Job Details

Job introduction

We have a rare and exciting opportunity for the right people to join us as Lead Practitioners in our Partners in Change Hub.  The Partners in Change hub brings together a range of specialist professionals to support social workers who are working with children and families with complex needs. As well as social workers, this includes mental health and substance misuse practitioners, therapists and psychologists, as well as the Early Parenting Assessment Programme.   The Partners in Change hub was recognised by Ofsted as 'successful in supporting social workers with the development of plans and targeted interventions in their complex work with children and families.'

Lead Practitioners are experienced social workers, who work across our social work pods helping social workers to provide the best support possible to families and children.  Lead Practitioners provide formulations to social workers and support social workers with their assessments of families as well as providing interventions.  Lead Practitioners also support Reflective Practice Groups for social workers and provide learning and development opportunities.  We are looking to recruit a practitioner who has specialist knowledge of social work practice in areas such as court work, neglect and working with adolescents

The role will play a key part in supporting our relationship based model of practice and contributing to delivering the aims of the Partners in Change Hub as a whole, which are: helping social workers to assess families; reducing referrals out to other services; reducing the use of independent experts in care proceedings; providing high quality specialist assessments where necessary; using public money more effectively; and, most importantly, to help families to make positive changes as early as possible.

Closing date: midnight on the 30th January 2022

Interview date: 7th February 2022

For an informal discussion, please contact Lore Riedel, Partners in Change Manager - lore.riedel@brighton-hove.gov.uk

About the role

“Social workers’ morale is high and they enjoy working in Brighton & Hove.”

(Ofsted’s ILACS report)

"88% of social workers said that they felt safe and supported despite the impact of Covid-19

91% of social workers felt they were well supported by their managers and had been supported with their individual circumstances during Covid" (Your Voice, our version of the social work health check, 2020)

We have developed a whole system that provides containment for social workers so that they can build ongoing relationships with families and use these relationships to make a difference for children and young people. This system is made up of small teams, or pods, of workers who get to know each other and the families they are supporting. 

Six years ago, we re-designed our Children’s Social Work service based on feedback from families, young people and our practitioners. The changes we introduced have had a positive impact for social workers and their ability to provide consistent and purposeful support to children and young people.  More recently, this included making sure that social workers have support during COVID, including the right PPE and a flexible approach to support families and keep children safe. 

“Social workers have a good understanding of the children they work with.  They build meaningful relationships with children through direct work and regular visiting.”

The most recent Ofsted report rated our services as good and recognised the difference that the model of practice has made for children and young people in terms of greater continuity of social work relationships, improved outcomes and reduced risks. 

The report also highlights that senior leaders have worked purposefully to build a skilled and stable workforce with manageable caseloads and that the decision not to employ agency staff has been a key part of this.

We know that our social workers are our greatest asset and we strive to give them the time and active support they need so that they can make a real difference to children’s lives and realise our vision for social work.

We have recognised that we need to do further work to support families and communities who experience racism in the city and to support our staff from Black, Asian and minoritised communities.  As a council we have made a commitment to being an anti-racist organisation and we have set up an Anti-Racist Project to make sure we achieve this within children's social work services.  We have also appointed a Lead Practitioner for Anti-Racist Practice and we are one of the Local Authorities piloting the Workforce Race Equality Standards for social care in 2021.  We would particularly encourage applications from candidates who identify as from a Black, Asian or minoritised community.

We can offer a salary within the range of £43,431 - £46,598 this includes a 6.5% market supplement (Lead Practitioner base salary £40,876 to 43,857)

About You:

You must hold a Professional Social Work Qualification and be registered as a social worker with Social Work England. In addition, you must have significant practice experience and be able to demonstrate specialist knowledge in an area of social work practice, such as court work, neglect or working with adolescents, and  the ability to improve the practice of others in order to make a difference for children and families. You should have some experience of supervising other practitioners, delivering learning events, and supporting group work. You will need to have excellent skills for engaging children and their families and completing assessments informed by evidence. The role requires you to be willing to develop and deliver direct interventions.  You should also be able to drive change and work well within a multi-agency context.  

Please read our Apply for a job at the council (brighton-hove.gov.uk) pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to complete your education and work history and provide answers to some shortlisting questions. Your answers to the shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our guidance here (Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

Work Permits: We may be able to obtain a Work Permit for this post but this is subject to meeting the requirements of the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) Points-based Immigration System. Please see Gov.uk for more information on the Skilled Worker Visa.

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us (brighton-hove.gov.uk)

Company information

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.

Files

• Our Values and Behaviours
• Applicant Cover Letter
• Job Description and Person Spec