Children's Practitioner

Derby City Council; Derby; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 33,000; Full time

Job summary

Derby City Council is looking for a Children’s Practitioner to join the City Wide CRE Team. In this role, you will provide support to families facing challenges related to sexual and criminal exploitation. The successful candidate will engage with families to improve outcomes for children and contribute to multi-agency efforts in the community.

Benefits

Flexible work/life balance scheme

Hybrid working

Continued professional development opportunities

27 days annual leave

Local Government Pension Scheme

Team Derby Rewards

Employee Assistance Programmes

Qualifications

• At least 2 years’ experience of direct work with children, young people and families.
• Experience working in a multi-agency setting.
• Ability to contribute to service plans for children and families.

Responsibilities

• Manage a caseload and provide tailored support to families.
• Work directly with children and young people to improve their outcomes.
• Support parents/carers in developing their parenting skills.

Skills

Child-focused work

Communication skills

Team collaboration

Education

NVQ level 3 or equivalent

Job description

The job requirements are detailed below. Where applicable the skills, qualifications and memberships required for this job have also been included.

Job details

Job title Children's Practitioner Job reference 000011249 Date posted 02/07/2025 Application closing date 09/07/2025 Working Pattern Blank Salary Grade G £32,115 - £32,235 a year Contractual hours Blank Basis Blank Job category/type Social Care - Children Attachments Blank Job description

Directorate: People Services
Hours: 37 hours a week
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: Stanley Road with hybrid working

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our City Wide CRE Team as a Children’s Practitioner.

We are looking to appoint an enthusiastic, self-motivated and committed Children’s Practitioner to work as part of our multi-agency team, to provide package of support to young people and their families who are experiencing all forms of sexual or criminal exploitation. (CRE)

The team composes of a mixture of Early Help roles, including a youth worker, children’s practitioners and runaway’s worker.

The CRE Teams focus is:

A dedicated specialist worker who can support the family/ young person intensively.

Offer a tailored package of support to families who are experiencing CRE.
Evidence based family support to prevent family breakdown and offer support and guidance to families of CRE.

Set small achievable goals for families via a safety plan.

Diversionary activities.

Work with High to Medium risk CRE cases and if appropriate low risk.

Reducing criminalisation of victims of exploitation.

The Opportunity

In the role of Children’s Practitioner, here’s an example of what you’ll be doing to make an impact:

The successful candidates will work as part of our City Wide CRE Team to offer front line services to families where there are concerns identified around sexual and criminal exploitation. They will be passionate about delivering individual and quality services to improve outcomes for children and families.

Responsibilities will include:

• Ensure that parents/carers are given every opportunity and support to assist the development of their strengths and parenting skills and abilities to improve the outcomes for families and children.

• Carry out direct work with children and young people which is child-focused and acknowledge individuality and wishes and feelings as part of wider assessments and planning of services.

• Manage a caseload, planning and delivering services to families based on an assessment of needs.

About You:

To be successful in this role, you’ll ideally have…

• At least 2 years’ experience of direct work with children, young people and families, working in a multi-agency setting in partnership with parents and carers

• NVQ level 3 or equivalent in a relevant qualification.

• Contribute to the assessment, planning, creation, implementation and evaluation of service plans for children, young people and families.

Who We Are

Here at Derby City Council, we’re dedicated to delivering nearly 250 first-class services to citizens and businesses in the heart of the Midlands. People are at the centre of all that we do, and we have an outstanding track record of recruiting and developing talented individuals by providing them with varied and fulfilling career opportunities. Find out more about what it’s like to work for us.

What We Offer

You too could be part of something brilliant by becoming a colleague at Derby City Council; in addition to making a difference to the lives of people across the city, you’ll also receive:

• Flexible work/life balance scheme
• Hybrid working
• Modern office environment
• Continued professional development opportunities & career conversations
• 27 days annual leave (rising to 32 days after 5 years' service)
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Team Derby Rewards – retail and leisure discounts
• Tusker Car Benefit Scheme
• Cycle2Work Scheme & free cycle training
• Employee Assistance Programmes & Support
• Access to our Equality Employee Networks – LGBTQ+, Disabled Employee Network & Carers and our Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Employee Support Network
• Support for colleagues who are carers

Next Steps

If you would like to apply for this vacancy, please submit an application via the Derby City Council website.

The closing date for this vacancy is at midnight on 9 July 2025. Any applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.

Interviews will be held: Tuesday 22 and Thursday 24 July 2025 at Osmaston/Allenton Family Hub

Important Information

Links to the full Job Description and Person Specification are below.

As part of our safer recruitment checks the successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.

All employees will normally be appointed to the minimum of the grade for the job.

Before you complete your application form please read our guidance on filling in your application form.

Remember to align your personal statement to the essential criteria in the Person Specification.

Please be aware that where there are colleagues within the organisation who are 'at risk' of redundancy, requirements to redeploy to another suitable role will apply and take priority.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

We are a fair and inclusive employer and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds. We recruit for diversity and value difference. As many of our roles can now be home-based, we are able to offer more opportunities for people who need this facility.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. If you are a disabled person, you have the choice to apply under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme so long as you demonstrate that you meet the essential requirements for the job.

We feel it is essential that we recruit a talented workforce that is as diverse as the community we work for.

Please let us know of any individual requirements or reasonable adjustments you may have during the application, interview, or onboarding process and we’ll do all we can to help. We strongly believe in social understanding of disability and for us it’s all about removing barriers to equality.

If you have any questions regarding this vacancy or are having difficulty applying, please contact our Recruitment Team on 01332 640844 (Relay UK - 18001 01332 640 844) or at [e-mail]. https://www.derby.gov.uk/signing-service/

Please see Job Description here

Please see Person Specification here

Please see DBS Code of Conduct here