Senior Social Worker Family Help Lead Practitioner (Yate ​/ Central Hub) - Yate

South Gloucester shires childrens 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.

Working within a multi-disciplinary Family Help and Best Start Community Team, you will combine complex case responsibility with professional leadership. Childrens 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 childrens 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.

• 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 childrens services setting, including evidence-based work with vulnerable children and families.
• You will bring detailed knowledge of childrens 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.

• 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 Central Family Help Hub, in Yate.
• 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.

Interviews are anticipated to be held on 3rd September 2026, but alternate dates may be available.

• As part of our benefits package, you will receivegenerous annual leave (pro rata), employeewellbeing support and you will have access to a range ofstaff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities.
• We recognise that ourdiverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities.
• We invest in the careers of our people, and we are recognised for the quality, breadth and depth of ourtraining and development offer, which helps our people make the greatest long-term difference in their work.
• Whats special here is the strength of theteam ethos . We are a relatively small local authority, so managers know staff well. They can plan their services to ensure teams havemanageable…