Lead Child Protection Practitioner
About the job
Salary: £53,460 - £56,681 a year pro rata plus £3,203 car benefit allowance a year pro rata
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Fixed Term for 6 months
This position is available as a secondment opportunity for 6 months. If you are a permanent LBC employee, you must have written approval (an email will suffice) from your manager prior to applying and a copy will need to be submitted with your application. Please note: we will not be able to proceed with your application form without your manager’s permission.
Do you have the passion, expertise, and leadership skills to make a tangible difference in the lives of vulnerable children?
We are seeking an exceptional and highly experienced social worker to join us as a CP Lead Practitioner — a pivotal role at the heart of safeguarding and child protection in our community.
As our CP Lead Practitioner, you will be the recognised expert in complex child protection cases, using your in-depth knowledge, professional authority, and multi-agency experience to ensure children at risk of significant harm are safeguarded and supported. This role offers you the opportunity to not only hold and manage your own complex caseload, but also to mentor and guide less experienced colleagues, shaping the quality and direction of our child protection work.
What You’ll Do
Lead by example as the go-to specialist for child protection within the team and across partner agencies.
Manage a caseload of complex, high-risk child protection cases.
Co-work with and support social workers and other staff, enhancing decision-making in safeguarding processes.
Chair key multi-agency meetings, ensuring that every voice is heard and outcomes are focused on the best interests of the child.
Work collaboratively with Children’s Services, external agencies, and community partners to deliver joined-up, effective support.
Influence service development by contributing to policies, new initiatives, and national best practice.
Champion Restorative Practice and embed it in daily practice and decision-making.
Keep up to date with legislation, practice developments, and Social Work England requirements.
Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.
About you
We’re looking for someone with significant experience and professional credibility in child protection work, including:
Substantial experience supporting looked after children, foster carers, and children on child protection plans.
A proven track record in managing complex legal proceedings and supervising teams.
Strong skills in conflict resolution, communication, and multi-agency collaboration.
Ability to work flexibly, manage priorities, and meet deadlines.
In-depth knowledge of child care legislation and safeguarding frameworks.
Confidence in leading, influencing, and chairing high-level meetings.
Ability to travel locally and nationally as required.
This is a public facing role so you'll be able to show off your fluency in spoken English
About us
Luton Council has been selected to deliver the government’s Families First for Children Pathfinder programme.
Luton is one of seven new areas in the second wave to be chosen with the aim of protecting vulnerable children from harm and improving services to help more children stay with their families in safe and loving homes.
The programme is an amazing opportunity for Luton to shape future social care practice, which includes closer working relationships with our health, police, education and voluntary sector partners.
Children are at the heart of everything we do in Luton, and we are very proud of the tremendous work that is already taking place together with our partners, including the development of our Family Hubs and working towards making Luton a child-friendly town where our children and young people can grow up feeling happy, healthy and secure.
Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision – that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty – is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.
The people of Luton depend heavily on this council – and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?
We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough
Application process
Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person’s criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.
Additional information
We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:
- From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
- Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
- Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
- Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
- Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
- Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
- Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
- Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
- Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
- Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
- Friday Funday Socials - One Friday every 2 months where we encourage our staff to get together to socialise after work
Available documents
Attached documents are available under links. Clicking a document link will initialize its download.Salary range
- £53,460 - £56,681 per year