Senior Practitioner, Children in Care

• To provide professional leadership in situations which have highly complex case arrangements for assessment and support planning, which involve risk, complexity and safety of children, young people, and families.
• To deputise for the Team Manager when required and as agreed by the Service Manager, including responsibility for all key duties of the Team Manager in their absence.
• To plan, implement and review services, actions and processes for children and young people with statutory, regulatory, and operational standards, policy and procedures for the service.
• To chair and attend relevant childcare meetings to ensure that the outcomes identified at assessment are met through the provision of support, equipment, adaptations and enabling programmes.
• To provide written and verbal reports for a variety of settings, including at court, that are concise, informative and based on analysis of complex evidence.
• To manage the planning, allocation, and review of workload for direct reports so priorities are managed, shortfalls identified and services delivered within capacity and within departmental and partnership policies, procedures and timescales.
• To assess and balance risk and protective factors within a safeguarding framework.
• To provide advice and guidance on case management and effective risk management of complex situations, understand when to take positive risks as appropriate and escalate to the Team Manager as required.
• Maintain accurate and up to date records safely and confidentially in accordance with Cambridgeshire County Council policies and procedures.
• To be responsible, alongside the Team Manager, for the supervision responsibilities for Social Workers and Child Practitioners, including overall responsibility for case outcomes within the teams.
• To prioritise activities and resources to meet team objectives including effective workload management of self and others.
• To keep and maintain accurate records, in line with professional requirements and departmental recording methods and standards.
• To carry out duties in a timely and responsive manner, in line with Cambridgeshire County Council standards and behaviours, and the Professional Capability Framework.

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• 6 days of protected time each year to support in maintaining your Continuous Professional Development
• A relocation package of up to £8,000 (eligibility applies)
• Scalable retention payments of up to £8850 over a 3 year period, starting after your first full year of employment
• A Refer a Friend Scheme where if you refer another Social Worker to us who is subsequently employed by us as a result of that introduction, we’ll pay you an introduction fee of £350
• Access to our Cambridgeshire Academy for Reaching Excellence (CARE) who will support your development, enabling you to become the best practitioner you can be

• A Social Work Qualification or equivalent.
• Understanding of relevant legislation.
• Continual professional development.
• Social Work England registered.

Sanctuary Personnel