Practice Lead - Reunification

Durham County Council; Tudhoe; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A local government entity in Tudhoe is seeking a reunification practice lead to inspire change in social work. You will support social workers and practitioners, ensuring that children in care can return home effectively. The ideal candidate will have a degree in social work, strong knowledge around reunification, and experience supervising others. This role offers a competitive salary, hybrid working, and extensive professional support.

Benefits

Competitive salaries and holiday allowances

Hybrid working options

Learning and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Current Social Work England Registration required.
• Strong knowledge base and experience in reunification practices.
• Experience in mentoring or supporting other practitioners.

Responsibilities

• Provide advice and guidance to managers and practitioners.
• Work closely with social workers and foster carers.
• Help develop skills of social workers and other professionals.

Skills

Transforming working culture

Supervising practitioners

Reunification knowledge

Education

Degree in social work or equivalent

Job description

Overview

Do you want to inspire change and transform the way we support children in our care to return home to live with their birth families?

If you are an experienced social worker ready to make a real difference to the way we practice in Durham around reunification this could be the right job for you!

WHAT IS INVOLVED?

As a reunification practice lead you will provide advice and guidance to managers, case-holding practitioners and policy makers and work closely with social workers, foster carers and other professionals, helping them to develop their skills.

These are two brand new non-case holding roles where you will be able to see the impact of your work on our practice.

You will be joining us at a fantastic time. Inspectors have just judged our Children’s Services as outstanding and “social workers told inspectors that Durham is a great place to work. Their words and actions convey a sense of belonging and they view Durham as their employer of choice.” You can read the full report here.

HOW WILL I BE SUPPORTED?

We are passionate about social work in County Durham. We are committed to providing a culture where good practice can flourish.

We will ensure you are highly supported. You will benefit from high quality professional supervision, a great induction, and access to our strong learning and development offer. If you are looking to take a step into management our aspiring managers programme “rising stars” is there for you.

We encourage flexible working to achieve a good work-life balance.

You can find out more about social work in Durham here.

WHAT WILL I NEED?

To apply for one of these exciting new roles you will need a commitment to transforming the working culture to inspire change for the children and families we support and:

• A degree in social work or equivalent social work qualification and current Social Work England Registration
• A strong knowledge base and experience of practice around reunification
• Experience of supervising/mentoring/supporting other practitioners
• Be able to employ your own knowledge, experience, practice skills, networks and values to create a rich and inspirational learning experience for practitioners

Please refer to the attached person specification for the full criteria.

If successful, you will be required to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure.

TO FIND OUT MORE

It’s a great idea to speak to us before you apply. To find out more about the post, please contact Deb Loraine, Service Manager via email at [e-mail] to arrange an informal discussion.

REWARDS AND BENEFITS

We offer generous rewards and benefits that are designed to help you perform at your best:

• Competitive salaries and 27 days holiday per year rising to 32 days after five years continuous local government service.
• Option to purchase up to 10 additional days annual leave per year.
• Excellent work/life balance through schemes including job sharing, compressed hours and flexi-time (allowing up to 13 flexi days per year).
• Hybrid working (home and office working).
• Excellent contributory career average Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Plus, top up options - Salary Sacrifice Shared Cost AVC scheme and standard AVC scheme for members of the LGPS.
• Wellbeing Portal and access to an Employee Assist Scheme.
• Wide range of learning and development opportunities including professional qualifications, coaching and mentoring.
• Employee Benefits Portal and Lifestyle Savings Scheme (discounts across a host of major retailers).
• Discounted DCC gym membership.
• Staff networks run by staff for our staff, including Race Equality and Diversity, Disability, LGBT+, Armed Forces, Carers, Menopause.
• Trade Union membership.
• A range of other salary sacrifice schemes such as car leasing.

Rewards and benefits are subject to individual terms and conditions.

Take a closer look at our Rewards and Benefits here.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION

We are a proud equal opportunities employer and recognise that a diverse, talented workforce brings new ideas and new perspectives, which will facilitate growth and improvements to services.

We are committed to ensuring that our employment policies and processes are fair and equitable to all. We welcome job applications from everyone, and successful candidates are considered only on their skills and ability to do the job.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we encourage applications from disabled people and provide support throughout the recruitment process.

Take a closer look at our approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here

INTERVIEWS

Interviews will be held in person on 11 November 2025

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that can show they meet all the essential criteria and have indicated they have a disability, are a looked after young person, care leaver or a veteran.

HOW TO APPLY

In line with the County Council's Recruitment and Selection Policy, please note that we are unable to accept CVs. Applications must be submitted on-line via the Northeast Jobs portal.

Please use the ‘Person Specification’ section of your application form to demonstrate that you have the essential and where possible, desirable experience, skills, and knowledge. Candidates who do not evidence that they meet the essential qualifications and experience listed on the person specification will not be short-listed.

If you have any support needs or require assistance when applying for this role, please contact our Recruitment Helpdesk on 03000 26 27 27 (option 2), or the Recruitment Team via email at [e-mail]

We collect personal information from you when you register with North East Jobs and make an application. Details on how we process your personal data is available in our Privacy Notice.

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