Senior Practitioner - Post SGO Support

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Job Description

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.

Why Join the Post Order Team?

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.

About the Role

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.

Who We Are Looking For

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 workstreams and supporting colleagues

• Collaborative, thoughtful, and committed to achieving excellent outcomes for children and families

Why This Role?

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.

About You

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 a model of good practice.
• Excellent demonstration of the ability to prioritise effectively, manage competing demands to meet deadlines and the flexibility to respond to changing requirements. This includes stepping in and supporting staff in the absence of the Team Manager.

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Lisa Deakin - Team Manager

Telephone: 0116 3052823.

Email: Lisa.Deakin@leics.gov.uk

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council we're looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you're from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what's on your CV. That's why we've designed a recruitment process that's fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we'd love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above. Without this information, we won't be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support.

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.

About Us

About Leicestershire County Council

At Leicestershire County Council, we're committed to making a real difference in people's lives. Our aim is to work with communities and partners to deliver public services that make Leicestershire the best possible place to live and work for everyone.

Our employees play a key role in supporting this goal and helping us deliver the vital services we provide to the people of Leicestershire. Whether you're starting your career or looking for your next challenge, you'll find a place with us where your ideas are valued, and your work has purpose.

For further information on what it's like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following:

Our Recruitment Process
Our Organisational Values
Our Employee Benefits
Working for Us