Senior Social Work Practitioner

Brighton & Hove City Council; Brighton; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 58,000; Full time

Job summary

Brighton & Hove City Council seeks a senior practitioner to lead a specialist team delivering trauma-informed, person-centred social care services for adults with overlapping needs. You will support the Service Manager daily, supervise social workers, and ensure safe, effective delivery.

You will oversee complex cases, uphold safeguarding duties, and foster professional development within a high-pressure environment, while building partnerships across housing, health and criminal justice

Qualifications

• Qualified with a recognised Social Work (or equivalent AHP/Nursing) qualification and professional registration.
• Strong knowledge of Care Act, Mental Capacity Act, safeguarding frameworks, and housing legislation.
• Significant experience with adults with complex needs (mental health, homelessness, substance use).
• Experience supervising staff, managing performance, and developing professionals in high-pressure settings.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day operational management of the service, including workload allocation and safe staffing.
• Line manage social workers and practitioners, supporting development and wellbeing.
• Lead on complex, high-risk cases with expert advice and oversight.
• Ensure compliance with statutory duties under Care Act 2014, Mental Capacity Act 2005, safeguarding responsibilities.
• Oversee safeguarding practice, risk management, and Section 42 enquiries.

Skills

Staff supervision

Complex case management

Multi-agency collaboration

Legislation knowledge

Budget management

Data-driven practice

Communication skills

Equality & inclusion

Education

Social Work qualification

Tools

IT systems

Job description

Do you have strong leadership skills and a passion for supporting staff to deliver high-quality social work practice?

Are you confident managing complex cases and making sound decisions in high-risk situations?

Do you thrive in a multi-agency environment, working collaboratively to improve outcomes for adults with multiple and compound needs?

Are you committed to delivering trauma-informed, inclusive and person-centred services?

The Enhanced Support Team provides enhanced Adult Social Care support to adults experiencing overlapping challenges such as homelessness, mental health difficulties, substance use, domestic abuse and contact with the criminal justice system. This role plays a key part in leading practice, supporting staff, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality, safe and effective services for residents whose needs require coordinated, multi-agency responses.

Contract type: This role is permanent

Interviews to be held: TBC

There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact Holly Croydon, Service Manager Operations on 07753280150 or email [e-mail]

About the role

This is a senior practice and operational role within a specialist service supporting adults with entrenched and overlapping needs. You will support the Service Manager in the day-to-day running of the team, ensuring safe, effective service delivery while leading and developing a team of social work professionals.

What you’ll be doing (tasks)

• Providing day-to-day operational management of the service, including allocation of work, oversight of caseloads, and ensuring safe staffing and service delivery
• Line managing and supervising social workers and other practitioners, supporting their professional development, performance, and wellbeing
• Leading on complex, high-risk cases, offering expert advice, decision-making, and oversight to ensure safe and effective interventions
• Ensuring the team meets statutory duties under key legislation including the Care Act 2014, Mental Capacity Act 2005, and safeguarding responsibilities
• Supporting effective safeguarding practice, including oversight of Section 42 enquiries and risk management for individuals experiencing significant harm or self-neglect
• Managing delegated budgets responsibly, balancing individual outcomes with financial accountability
• Monitoring team performance against key performance indicators and using data, audit, and feedback to drive continuous improvement
• Building and maintaining strong partnerships with housing, health, criminal justice, and voluntary sector organisations to deliver coordinated care
• Contributing to service development, practice improvement, and a strong learning culture, including mentoring, coaching and supporting newly qualified staff and students

What you’ll bring (skills & experience)

• A recognised Social Work (or relevant AHP/Nursing) qualification and professional registration
• Strong working knowledge of legislation including the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act, safeguarding frameworks, and relevant housing legislation
• Significant experience working with adults with complex needs, including mental health, homelessness, substance use or related challenges
• Experience of supervising staff, managing performance, and supporting professional development in a high-pressure environment
• Proven ability to manage and advise on complex cases, including risk assessment and safeguarding
• Experience of working within multidisciplinary teams and building effective partnerships
• Confidence in managing resources, including staff and budgets, to deliver effective services
• Excellent communication and IT skills, including recording, reporting, and use of data to improve practice
• A strong commitment to equality, diversity and inclusive practice

Why join us? (benefits)

• Be part of a specialist, innovative service supporting some of the most vulnerable people in the city
• Opportunities to lead practice and shape service delivery within a developing and evolving team
• Access to ongoing professional development, including leadership, supervision, and specialist training
• A supportive environment that values reflective practice, collaboration, and continuous learning
• Opportunities to contribute to service development and wider system change across Brighton & Hove

Our commitment to inclusion

We are committed to building a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We recognise that people experiencing multiple and compound needs often face significant barriers, particularly those from marginalised or underrepresented groups.

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?

• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

AI advice for candidates

We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants' responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional information

• Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
• Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.