Lead Child Protection Practitioner

Walsall Council,
Lead Child Protection Practitioner -

Grade: G11;
Salary Range: £53,051 - £56,293

Children and families are at the heart of our practice in Walsall as identified within our recent Ofsted inspection:

“When children need help or protection, they receive a timely and effective response. Workers engage parents sensitively, so they understand the concerns about their children and the role of children’s social care. There is robust management oversight of the work, ensuring that work is timely and thresholds are appropriate.”

Walsall began implementing the Families First Programme in 2024, based on the National Children’s Social Care Review and Stable Homes Built on Love. To do this we have created a combined, multi-agency locality Family Help Service, with locality social workers supported by you a Lead Child Protection Practitioner and as our Multi Agency Child Protection Team has developed we are expanding our team of Lead Child Protection Practitioners

The Lead Child Protection Practitioner role will lead alongside the multi-agency network around a family to ensure child protection practice is of the highest standard and supported by the right expertise, careful, rigorous thinking, care and respect. You will work alongside allocated social workers and other professionals to undertake Child Protection Enquiries and oversee Child Protection Plans.

Your background will include extensive post qualifying social work experience within a local authority or equivalent, this experience should include child protection practice. Supervisory or managerial experience is also desirable. You will utilise your practice knowledge and experience to influence the direction of child protection right across Walsall.

To provide the right conditions for you, we are committed to manageable workloads, high support from managers, essential paperwork only, enabling technologies.

Within Walsall we offer a comprehensive training and development programme which contributed to our OUTSTANDING Ofsted grading in May 2025.

There is a comprehensive training offer for workers in Walsall. There is an impressive offer to workers in gaining a social work qualification and for newly qualified social workers developing their knowledge of frontline practice. The general training offer is wide ranging and gives workers the opportunity to learn incrementally about their role.

Wellbeing is at the heart of our work. We offer specialised clinical supervision, a 9-day fortnight to support work/life balance, flexible working and specialist employee assistance and therapeutic support when it is needed. We know we need to make social work a career people want to stay in.

Salary Scale £ 53,051 to £56,293 plus retention bonus once you have reached 2 years service.

Closing Date: 21st September 2026

interview Date:
To be confirmed

This post is covered by the Government’s Code of Practice on the English Language Fluency Duty for public sector workers. The post holder will be required to communicate verbally with customers and provide advice and/or information in accurate spoken English.

Walsall Council takes seriously the responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all the children, young people and vulnerable adults entrusted to our care and it is our expectation that all staff will share this commitment. We will ensure continuous development and improvement of robust recruitment processes and procedures that promote a culture of safeguarding amongst our workforce. Completion of an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check is a requirement for working with children, young people and vulnerable adults.

Note:

Applicants appointed to posts that require an enhanced DBS clearance must declare…