Senior Practitioner - Post SGO

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: County Hall Glenfield LE3 8RA

Salary: £46,110 - £50,079 per annum (inclusive of market premia at £2,250) (pro rata for part time)

Working Hours: 37 hrs per week

Contract Type: Fixed term/Secondment for Maternity Cover 12 Months

Closing Date: 11th March 2026

Interview Date(s): 24th March 2026

Are you ready to take the next step in your career?

If you’re a passionate level 3 Social Worker looking to grow into a Senior Practitioner role, this is a fantastic opportunity to develop your leadership skills and shape a service.

You’ll be welcomed into a warm, supportive, and highly skilled multidisciplinary team that includes:

• An experienced Senior Practitioner in Post Adoption
• Therapeutically trained Social Workers
• Therapists
• Support Workers
• An Adoption & Special Guardianship Funding Coordinator

Together, we provide high quality, therapeutic support to children and families during some of the most important chapters of their lives. This is your chance to influence practice, drive innovation, and make a meaningful difference.

As Senior Practitioner, you will play a key role in supporting and developing a service that spans:

• Post Special Guardianship support
• Post adoption support (dependent on service need)
• Birth records counselling for adult adoptees (dependent on service need)

You’ll take on leadership responsibilities that include:

• Providing specialist support to children and families with Special Guardianship arrangements
• Offering supervision and guidance to Support Workers
• Leading pod meetings
• Contributing to service development & bespoke training
• Allocating work effectively to the support workers
• Managing the duty system, rota planning, and oversight of the therapy inbox

Working closely with internal colleagues, external professionals, and therapeutic providers to ensure families receive timely, effective support.

A confident, reflective practitioner who is:

• Passionate about permanence, relational practice, and trauma-informed support
• Ready to step into a leadership role and champion best practice
• Skilled at coordinating work streams and supporting colleagues
• Collaborative, thoughtful, and committed to achieving excellent outcomes for children and families

This is a rare chance to:

• Develop your leadership experience
• Work within a truly collaborative and therapeutic environment
• Influence service delivery and shape practice across adoption and SGO pathways
• Build your portfolio for future progression

If you’re thinking about stepping into the Senior Practitioner space, this supportive team and varied role could be the perfect next move.

An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.

To apply for this post, you must be able to evidence in your application how you meet the following criteria:

• Be a qualified Social Worker holding a Social Work degree or equivalent, e.g., CQSW, DipSW (with specialism in children’s services) and be registered with Social Work England.
• Extensive knowledge, experience and application of social work legislation, methodologies, social care policies, guidance, procedures and case reviews. This includes demonstrating your experiences with regards to complex case work and court work in private and public law.
• Demonstrate the ability and experience of supporting with the service performance and the learning and development of the team and individuals as well as a commitment to your continuous professional development.
• You must also understand and demonstrate accessibility and inclusion in your practice with Children, Young People and Families.
• Understand and demonstrate experience of the importance of multi‑agency working and the differing roles, responsibilities, remit and functions of other parts of the wider service and agencies.
• The ability to communicate clearly and accurately, both orally and in writing, with a wide range of people, including representatives from other agencies and court, completing reports and assessments to a high standard, thus being…