Senior Practitioner- Family Support Team

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Job Introduction

Join our collaborative Family Support Team at Milton Keynes City Council

Do you want to make a real difference in the lives of children and families? Do you thrive in a collaborative environment where your dedication and expertise are valued? If so, we have a brilliant opportunity for you to join our Family Support Team.

About us:

The team is composed of a Team Manager, Senior Practitioners, Social Workers and Social Work Students. We work with a variety of cases transferred from the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and the Family Assessment & Support Team, focusing on Child In Need plans (CIN), Child Protection plans, and Children Looked After (CLA).

What We Do:

• Direct work with families: Engage directly with children and families to provide essential support.
• Family group conferences: Collaborate with families to develop their own support plans.
• Assessments and planning: Complete Children and Families Assessments and develop Family Support plans.
• Court reports: Prepare detailed reports for court proceedings.
• Reviews and conferences: Prepare for Children Looked After Reviews and Child Protection Conferences.

Why Join Us?

• Supportive environment: Comprehensive induction, mentoring, and regular supervision, including clinical supervision.
• Career development: Access to an established career framework and excellent development opportunities.
• A flexible approach: Support for part-time work, job sharing, 9-day fortnights, and annualised hours.
• Competitive benefits: Attractive salary and benefits package.
• Capped caseloads Our social workers manage a caseload that reflects their experience and working hours, ensuring a balanced and supportive work environment. Full-time staff typically support 11 families, while part-time staff manage three cases per working day.

Our team is dedicated to making a significant impact on the lives of children and their families. We offer a challenging and rewarding work environment where your contributions are valued and make a real difference.

Ready to make a difference? Apply now and become a valued member of our Family Support Team. There's more about working in Children's Social Care here: https://www.mkcounciljobs.org.uk/cs-care

We encourage and warmly welcome applications from social workers in all disciplines such as Adult Social Care and Mental Health Services.

If you would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact us to speak with a Team Manager.

This role is eligible for you to be referred by an MKCC employee, as part of the Children's Services Social Worker Referral Scheme. The successful candidate, and the referrer, will, subject to all conditions of the scheme being met, receive £1,000. The reward is split into two £500 payments, the first received on appointment, and the second after the first-year anniversary of being in post. You must indicate in your application, the name of the person referring you, for this to apply. It can not be applied retrospectively.

This is a site-based role

Where possible, interviews may be arranged with ideal candidates upon receipt of applications and may be prior to the closing of the job advert.

Milton Keynes City Council is a modern and friendly place to work. Find out more about working with us here: www.mkcounciljobs.org.uk

Main Responsibility

Team Building and Emergency Response: Assist the Manager /deputy managers in building a cohesive team and be available to support the team and less experienced members of staff when required. You will also offer advisory support to your colleagues.

Complex Case Management: Take responsibility for complex cases, providing expert support, advice, and guidance to the team.

Effective Interventions: Deliver social work assessments, care planning, and interventions in demanding, sensitive, and complex cases to improve children's safety and well-being.

Supervision: Supervise the case work of social workers, assistants and students, ensuring they receive appropriate direction and support.

Issue Resolution: Resolve complex and contentious case management issues in conjunction with the Deputy/Team Manager to address risks and meet demands.

Support Service Development: Lead an area of children's service development and contribute to partnership working across Children's Services and partners.

Court Representation: Represent the local authority in public and private law proceedings, providing oral evidence in Court, writing Court statements, care plans, and complying with Court Orders.

The Ideal Candidate

Social Work Qualification: Hold a DipSW, CQSW, Degree in Social Work, or equivalent, and be registered with Social Work England.

Supervision: Able to supervise and support colleagues and evaluate their work practice.

Specialist Knowledge: Possess in-depth knowledge of childcare issues, legislation, policy, and research.

Supportive Expertise: Demonstrate being able to encourage and support colleagues by openly sharing expertise.

Problem-Solving Skills: Ability to question, challenge, solve problems and complete tasks effectively.

Care Plan Development: Experience of developing, implementing, and monitoring robust care plans

Complex Assessments: Skilled in undertaking assessments of complex situations and difficult family dynamics.

UK Driving Licence: For this role you are required to have a full UK driving licence and provide evidence of your vehicle insurance with business cover and use of a vehicle. If you are successful, you will be required to supply evidence of your licence prior to starting the role.

Enhanced DBS: Should you be offered the role, as part of the pre-employment checks an Enhanced DBS will be actioned for you (unless you are on the DBS Update Service).

Package Description

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of benefits including:

• Great holiday benefits - most roles include 28 days annual leave every year on top of public (bank) holidays, increasing to 32 days after five years. In addition, there is a holiday purchase scheme allowing staff to purchase up to 5 additional days of leave each year.
• Excellent pension - everyone who works for us can join the national Local Government Pension Scheme, widely regarded as one of the best available.
• A full range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity support and a childcare subsidy.
• Access to an award-winning employee benefits programme that includes a health cash plan, a low-cost bike purchase scheme as well as high street discounts and money off entertainment and travel.
• Salary sacrifice car scheme - low-cost leasing of electric and low emission vehicles.
• Blue Light Card - employees working within social care can qualify for an additional range of discounts from national retailers and local businesses.

Why join us? Along with more on our Benefits, discover why Working at the City Council could be the right move for you here Working at the Council | Milton Keynes

Our roles are either designated 'site based' or 'home based'. 'Site based' roles can include up to two days a week working from home whilst 'home based' roles are based at home four days a week. Of course, managers designate which category roles are in based on the needs of the service and the circumstances.

About The Organisation

Milton Keynes City Council is a large, modern and financially stable employer with around 2,500 people working across our eight areas. Together we provide local residents and businesses with a wide range of important round-the-clock services and aim to make our city a better place to live.

We work hard because of the demands placed on us, like protecting children from harm or preventing homelessness. However, working for the city is always rewarding and everyone has the opportunity to make a real difference.

We're very proud of our diversity and are committed to having a workforce that reflects the community we serve. Whatever your background, you will be welcome here if you share our values of being dedicated, respectful and collaborative.

We offer great training and support and because of the size and scale of the organisation there are always new opportunities to explore when it's time for a new role.

If you'd like to know more about how we do things and what matters to us, take a look at our short booklet What makes us Milton Keynes City Council.