Practice Manager - Family Help (Patchway / West Hub)

South Gloucestershire Council; Patchway; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous annual leave

Wellbeing support

Staff discounts

Training and development

Job summary

South Gloucestershire Council is seeking a Practice Manager within the Family Help and Best Start Community team to lead a team of family support workers. You will oversee assessments, plans and interventions, ensuring high-quality practice and compliant with thresholds and statutory responsibilities.

They welcome flexible working options (full-time with part-time, job-share) and require a recognised Level 5 management qualification and post-qualification experience in children's services.

Qualifications

• Recognised professional qualification relevant to the role (youth work, early years, social care).
• Significant post-qualification experience in children's services, including supervising staff.
• Ability to lead staff, manage performance and resources with professionalism and discretion.
• Sound understanding of safeguarding and relevant legislation affecting children and families.

Responsibilities

• Line manage and develop family support workers, promoting wellbeing and professional development.
• Provide reflective supervision, case oversight and quality assurance.
• Oversee risk, thresholds, referrals and step-up/step-down decisions with senior social workers.
• Build multi-agency relationships to coordinate strengths-based, whole-family responses.

Skills

Leadership

Supervision

Partnership working

Communication

Organisational skills

Decision making

Safeguarding knowledge

Education

Level 5 management qualification

Relevant social care qualification

Tools

IT systems proficiency

Job description

How you'll make a difference

Join a childrens's social care service rated Good by Ofsted, where strong practice, supportive leadership and positive outcomes for children are recognised. As Practice Manager, you will lead a team of family support workers acting as Family Help lead practitioners, overseeing targeted interventions that help prevent needs from escalating and improve outcomes for children.

Working within a Family Help and Best Start Community team, you will provide supervision and oversight of practice, supporting alternatively qualified practitioners to work with families facing challenges such as mental health needs, domestic abuse, substance misuse and poverty. Through effective partnership working and sound decision-making, you will help ensure support is coordinated, strengths-based and focused on achieving lasting change.

What you will be doing

Rather than routinely holding cases, the focus of your role is on enabling, guiding and quality assuring the practice of others to ensure children and families receive effective support. With support from a team manager, you will provide day-to-day leadership and oversight of assessments, plans and interventions, supporting practitioners to deliver high-quality practice while ensuring work is consistent with agreed thresholds, statutory responsibilities and service standards.

• It will be your responsibility to line manage, supervise and develop family support workers, promoting wellbeing, professional development and confident practice.
• You will provide reflective supervision, case oversight and quality assurance, ensuring assessments, plans, interventions and reviews are outcome-focused and effective.
• Using your professional judgment, you will oversee risk, thresholds, referrals and step-up or step-down decisions, working closely with senior social workers or team managers.
• A key aspect of your role is building strong multi-agency relationships and supporting practitioners to coordinate strengths-based, whole-family responses.

What we need from you

• It is essential that you hold a recognised professional qualification relevant to the role, such as a qualification in youth work, early years, social care or a Level 5 management qualification.
• We are looking for someone with significant post-qualification experience within childrens's services, including supporting vulnerable children and families and supervising staff to deliver high-quality practice.
• You will have the ability to lead and develop staff, manage performance and resources, and handle confidential and sensitive matters with professionalism and discretion.
• Given the nature of your role, you will have a sound understanding of safeguarding, relevant legislation and the national issues affecting children and families, with the ability to use this knowledge to improve outcomes.
• You must have strong partnership-working, communication and organisational skills, together with experience of using performance information and relevant IT systems to monitor and improve service delivery.
• A structured, supportive and emotionally intelligent leaderships style will be key, alongside the ability to make confident decisions, provide effective challenge and maintain a strong focus of safeguarding, relational practice and positive outcomes.

What you need to know

• Although advertised as full time, applications are welcomed from experienced managers seeking part-time, job-share or flexible working arrangements.
• An enhanced DBS check is required due to the nature of the work with children and families.
• Travel throughout the authority and surrounding area is expected, including homes, schools, youth centres, police and partner premises, so a full driving licence with access to a vehicle or an alternative suitable means of travel is needed.

We anticipate interviews will be held week commencing 26th October 2026.

How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different

• As part of our benefits package, you will receive generous annual leave (pro rata), employee wellbeing support and you will have access to a range of staff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities.
• We recognise that our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities.
• We value our staff as individuals, investing in their careers and we are recognised for the quality, breadth and depth of our training and development offer, which helps make the greatest long-term difference in work.
• What is special here is the strength of the team ethos. We are a relatively small local authority, so managers know staff well. They can plan their services to ensure teams have manageable caseloads and have effective supervision so feel supported to make decisions which are right for the children and young people they work with.
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. Ensuring all our staff are given right skills, knowledge and support to recognise and respond effectively to potential abuse or neglect.

Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.

• We're building and shaping communities which people are proud of.
• We're working with the most vulnerable in our community to help them achieve what they want in life.
• We're investing in our schools to ensure every child and young person in South Gloucestershire achieves their full potential.

We've achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference.

We're making a difference, be part of it!