Senior Social Work Oversight Practitioner

Job Description

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: Hinckley Family Hub, Granville Road, Hinckley, LE10 0PP

Salary: £46,110 - £50,079 (inclusive of market premia at £2,250) per annum (pro-rata for part-time) (Pay award pending)

Working Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 17th May 2026

Interview Date(s): 26th May 2026

About the Role

Family Help is Leicestershire’s Child in Need service, where both Social Workers and Keyworkers (AQWs) engage, support and encourage families to make positive changes in their lives.

Family Help focuses on strong and consistent professional relationships, responding more quickly and intensively to families so that they get the right help at the right time. Building on workers’ capacity to listen, understand and respond to trauma, and supporting children and families to build strength, resilience, confidence and parenting capacity. By unlocking the potential of family and community networks, we aim to support more children to stay safely at home, and when this is not possible, to remain with wider family and friends.

By supporting staff through regular reflective supervision, ensuring positive training and career pathways, staff embrace this more intensive way of working and remain in post longer, providing our families with the professional consistency they need, want and deserve.

As part of our Family Help Service, we have a Senior Social Work Oversight Practitioner vacancy, who will support the Team Manager in ensuring that a high-quality Child in Need service is provided for children and their families.

We are currently developing our approaches in Leicestershire to implement the national Family First Partnership Programme reforms, so this role may be subject to change and review.

An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.

We want a creative and supportive worker who will provide Social Work oversight on Child in Need cases allocated to alternatively qualified staff (Keyworkers), to support progress of plans and intervention to families in their homes. To ensure that Child in Need meetings are child focused, that children’s voice is central, and that their participation and contribution is maximised, along with that of their parents and carers, so that we achieve effective plans and best/sustainable outcomes. This involves direct Social Work practice, when cases held by Keyworkers escalate or are subjects of private law processes – this is to avoid having additional Social Workers involved with families.

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

• Degree in Social Work approved by the Social Work England (SWE) or equivalent social work qualification i.e. Certificate of Qualification in Social Work or Diploma in Social Work. The worker must also be registered with Social Work England.
• Experienced level 3 social worker in a children’s social work team.
• Experience of working in access/duty/intake; children in need, child protection, care proceedings, safeguarding, and looked-after children work.
• Experience of undertaking Section 47 enquiries.
• Experience of chairing complex meetings and ensuring child voice is heard, and their participation and contribution is maximised, along with that of their parents/carers.
• Experience of using performance indicators to monitor and improve performance.
• Experience of multi-agency working, of challenging partners, of holding them to account, and of encouraging action

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Rebecca Woollock - Service Manager Family Help

Telephone: 01163055222

Email: Rebecca.Woollock@leics.gov.uk

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support.

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.

About us

About Leicestershire County Council

At Leicestershire County Council, we're committed to making a real difference in people's lives. Our aim is to work with communities and partners to deliver public services that make Leicestershire the best possible place to live and work for everyone.

Our employees play a key role in supporting this goal and helping us deliver the vital services we provide to the people of Leicestershire. Whether you're starting your career or looking for your next challenge, you'll find a place with us where your ideas are valued, and your work has purpose.

For further information on what it’s like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following:

Our Recruitment Process
Our Organisational Values
Our Employee Benefits
Working for Us