Senior Practitioners - Assessment Team

Cambridge County Council; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation package

CARE – Cambridgeshire Academy for Reh‑

Refer a Friend £350

Wellbeing package

CPD time (6 days)

Retention payments £9,118

Job summary

Cambridgeshire County Council is seeking an experienced Senior Social Worker to join the South Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Assessment Teams. You will manage a complex caseload, lead statutory assessments and contribute to timely, proportionate responses for children and families.

You will mentor junior staff, produce court reports (Sections 7, 37, 31) and collaborate with Targeted Support Services to ensure safe decisions across the county.

Qualifications

• Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England.
• Significant experience in statutory children's services.
• Experience of court work (Section 37 and 31 reports).

Responsibilities

• Lead statutory assessments and strategy discussions.
• Produce high-quality reports for court under Sections 7, 37 and 31.
• Mentor and support less experienced colleagues.
• Support the Team Manager with recruitment and induction of new staff.

Skills

Statutory experience

SWET knowledge

Written communication

Verbal communication

Decision making

Emotional resilience

Travel availability

Job description

We are looking for an experienced, passionate and enthusiastic Senior Practitioner who has the child's voice at the heart of everything they do to join us in both our South Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Assessment Teams!

This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a high-performing and supportive team, where your leadership, experience and professional judgement will be highly valued.

The Assessment Team is the first point of contact for statutory intervention. Our work is dynamic, fast-paced and focused on delivering timely, proportionate responses to children and families at levels 3 and 4 of the Cambridgeshire Levels of Need framework.

We work closely with our Targeted Support Services to ensure that families can be stepped down to early help when appropriate, helping to strengthen relationships and prevent escalation.

What We Offer

• Dedicated administrative support from Children's Information and Advice Officers (CIAOs) to reduce paperwork and free up time for direct work
• Monthly reflective supervision and team learning sessions
• A creative and collaborative team environment, where your ideas and professional voice are heard
• A hybrid working model with a mix of office-based (Fawcett House in Cambridge or Scott House in Huntingdon), visits and remote working. However, please note that as part of the Council's ongoing Asset Review, the Fawcett House office base may change during 2026. Teams currently located at Fawcett House may be relocated to an alternative site within the County, which in most cases will be in close proximity to the current location.
• Opportunities for progression through our career development pathways

Closing Date Sunday 23rd August.

Our benefits

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• 6 days of protected time each year to support in maintaining your Continuous Professional Development
• A relocation package (eligibility applies)
• Scalable retention payments of up to £9,118 over a 3 year period, starting after your first full year of employment
• ARefer a Friend Schemewhere if you refer another Social Worker to us who is subsequently employed by us as a result of that introduction, we'll pay you an introduction fee of £350
• Access to our Cambridgeshire Academy for Reaching Excellence (CARE) who will support your development, enabling you to become the best practitioner you can be

For more information and to see our other benefits, take a look at the benefits brochure attached to this advert.

What will you be doing?

As a Senior Social Worker, you will manage a complex and varied caseload and support less experienced colleagues through mentoring and modelling best practice.

You will lead statutory assessments, strategy discussions, Section 47 enquiries, and produce high-quality reports for court under Sections 7, 37 and 31.

You'll also be expected to complete SWET assessments and care plans where needed, contributing to positive and sustainable outcomes for children.

You will support the Team Manager where required including the planning, allocation and review children, alongside supporting with the recruitment and induction of new staff.

About you

We're looking for a motivated and confident individual who is passionate about improving outcomes for children and families. You'll be confident in analysis and decision-making, emotionally resilient, and able to manage competing priorities while maintaining high standards.

You will:

• Be a qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England
• Have significant experience in statutory children's services, ideally including Section 17 and 47 assessments, and experience of court work (Section 37 and 31 reports)
• Be familiar with SWET and its application in care proceedings
• Have strong written and verbal communication skills, with a child-centred approach to assessment and planning
• Be confident working both independently and collaboratively
• Be able to travel across the county independently as required

This is a Senior Social Worker post, you must be able to demonstrate experience in complex case management, court proceedings, and providing informal support or supervision to others.

For a full list of the requirements of the role, please check out the Job Description & Person Specification.

About us

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don't meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don't be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-career