Senior Practitioner - Safeguarding

Salary: £40,777 - £45,091, plus £5,000 market supplement
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 37 per week
Location: Hereford, Ross-on-Wye and Leominster
Welcome payment: £10,000 (subject to guidance)
Relocation support: Up to £10,000 available

Herefordshire Council is looking to appoint an experienced Senior Practitioner into its Safeguarding & Support Service. This is a permanent opportunity to join a local authority that is continuing to strengthen practice, invest in its workforce and improve outcomes for children and families across the county.

The service is made up of six locality-based teams operating from offices in Hereford, Ross-on-Wye and Leominster. Each team includes a Team Manager, Senior Practitioners, Social Workers and Family Support Workers, giving practitioners access to both management support and a strong team structure.

Locality working helps professionals stay connected to their communities, build strong relationships with colleagues and partner agencies, and access support when it is needed.

About the service

Herefordshire has embedded a restorative approach across children’s social care. Practice is shaped by reflection, collaboration and relationship-based work with families. Managers are visible and accessible, and there is a clear commitment to supporting staff with complex decision-making and case responsibility.

This is a service that wants practitioners to feel well-led, well-supported and able to do meaningful work with children and families.

A short video about working in Herefordshire Children’s Services can be viewed here:
https://youtu.be/FSjU-FV5uic

The role

As a Senior Practitioner within the Safeguarding & Support Team, you will play an important part in delivering safe, effective and child-centred practice. You will work alongside colleagues and partner agencies to help secure positive outcomes for children, young people and their families, while contributing to the wider development of the service.

The post involves supporting complex safeguarding work, helping to maintain strong professional standards and working closely with Team Managers to promote high-quality practice across the team.

You will also have a key role in developing others. This includes offering guidance, coaching and mentoring to less experienced staff, including apprentices, Step Up students and Family Support Workers. In addition, you will contribute to wider practice development activity across the service, helping to embed practice standards, quality assurance expectations, policies and procedures.

This is an opportunity for an experienced practitioner to combine frontline impact with leadership, development and improvement work.

About you

To be considered, you will need to bring solid safeguarding experience within children’s services together with the confidence to support others and lead by example in practice.

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate:

• Strong commitment to improving outcomes for children and families through effective safeguarding, timely intervention and quality assessment
• Experience of working with complex child protection and safeguarding cases
• Strong analytical thinking, risk assessment and decision-making skills
• Ability to work in partnership with families, professionals and multi-agency networks in a collaborative and restorative way
• Resilience, sound judgement and the confidence to offer clear, evidence-based professional guidance
• Experience of supporting or developing colleagues through mentoring, coaching or practice leadership
• Commitment to high standards, reflective practice and continuous improvement

You must also hold:

• A recognised social work qualification such as Degree in Social Work, DipSW or CQSW
• Current Social Work England registration

What Herefordshire offers

Herefordshire Council offers a strong package for social workers joining the service, including:

• Salary from £40,777 to £45,091
• Annual market supplement of £5,000
• £10,000 welcome payment subject to relevant guidance
• Retention payment of £2,000 to £4,000, depending on team
• Relocation support of up to £10,000
• Protected learning time and investment in professional development
• Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme
• Clear progression routes and career development opportunities
• 31 days annual leave, plus bank holidays
• Option to purchase up to 10 additional days leave during the relevant request period
• Flexible working arrangements, including agile working, part-time options and job share where appropriate
• Access to an Employee Assistance Programme
• Payment of professional membership fees where required
• Staff benefits including savings, discounts and cashback across retail, leisure, travel and health

Why Herefordshire?

Herefordshire offers the chance to work in one of England’s most distinctive counties, with a mix of historic market towns, rural communities and a strong local identity. More importantly, it offers the opportunity to join a council that is focused on improving services for children and investing in the people delivering that work.

The priority is clear: keeping children safe and helping them achieve the best possible start in life. To do that, Herefordshire is continuing to strengthen relational practice and invest in a workforce that can build effective, lasting change with children and families.

Supported by experienced leadership and ongoing development, this is a strong opportunity for a Senior Practitioner looking to join a service where they can influence practice and make a real difference.

Interested?

Reach out to Emily Cooper at Sheldon Phillips for more details. 
ecooper@sheldon-phillips.com | 07745200325