Edge of Care Senior Adolescent Practitioner

This full-time, permanent position has a starting salary of £41,585 per annum, based on a 36-hour working week.

We are excited to be hiring Edge of Care Senior Adolescent Practitioners to join our fantastic Edge of Care service.

This position operates on a shift basis, with some planned evening and weekend work.

This is a county-wide service, where you can work from any of our Surrey offices. As a team, we come together every month at our Woodhatch office in Reigate.

Our Offer to You

• 26 days’ holiday, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 31 days after 5 years’ service
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Up to 5 days of carer’s leave and 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• Wellbeing and lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, and shopping
• A chance to make a real difference to the lives of our residents

Help families stay strong, connected and together. Join Surrey’s Edge of Care service.

At Surrey County Council, our Edge of Care service supports young people aged 11–18 and their families at times when home life feels at breaking point. Without the right support, many of these young people may be at risk of entering care—and that’s where our team steps in to make a real difference.

We provide intensive, structured and highly personalised support, working alongside the wider professional network to help families:

• Build resilience and confidence in their ability to cope
• Develop problem solving skills
• Achieve and maintain positive behaviour change
• Strengthen relationships and reduce contextual safeguarding risks

What makes our approach unique is not just what we do, but how we do it. We work holistically with the whole family, offering targeted interventions that create lasting, meaningful change—not just another professional asking them to retell their story.

We work with children and young people, and their families in a restorative and trauma informed way, using a compassionate, relationship-based approach to strengthen families and prevent care experiences.

If you’re passionate about helping families achieve safety, stability and stronger futures, this is a place where your work will genuinely change lives.

About the Role

As an Edge of Care Senior Practitioner, you’ll play a crucial leadership focussed role within Surrey’s Adolescent Services, working at the heart of where support can make the biggest difference. You’ll help prevent children and young people from entering care by offering intensive, relationship‑based support to them and their families at moments of crisis. You’ll also lead efforts to reunify children with their parents or strengthen existing foster placements, ensuring more young people can thrive within a safe and stable family setting. Blending hands‑on therapeutic work with supervision and service development, this role offers the opportunity to shape practice, influence positive outcomes, and champion the voices of children and families.

Your key responsibilities as an Edge of Care Senior Practitioner will include:

• Providing intensive intervention and case management, holding a small caseload of complex, high‑risk situations where children are at imminent risk of entering care.
• Delivering therapeutic and practical support within family homes to stabilise situations and strengthen relationships.
• Providing leadership and reflective supervision to Adolescent Support Workers, supporting their development and oversight of their practice.
• Acting as lead practitioner in a multidisciplinary team, coordinating support with partners such as health, education and police to ensure a holistic, tailored response.
• Supporting service development and quality assurance, including practice audits, group work with young people and families, and ensuring their voices shape service improvement.
• Contributing to crisis management, deputising for the Team Manager when required.
• Using restorative, systemic or strengths‑based approaches to build trust, empower families, and support sustainable positive change.

We want you to thrive in this role, and as such you will be well supported from day one, with access to regular supervision, reflective supervision groups, and high-quality training.

Your Application

In order to be considered for shortlisting, your application will clearly evidence the following skills and align with our behaviours:

• Substantial experience of supporting children and families in crisis
• In depth understanding of the issues impacting on the local community and adolescents
• A passion and strength-based approach to keep families together
• Strong leadership ability with excellent communication and collaboration skills
• High-level assessment abilities and restorative practice knowledge

Surrey has both urban and rural areas and practitioners will be expected to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK, access to a vehicle and be willing to travel across a wide geographical area. Reasonable adjustments where needed will be made for successful applicants who have a disability or long-term health condition to enable them to fulfil the requirements of the job.

An enhanced DBS ‘Disclosure and Barring Service’ check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children’s and Adults’ Barred List checks will be required for this role.

To apply, we request that you submit a CV and answer the following 4 questions:

1. Please tell us about what motivates you to work with adolescents and families experiencing crisis. Why are you interested in joining Surrey’s Edge of Care service in this Senior Practitioner role?
2. Please describe a situation where you provided intensive or complex support to a young person or family during a time of crisis. What approaches did you use, and what was the outcome?
3. Please tell us about a time when you provided leadership, guidance or reflective support to colleagues. How did you influence their practice or decision‑making, and what difference did this make to the young person or family involved?
4. Please describe an example of when you worked collaboratively with other professionals or agencies to create a joined‑up plan for a young person or family. What challenges did you face, and how did you help secure positive outcomes?

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description and Our Life at Surrey Handbook to get an insight into working at Surrey.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 29/05/2026 with in-person interviews planned for week commencing 08/06/2026.

Contact Us

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferable skills or any barriers to employment. Please contact Debbie Searle via email at debbie.searle@surreycc.gov.uk.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)

Surrey County Council is undergoing Local Government Reorganisation, moving from a two-tier system to two new unitary councils in April 2027. If you are employed by Surrey on 1st April 2027, your role will transfer with current terms and conditions to one of the new organisations, supporting local devolution and greater powers for our communities.

Join our dynamic team and shape the future of local government. Make a lasting impact with innovative solutions and improved services for our community. Help us build a brighter future for our residents! Please see more information here: Information for applicants on Local Government Reorganisation - Surrey County Council.

Our Commitment

We are a disability confident employer which means if you have shared a disability on your application form and have evidenced you meet the minimum criteria, we guarantee you an interview.

Your skills and experience truly matter to us. From application to your first day, we’re committed to supporting you with any adjustments you need, we value inclusion and warmly welcome you to join and help build a workplace where everyone belongs.