Practice Lead - Early Help

Bradford Children and Families Trust; Bradford; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 64,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous annual leave

Local Government pension

Family-friendly policies

Health & wellbeing support

Professional development

National Living Wage employer

Job summary

Bradford Children and Families Trust is seeking an experienced Practice Lead to shape Early Help practice across Bradford, coordinating across Family Hubs, Early Help, Early Years and SEND programmes. You will lead improvements, promote high standards and support workforce development to deliver outcomes for children and families.

You will hold a Level 5 qualification and have deep safeguarding knowledge, with a track record of driving service change, coaching practitioners and partnering with

Qualifications

• Hold a Level 5 qualification (or equivalent) in Social Work, Teaching, Nursing, Youth Work, Early Years or a related discipline.
• Experience of working within children and family services and a commitment to continuous professional development.
• Strong understanding of Early Help, safeguarding and a strengths-based approach.

Responsibilities

• Lead and contribute to service improvement and transformation activity across prevention and early intervention services.
• Promote and embed high standards of practice with assessments and plans that are child-focused and outcome-driven.
• Support partnership to increase access to high-quality Early Help Assessments, Family & Friends Network meetings and Family Plans.
• Develop high-quality, evidence-informed practice through coaching and workforce development.
• Use performance information and QA activity to identify strengths and drive improvements.
• Collaborate with internal teams, partners and commissioned services to deliver integrated support.
• Contribute to development, implementation and evaluation of strategies, policies and programmes.
• Champion continuous learning, innovation and reflective practice.
• Ensure the voice of children, young people and families is embedded in service development.

Skills

Leadership

Change management

Coaching & mentoring

Communication

Partnership working

Quality assurance

Education

Level 5 qualification in Social Work/Teaching/Nursing/Youth Work/Early Years

Job description

Bradford is on an ambitious journey to transform outcomes for babies, children, young people and families. Early Help plays a vital role in supporting children, young people and families at the earliest opportunity, helping to build on strengths, improve outcomes and prevent needs from escalating. As we continue to develop and strengthen our Early Help offer across Bradford, we are looking for an experienced and passionate Practice Lead to help drive high-quality practice, innovation and continuous improvement across our services.

About the Role

As a Practice Lead, you will play a key role in shaping and improving Early Help practice across Bradford. Working across Family Hubs, Early Help, Early Years, SEND and Best Start in Life programmes, you will support the development of a skilled workforce and work with partners to strengthen Early Help delivery across the system.

• You WillLead and contribute to service improvement and transformation activity across prevention and early intervention services.
• Promote and embed high standards of practice across the Early Help partnership, ensuring assessments and plans are child-focused, outcome-driven and completed to a consistently high standard.
• Support the partnership to increase the number of children and families benefiting from excellent quality Early Help Assessments, Family & Friends Network meetings and Family Plans, ensuring a strengths-based approach that delivers meaningful outcomes for families.
• Support the development of high-quality, evidence-informed practice through coaching, challenge and workforce development.
• Use performance information, quality assurance activity, research and learning to identify strengths and drive improvements.
• Work collaboratively with internal teams, partners and commissioned services to deliver integrated support for children and families.
• Contribute to the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies, policies and programmes that improve outcomes.
• Champion a culture of continuous learning, innovation and reflective practice.
• Ensure the voice of children, young people and families is embedded within service development and improvement activity.

This is a unique opportunity to play a key role in the development of Bradford's Early Help system, driving high-quality practice across the partnership and helping to ensure that children and families benefit from effective, coordinated and timely support.

About You

You will need:

• You will hold a Level 5 qualification (or equivalent experience) and/or a relevant professional qualification in Social Work, Teaching, Nursing, Youth Work, Early Years or a related discipline, together with experience of working within children and family services and a commitment to continuous professional development.
• You will have significant experience of working with children, young people and families, with a strong understanding of Early Help, prevention, early intervention and safeguarding, and experience of promoting a strengths-based whole family approach to improve outcomes.
• You will have experience of leading or supporting service improvement, workforce development, quality assurance or performance management activity.
• You will be passionate about improving outcomes and ensuring children and families receive the right support at the right time.
• You will be confident in building effective relationships and influencing practice across teams, services and partner agencies.
• You will have experience of using performance information, audit findings, research and feedback to identify opportunities for improvement and drive change.
• You will have excellent communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to support, challenge and inspire practitioners, managers and partners.
• Deep commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

What We Offer

These benefits are available to all staff:

• Generous annual leave - 31 days rising to 34 with service, plus bank holidays
• Excellent Local Government pension
• Family-friendly policies and enhanced parental leave
• Health & wellbeing support, including Occupational Health and counselling
• Professional development and career progression opportunities
• we are a National Living Wage employer

For full details of our benefits, please see the attached ‘Our Benefits’ brochure.

Closing Date: 18th Oct 2026
Shortlisting: w/c 19th Oct 2026
Interviews: w/c 26th Oct 2026