Childrens Advanced Social Work Practitioner

Sheffield City Council; England; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Westfield Secondary School is seeking an experienced Advanced Social Work Practitioner to lead high-risk cases while mentoring colleagues and supporting practice improvement. You will work autonomously on complex safeguarding matters, chair multi-agency meetings and prepare evidence for court, ensuring child-centred decisions within statutory timelines.

The role emphasizes reflective practice, continual professional development, and contributing to quality assurance and student supervision.

Qualifications

• Qualified and experienced social worker with autonomy.
• Proven ability to manage complex high-risk cases (Child in Need, Child Protection, care proceedings).
• Strong assessment, analytical and evidence-based decision-making skills.
• Confident multi-agency collaboration and relationship-building with children, families and professionals.
• Knowledge of relevant legal, statutory and regulatory frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex cases with high autonomy and robust safeguarding practice.
• Chair multi-agency meetings, conduct safeguarding investigations and prepare court reports.
• Provide mentoring, guidance and support to other social workers and students.
• Lead practice-improvement projects and contribute to quality assurance.

Skills

Advanced practice

Mentoring

Multi-agency liaison

Court reporting

Decision making

Education

Social worker qualification

Job description

Make your experience count for Sheffield’s children and families.

We’re looking for an experienced and confident social work practitioner who is ready to take the next step in their career. This is an opportunity to combine high-quality frontline practice with practice leadership, mentoring and service improvement - while keeping children and young people at the heart of every decision.

As an Advanced Social Work Practitioner, you’ll work autonomously with some of our most complex and high-risk cases, including Child in Need, Child Protection and care proceedings. Using relationship-based practice and the Signs of Safety framework, you’ll build meaningful relationships with children, young people and families, undertake robust assessments, develop evidence-based plans and use your professional judgement to help children stay safe and achieve the best possible outcomes.

You’ll work closely with families and partner agencies, chair multi-agency meetings, complete safeguarding investigations and statutory work, prepare reports and evidence for court, and support children and families through important transitions. You’ll be trusted to make sound, child-centred decisions in challenging circumstances and to ensure plans progress within statutory timescales.

This is more than a caseholding role.

You’ll be an exemplar of excellent social work practice, co-working complex cases and providing advice, guidance and support to social workers, including newly qualified colleagues. You’ll also have opportunities to support social work students, contribute to quality assurance and lead agreed practice-improvement projects.

What you’ll bring

We’re looking for a qualified and experienced social worker who can demonstrate:

• substantial experience of managing complex and high-risk children’s social work cases with a high degree of autonomy;
• strong assessment, analytical and evidence-based decision-making skills;
• experience of Child in Need, Child Protection and care proceedings, including report writing and presenting professional evidence;
• confident multi-agency working and the ability to build constructive relationships with children, families, carers and professionals;
• a sound understanding of relevant legal, statutory and regulatory frameworks;
• the ability to mentor, support and positively influence the practice of colleagues; and
• a commitment to reflective practice, continuous professional development and consistently high professional standards.

What we offer

We recognise the demands of advanced social work practice and the importance of supporting experienced practitioners to thrive. You’ll benefit from monthly reflective supervision, a structured development programme focused on current practice and shared learning, and opportunities to develop your mentoring and Practice Educator skills.

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.