Lead Advanced Social Worker – Safeguarding & Court Practice

London Borough of Hounslow; Greater London; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

London Borough of Hounslow is seeking an Advanced Social Work Practitioner to provide expert leadership on complex, high-risk cases and to drive safeguarding outcomes for children and families in a diverse borough. You will mentor colleagues, lead court work initiatives, and support high-quality decision-making across the service.

The role focuses on quality assurance, reflective supervision, and service development, reporting to a team manager.

Qualifications

• Has 3 years post-qualifying experience in Children's Social Care.
• Experience managing complex child protection, pre proceedings, and court cases.
• Expert knowledge of childcare legislation, PLO processes and legal frameworks.
• Ability to prepare robust court statements, care plans and reports.
• Capable of providing leadership, mentoring and coaching to social workers.
• Excellent analytical skills and professional curiosity.
• Strong understanding of permanence planning including adoption and kinship care.
• Advises on legal thresholds, care planning and complex casework.
• Builds relationships with legal representatives, CAFCASS, health and police partners.
• Committed to reflective practice and service improvement through QA and audits.

Responsibilities

• Keep children safe by contributing to child protection investigations and providing assessments.
• Assess needs of children and families, including pre-birth assessments, with engaged views.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to deliver effective plans.
• Produce high-quality verbal and written reports for meetings and legal proceedings.
• Gather information via interviews, observations and engagements with families.
• Develop and review care and protection plans within statutory frameworks.
• Fulfil statutory duties such as visiting children and preparing court reports.
• Conduct ongoing assessments of complex needs and safeguarding risks.
• Support practice improvement through knowledge sharing and audits.

Skills

Social Work

Court work

Leadership/mentoring

Analytical thinking

Risk assessment

Agency liaison

Job description

London Borough of Hounslow is seeking an Advanced Social Work Practitioner to provide expert leadership on complex, high-risk cases and to drive safeguarding outcomes for children and families in a diverse borough. You will mentor colleagues, lead court work initiatives, and support high-quality decision-making across the service.

The role focuses on quality assurance, reflective supervision, and service development, reporting to a team manager.