Senior Practitioner

TN United Kingdom; Oldham; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading council in Oldham seeks a Senior Practitioner for Adult Social Care. The role involves managing a cluster team, conducting assessments, and developing care plans to improve life opportunities for residents. Candidates should have strong leadership skills and experience in social work. The council offers a supportive environment and a commitment to professional development.

Benefits

25 days annual leave

Discounted gym membership

Salary sacrifice scheme for home and electronics

Wellbeing support

Qualifications

• Experience in accurate assessments for complex care plans.
• Experience in leading and supervising staff.

Responsibilities

• Improve life opportunities for people using social work methods.
• Undertake assessments and develop Care & Support Plans.
• Supervise staff and ensure quality of work.

Skills

Negotiation

Leadership

Coaching

Job description

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Location: Across the clusters including Safeguarding and Duty

Closing Date: Tuesday 27th May 2025

Shortlisting & Interview Dates: TBC.

Role Overview:

Adult Social Care is going through a period of development to meet the current challenges facing social work nationally. In Oldham the priority is to provide a stable and supportive management team for the cluster staff to enable the continued delivery of excellent standards of assessment and services.

As a senior practitioner you will be expected to actively contribute to the management of the cluster team, provide a level of expertise and knowledge to the staffing team, and to also deputise in the managers absence.

Key Responsibilities:

• To improve life opportunities for the people of Oldham, their carers and families using tested social work methods and models, often of a complex and challenging nature.
• To undertake the assessment of support needs for people, carers and families. To develop/ assist to develop Care & Support Plans for people.
• To prepare, attend and participate in meetings and decision-making forums, for example, Court appearances, Reviews, Panels, Case Conferences and the weekly managers team meetings. You will be expected to chair meetings as appropriate.
• To undertake first line supervision and/or support of staff including checking the quality of work via the audit process and assisting the Team Manager to allocate work based on priority.
• To ensure the wellbeing of the staffing team is maintained and promoted in often challenging times.

Key Requirements:

To succeed in this role, you will need as a minimum:

• Experience of undertaking accurate and sensitive assessments of people, their Carers, and Families to produce Care & Support Plans that will be of a complex nature and may include assessments for court.
• Experience of implementing, monitoring, evaluating and updating Care & Support Plans through person centred planning principles and relevant procedures. Through the process of supervision and audits you will be required ensure Oldham’s key value of strengths-based approach underpins the work being delivered.
• Ability to negotiate with others both internal and external, e.g. health service or voluntary sector organisations, to secure appropriate services for people, their Carers and Families. You will be able to step in and support your staffing team to feel confident in this area.
• You will need to demonstrate experience in leading, coaching and or supervising staff at any level of the work force and be a point of reference for guidance and decision making when required.
• Experience of deputising or stepping in for line management when the need arises.
• You will have the drive to continue with professional development, supervision and progression within Oldham Council
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and therefore expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

About Us:

We want Oldham to have vibrant, safe neighbourhoods where people are proud to live with opportunities for healthier, more fulfilled lives; and a sustainable, thriving economy. As we look to the future, the challenges may be significant, but so are the opportunities. We’ve identified three missions with our residents and partners, focusing on what will deliver the biggest impact:

A Great Place to Live, Healthier, Happier Lives, and Green and Growing.

We’re looking for candidates who will support us to achieve our ambitions and we encourage you to download our Corporate Plan: Ready for the Future and our Oldham Plan for further information.

Our Values and Behaviours:

By driving innovation, investing in our people, and championing our communities, we will ensure that Oldham continues to be a place where everyone can live their best life. To support this, we have three core values which define who we are and how we operate. These are ‘Proud, Ambitious, and Together’, and they shape our culture, inform our decisions, and inspire us to deliver on our commitments to the people of Oldham.

We have translated these values into five behaviours which guide our actions and are the standards we hold ourselves to, day in and day out:

• Work with a resident focus
• Support local leaders
• Committed to the borough
• Delivery high performance
• Take ownership and drive change

You can find out more about our values and behaviours on our greater.jobs Oldham page

Our Benefits Package:

At Oldham Council we offer a great benefits package for our employees, which includes the following:

• 25 days annual leave which increases after 5 and 10-years’ service
• The option to purchase additional annual leave.
• An attractive LGPS benefit pension scheme with the option to make shared cost additional voluntary contributions.
• Discounted gym membership with Oldham Active.
• Staff discount scheme for shopping, entertainment, eating-out, eating-in, travel, motoring and more.
• Salary sacrifice scheme for home and electronics and Cycle to Work.
• Wellbeing support, including a Mental Health First Aider network and an Employment Assistance Programme that provides 24 hours access to advice and support.
• Staff recognition and celebration events.

Inclusive Recruitment:

We work closely with employees to help them work at their best, including making adjustments such as flexible working, describing available working patterns, providing equipment or making changes to the workplace.

NB. - Any candidate that meets the criteria of our Guaranteed Assessment Scheme and meets the essential criteria of the role, will be guaranteed the first stage of assessment (whether that is an interview or another assessment, as appropriate).

Our Guaranteed Assessment Scheme supports candidates with disabilities, have previously been in or currently in care, those that are carers, and those who have served in the Armed Forces as a regular, reserve or cadet.

Data and Privacy:

For details of how we use your data please see our privacy notice.

Important Information:

Please note that should a vacancy that has been released for internal or external recruitment be deemed suitable for a current employee at risk of redundancy, it can be pulled back at any point, up to the post being formally offered to a candidate who is not at risk of redundancy.

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