Senior Practitioner - Referral and Assessment (Kingston)

ACHIEVING FOR CHILDREN COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY; York; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A community interest company is seeking a Senior Practitioner to join their Referral and Assessment Team in York. This role involves supporting and mentoring colleagues, ensuring effective child protection, and working closely with families and stakeholders. The ideal candidate will have significant experience in social work, strong analytical skills, and a commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

Benefits

29 days annual leave, increasing with service

Flexible working options

Local Government salary and pension scheme

Comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme

Learning and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Educated to a degree level with a relevant qualification in social work and Social Work England registered.
• Experience in child protective investigations and statutory services.
• Proven ability to use data and research for decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Support and mentor peers, including practice educators and students.
• Conduct child protective investigations and contribute to court work.
• Chair complex meetings and plan packages of care for children.

Skills

Analytical skills

Decision making

Relationship building

Education

Degree in Social Work (CSS/CQSW or DipSw, MA SW, BA Hons SW)

Postgraduate qualification in social work, leadership and management

Job description

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About the role

As a Senior Practitioner within the Referral and Assessment Team, you will have proven and extensive experience encompassing two main areas - the support and development of peers within the team and the skills and knowledge in working with families.

Team based experience will include: support and mentoring of others using supervisory experience and supporting Students, ASYE and placement experience such as Practice Educator; Facilitating and running peer group supervision sessions and developmental opportunities; Commitment to embracing and developing learning, with use of theory and research. Experience in working with children and families will include: confidence in undertaking child protective investigations, alongside safety and contingency planning; court work and pre-proceedings experience including report writing, statements and care planning; child focussed direct work that role models creativity and purposefulness; experience in working with children throughout a journey of statutory services, including becoming 'looked after'; and having the confidence in chairing complex meetings.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Shontelle Harries (Head of Service) via email: [e-mail]

About you

• Educated to a degree level with a relevant professional qualification in social work (CSS/CQSW or DipSw, MA SW, BA Hons SW) and Social Work England Registered.
• Postgraduate qualification in a relevant field i.e. social work, leadership and management.
• Experience of building strong partnerships, maintaining relationships and co-producing solutions to challenges across a diverse set of stakeholders, including children, young people and their families. Advocating the voices of those we are working with.
• Proven ability to effectively use research, data, intelligence and evidence to create meaningful insight and to inform own decision making.
• Experience of keeping and maintaining records (in accordance with local policy) and producing accurate reports, presentations, written updates to a range of stakeholders (which will include families, children or young people).
• Knowledge of statutory legislation and national policy drivers that will affect children's services and your role.
• Strong analytical, and planning skills for assessing, and reviewing children and young people's needs, and planning packages of care across a range of cases, able to explain professional reasoning judgements, and decision making.

About our benefits

We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:

• 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years with an additional day off in your birthday month (Or for term-time workers, your leave entitlement consists of the non-working periods in your contract)
• Tailored induction sessions commencing on the date you start working for AfC
• Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension)
• Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance
• A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
• A range of staff benefits and discounts
• An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway

To find out about all of the breadth of benefits of working for Achieving for Children click here . For our social work offer click here . For our Recruitment Journey, click here.

Important Information

Start dates: Achieving for Children have set start dates meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month. Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.

Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.

Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

For more information about AfC: Drop in and meet Regina on the first Wednesday of every month at Civic Centre, Twickenham.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.