Senior Social Worker – Family Help Lead Practitioner Kingswood

Location: Egglescliffe

Senior Social Worker – Family Help Lead Practitioner (Kingswood / South Hub) Location Locality Hub - Kingswood Salary Range £45,091 - £48,226

Job Description How you'll make a difference South Gloucestershire’s children’s social care service is rated Good by Ofsted, and we are committed to maintaining and building on this strong foundation. As a Senior Social Worker in Family Help, you will provide experienced, relationship-based social work practice for children and families whose needs may include Child in Need, Child Protection and the early stages of Children in Care planning.

You will manage the most complex children within the team, using skilled professional judgement to assess risk, strengthen safety and support families to make sustainable change. Alongside your own casework, you will help the Team Manager develop practice, support less experienced colleagues and promote consistent, high-quality decision-making. What you will be doing Working within a multi-disciplinary Family Help and Best Start Community Team, you will combine complex case responsibility with professional leadership.

Children’s voices, family networks and relationship-based practice will remain central as you coordinate statutory support and help families build safety, confidence and resilience. The role also contributes to team development through reflective supervision, mentoring, group learning and leadership in specialist areas of practice. You may directly manage a small number of alternatively qualified practitioners and will support the Team Manager with service quality, professional standards and team performance.

Holding the most complex Family Help cases across Child in Need, Child Protection and early Children in Care, completing high-quality assessment, planning, intervention and review. Making robust and timely decisions where there is risk of significant harm, balancing children’s safety, family rights and statutory responsibilities. Facilitating family group decision-making, strengthening family networks and coordinating effective multi-agency support. Providing professional oversight, supervision, mentoring and practice guidance to alternatively qualified staff, students and less experienced Social Workers.

Leading group learning, workshops or a specialist area of practice while contributing to service development, policy, performance and continuous improvement. What we need from you We require you to hold a recognised Social Work qualification and current registration with Social Work England, together with a relevant post-qualifying award. You will have significant post-qualification experience in a Local Authority children’s services setting, including evidence-based work with vulnerable children and families.

You will bring detailed knowledge of children’s legislation and practice, with strong skills in assessment, risk analysis, safety planning and complex statutory decision-making. You will have experience of staff supervision, mentoring or practice development and be able to support others through constructive challenge, reflective learning and professional guidance. You will be an effective communicator and relationship builder, confident handling difficult and sensitive issues with children, families, colleagues and partner agencies.

What you need to know We are unable to accommodate applications from newly qualified social workers or candidates who require an Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE). Applicants must already have successfully completed their ASYE. This position is based in our South Family Help Hub, in Kingswood. Although this post is advertised as full time, we welcome applications from experienced Social Workers seeking part-time, job-share or flexible working arrangements.

You will be expected to travel throughout the authority and surrounding area, so you must have a full, valid driving licence with regular access to a vehicle insured for business use or have an alternative suitable means of travel. An enhanced DBS check is required, and you will need to travel throughout the authority and surrounding area, with occasional work outside normal office hours.

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