Family Solutions Practice Lead

Essex County Council; Braintree; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Essex County Council is seeking a Family Solutions Practice Supervisor to supervise staff and drive positive outcomes for children, young people and families. You will manage referrals, allocate tasks, and support staff development while maintaining strong partnerships with partner agencies.

The role requires professional social work registration, supervisory experience, and a commitment to continuous practice improvement within a large local authority.

Qualifications

• Professionally qualified in social work and registered with Social Work England. Ideally you will hold a practice educator qualification or be willing to work towards achieving one and have some supervisory experience.
• At least three years post qualified with evidence of post qualification development.
• Demonstrable skills in staff supervision and experience of developing good practice with staff through approaches such as coaching, joint working/observations, and reflective discussions.
• Experience of dealing with incoming referrals effectively, risk assessing and allocating tasks. Have an ability to problem solve in crisis.
• Experience of cases allocation, and safety planning.
• Ability to work effectively in partnership with a wide range of professionals, building relationships to promote safety of children and resolve differences.
• Commitment to practice improvement and able to utilise the principles of effective practice to improve outcomes for children and young people with a range of complex needs.
• Good presentation skills and be able to use these to represent the team (in the absence of the Team Manager) at locality strategic planning meetings.
• Working knowledge of children's service legislation and guidance; including understanding of current changes to early help / family help / Families First Partnership Programme.

Responsibilities

• Supervise staff from a range of professional backgrounds and support them to work creatively.
• Manage new referrals via a duty system, making decisions about required actions and allocating work.
• Support Team Manager in maintaining effective working relationships with partners.
• Participate in locality strategic planning meetings and represent the team when required.

Skills

Staff supervision

Coaching

Joint working/observations

Reflective discussions

Risk assessment

Safety planning

Partnership working

Practice improvement

Presentation skills

Crisis management

Education

Social work qualification

Practice educator qualification

Job description

Essex County Council is seeking a Family Solutions Practice Supervisor to supervise staff and drive positive outcomes for children, young people and families. You will manage referrals, allocate tasks, and support staff development while maintaining strong partnerships with partner agencies.

The role requires professional social work registration, supervisory experience, and a commitment to continuous practice improvement within a large local authority.