Lead Child Protection Practitioner

Stoke-on-Trent City Council; Stoke-on-Trent; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

LGPS

Professional development

Generous holidays

Pension scheme

Annual leave purchase

Cycle to work

Lifestyle benefits

Job summary

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is seeking a Lead Child Protection Practitioner to act as an expert in safeguarding and to support proportionate, timely multi-agency decisions when children are at risk of significant harm.

You will provide specialist consultation, chair complex meetings and work closely with families to strengthen safety planning. The role includes contributing to audits and service development within a growing Children and Families workforce.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in complex children’s social work.
• Experience with section 47 enquiries and looked-after children.
• Strong knowledge of safeguarding legislation and practice.
• Ability to chair meetings and influence practice across networks.
• Commitment to restorative and anti-discriminatory practice.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist child protection consultation to practitioners and managers.
• Support enquiries, joint visits, safety planning and evidence-based decision making.
• Chair strategy discussions, conferences and safeguarding meetings.
• Engage directly with children and families to understand experiences and safety planning.
• Oversee information sharing and escalation of safeguarding procedures.
• Contribute to audits, guidance, mentoring and service development.

Skills

Complex child protection work

Section 47 enquiries

Court experience

Mentoring and influencing

Education

Social work qualification & registration

Job description

As a Lead Child Protection Practitioner within the Multi-Agency Child Protection Team, you will be a recognised expert in child protection. You will support proportionate, timely and evidence-based multi-agency decision making where children may be at risk of significant harm.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist child protection consultation to Family Help Lead Practitioners, Practice Leads and managers.
• Support section 47 enquiries, joint visits, safety planning and evidence-based decision making.
• Chair strategy discussions, child protection conferences and other relevant safeguarding meetings.
• Work directly with children and families to understand daily lived experience and strengthen engagement in safety planning.
• Oversee appropriate information sharing and ensure safeguarding procedures are followed and escalated when necessary.
• Contribute to audits, performance monitoring, practice guidance, mentoring and service development.

Pre-Employment Checks

Any offer of employment will be subject to the successful completion of required pre-employment checks. These may include:

• Right to Work in the UK.
• Proof of address.
• Satisfactory references.
• Occupational Health clearance.
• Evidence of relevant professional qualifications or registrations.
• A DBS check at the appropriate level.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council's diverse and talented workforce is its greatest asset. The skills, knowledge and experience of our employees are essential to delivering our ambitions for the organisation and the city. We want to be an employer people are proud to work for, where staff are supported, developed and rewarded in an inclusive way that helps them excel and deliver the high-quality services our residents need.

We are growing and developing our Children and Families workforce as part of an ambitious programme of service transformation. We are looking for talented, committed and values-led professionals to join us.

A recognised social work qualification and current registration with Social Work England.

Qualifications

• Considerable experience of complex children's social work, including section 47 enquiries, court work and looked-after children legislation.
• Extensive and current knowledge of safeguarding legislation, statutory guidance, child development and risk assessment.
• Experience of chairing complex, emotionally charged meetings and reaching robust decisions.
• Strong consultation, mentoring and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge practice and professional networks.
• A clear commitment to restorative, relational and anti-discriminatory practice.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is a unitary authority employing approximately 4,600 staff who deliver 700 services to more than 260,000 residents. Our city comprises of six towns: Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall. We are a city of strengths, with a proud heritage and bright future. We have undergone significant changes over the last few years. New ways of working have already transformed many service areas and we are determined to continue to develop more innovative approaches to ensure that we can maximise the benefits of transformation.

Our city Although the 13th largest city in the UK, Stoke-on-Trent is rapidly outstripping a number of parts of the country with our economic growth and recovery. Stoke-on-Trent is a city with a strong sense of civic pride - we've been voted the kindest city in the UK - and a place where you'll receive a hugely warm welcome. We have a rich and diverse culture, steeped in our prestigious industrial heritage as the celebrated 'world capital of ceramics'. But we don't just want to celebrate our proud past - we firmly believe that Stoke-on-Trent's best years are ahead of it. We are determined to raise aspirations and match them with high-quality education and health provision, as well as improved opportunities to secure fulfilling and well-paid work. Through uniting social and economic opportunities, we are maximising the full power of the city council as a secure and steadfast institution within the city.

Key Highlights

• Join a new multi-agency model designed to strengthen child protection decision making.
• Use your expertise to influence practice across Family Help and Children's Social Care.
• Play a central role in improving safety and outcomes for children across Stoke-on-Trent.

When you work for Stoke-on-Trent City Council you'll be helping to improve the lives and wellbeing of our residents. We'll provide you with support, learning opportunities and flexible working options and some amazing benefits.

What we offer

• A competitive salary based on your skills, experience and talent.
• Hybrid and flexible working options, where these are compatible with the needs of the role and service.
• Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Professional development through learning opportunities, regular training and apprenticeship and management programmes.
• Generous holidays.
• An excellent defined local authority benefit pension scheme.
• Annual leave purchase scheme.
• Cycle to work schemes.
• Lifestyle benefits offering discounts such as family days out, travel, retail and many more.

Our Commitment to You

Vibrancy and diversity are two of Stoke-on-Trent's greatest assets. A city founded on creative endeavour should value and celebrate the multitude of voices, ideas and identities that shape its culture. We are committed to creating a culture which is truly inclusive, where all staff feel valued, listened to, supported and able to do their work to the best of their abilities at all times. And we must ensure that our decisions and policies nurture and empower communities across our city and do not inadvertently disadvantage groups and individuals that we want to help to thrive. Our approach to Equality and Diversity is an invitation to all our communities to work with and for us so we can continue to improve how we deliver services residents need. Our employee networks are inclusive, open forums for colleagues with similar lived experiences. They allow staff to meet, support and mentor each other, alongside being a voice for under-represented groups to advise and support the organisation when developing policies and services.