Advanced Practitioner - Family Assessment Centre

Job title: Advanced Practitioner – Social Work

Salary: PO5 £50,908 - £54,143

Hours: 37 hours

Contract: Various: permanent. Family Assessment Centre.

Location: Leeds: Halton Moor

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Advanced Practitioner role within our new Family Assessment Centre.

You will work closely with the Registered Manager and multi-disciplinary colleagues across the city to develop the new home and service.

You will lead on high-quality parenting and family assessments and support the development of an evidence based assessment model. You will deliver direct interventions with parents and children to support sustainable change.

The role will fit with the Families First agenda and will involve close working with our Early Help services and third sector organisations in localities across the city.

As an Advanced Practitioner, you will provide professional leadership within the Family Assessment Centre, supporting colleagues to deliver outstanding practice while maintaining a direct role with children and families. You will lead on complex assessments, contribute to service development, and promote a trauma-informed, relationship-based approach that enables families to make sustainable changes. This is a unique opportunity to help shape a new service, influence practice standards, and make a lasting difference to the lives of children and their families.

We provide comprehensive support and training packages for social workers at all levels with clear career progression opportunities. Our established in-house management team offers continuous support, guidance and reflective supervision alongside an in-depth programme of continuing professional development.

We are proud to be part of Leeds children’s services, rated by Ofsted as outstanding, and to be an award-winning employer, recognised as best employer in the Social Worker of the Year Awards 2019.

We are committed to the ambition of Child Friendly Leeds. We want Leeds to be a city where all children are safe, happy and healthy, do well at school, fulfil their potential and grow up to be active citizens with voice and influence. We aim to improve outcomes for all our children and want to close the gap facing children and young people from vulnerable and deprived backgrounds.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About You

As an Advanced Practitioner you will hold an appropriate professional qualification (degree, DipSW, CQSW or equivalent) and must be registered with Social Work England on commencement in post.

In addition to your professional qualification and registration you will have completed Practice Educator Level 2 on commencement of post.

You will also bring to the role:

• extensive experience in a child protection setting.
• ability to mentor, coach and advise newly qualified and less experienced social work staff.
• strong communication and collaboration skills to build productive working relationships in a multi-agency environment.
• ability to engage individuals, families and carers and use their views to inform complex assessments, plans and interventions.
• A therapeutic and trauma informed approach to working with the families.
• extensive and up-to-date knowledge of relevant trends, policies, regulation and safeguarding.

About the role

As an Advanced Practitioner in Children and Families, you will be integral to a close-knit, supportive team which has your professional and personal wellbeing at heart.

You will provide a high quality comprehensive social work service, managing a complex caseload with a child-focused approach, underpinned by our culture of restorative practice and family decision making. We work closely with local health and third sector partners, and you will develop and maintain these strong links in your role.

You will support the Registered Manager on day-to-day operational issues and mentor less senior colleagues. You will deputise for the Registered Manager when required. You will model skills in relationship building, developing positive working partnerships internally and with our local health and third sector partners. Demonstrating your social work values throughout your work, you will look to ensuring best practice and innovation.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

• a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
• membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
• flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements.
• a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities.
• a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further.

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidance for further advice. Please check your information carefully and ensure you complete all sections before submitting your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact Ben Attfield on [email removed]

The closing date for application is the 23rd October.

With a view to holding an assessment centre the week beginning the 9th November.

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s or Adults’ barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visaroute before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job description

Job purpose: The Advanced Practitioner role is to deal with the most complex cases requiring a social worker of considerable experience with a wide knowledge base and excellent skills. The r