliver complex social work practice through a combination of joint working, practice advice and guidance, and quality assurance.

You will also model Gloucestershire’s relational systemic practice model and will help promote Gloucestershire’s practice standards across the team.

Advanced Practitioners provide direction to team members around improving the quality of practice. This may include activities such as quality assuring an assessment or attending joint visits with social workers to support their learning.

As an Advanced Practitioner you may provide Newly Qualified Social Workers in the team with monthly reflective supervision and undertake one of the observations of practice, however management of the NQSW will sit with Team Managers. You will also support any Social Work students within the team.

You will have a joint lead for a particular area of practice offering a weekly consultation to practitioners from across the service to book into, to support them to develop their practice in that specific area.

You will work closely with the Social Work Academy through regular forums and training to ensure standardised practice across the teams, bringing new learning and training opportunities to social workers within your team.

As an Advanced Practitioner you will hold a small number of cases, ensuring you have dedicated time to follow your other duties.

How to apply

For an informal chat about this role, please email [e-mail] with your name, number and what you wish to discuss, and a member of the team will give you a call within 48 hours.

To ensure a personalised and responsive recruitment experience, all applicants will receive a call from the recruitment team to discuss this role, where you would like to practice, and in what area, and to book you in for an interview.

Video: https://youtu.be/_F58gxejBqY

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

Requirements

• Social Work England/ Wales registration

• Experience at Senior Social Worker level

• A recognised qualification in Social Work

• To have completed your ASYE year (if you qualified after 2012)

• A full driving licence and willingness to drive

• Enhanced DBS clearance

How to apply (cont.)

For informal chat details, contact the recruitment team as above. The council will consider sponsorship for this role, in line with Home Office regulations and subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks.

*Please note, all our welcome payments and retention payments are non-contractual, pro rata for part-time staff and subject to National Insurance and tax deductions.

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

Additional Information: Access the Job Profile for this role at the link: Advanced Practitioner Role Profile

Childrens Recruitment Booklet

This position is subject to a DBS check.