Senior Practitioner

Role Responsibility

North Kent Child in Care Service is committed to providing a first service for children & young people of all ages and is looking for an experienced and committed Senior Practitioner to join our team based in Swale Local office, Sittingbourne. Our NK Service has an experienced and permanent leadership team.

You will have a caseload of looked after children aged 0-18yrs, undertake care proceedings and within this plan for permanency up to and including adoption.  We strive for the best possible outcomes for each child and young person we work with.

You will be supported with good quality supervision and have excellent opportunities for professional development to manage a varied and complex caseload working with children and their families.  We will support you to consolidate your skills and knowledge through secondments with a cross-section of social work teams. You will develop areas of specialist practice and bring your professional expertise to high profile and sensitive cases. As a role model for good practice and champion for your area of expertise, you will set performance expectations, striking a balance between support and oversight. As well as coaching and mentoring less experienced staff, you will have the opportunity to act as a Practice Assessor for ASYE and student social workers.

You will share your knowledge and experience with the team in several ways, including assisted fieldwork, court attendance, case audits and reviews, as well as chairing complex meetings. In addition, you will lead working groups and multi-agency forums to contribute to the development of new initiatives.

About you

With a degree in social work – CQSW, DipSW or equivalent – you must be registered with the appropriate professional body and should have substantial and varied post-qualification experiences of working with children and families. Your experience should cover systemic practice, and you will need an in-depth understanding of legislative and policy frameworks, along with a willingness to learn and develop as a practitioner; being a team player is essential in any social work team.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wide operational area including travelling around the county of Kent and beyond to transport children and their belongings and be available to do so in an emergency.  You should note that public transport is rarely a viable option as your role will involve you transporting people and equipment to venues in very rural areas, often with limited public transport.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service and registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Contact Details

For further information regarding this role, please contact:

Danielle Babin, Service Manager or Janet Hemsley, Business Support Officer

About the Company

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county's working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds and faiths, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.