Senior Social Work Practitioner (Family Link)

The Role

Are you an experienced social worker ready to lead and grow a unique, life-enhancing service?

Can you use your expertise to develop a high-quality break and support service for disabled children and young people?

If yes, we have the perfect role for you!

Our All-Age Disability Service is looking for a passionate and dedicated Senior Social Work Practitioner to join our amazing team and help make a difference today.

About the Role:

This is a fantastic opportunity to lead and shape Southwark’s Family Link service, which provides daytime and overnight breaks for disabled children and young people by matching them with trained carers.

As the Senior Practitioner, you will:

• Grow and develop the Family Link service in line with fostering regulations and best practice
• Manage and supervise social care practitioners and oversee all F1 assessments for fostering panel
• Provide professional guidance and support on complex cases
• Drive performance and ensure quality assurance across the service
• Collaborate with carers, fostering colleagues, and community partners to deliver responsive, child-centred support

About You:

We are looking for someone who brings passion, leadership, and specialist expertise. You will have:

• A recognised social work qualification and active SWE registration
• Significant experience as a social worker, including in a supervisory role
• Strong knowledge of fostering regulations, assessment and safeguarding processes
• A track record of service or practice development
• Excellent communication and leadership skills
• A commitment to inclusive, strengths-based, and anti-racist practice

About the Team:

The All-Age Disability Service (AAD) supports disabled children and young people aged 0–25, providing a seamless social care journey from childhood into adulthood.

You will be part of a values-driven, inclusive, and forward-thinking team that:

• Champions co-production, equity, and innovation
• Prioritises practitioner wellbeing and development
• Supports professional reflection, supervision, and learning
• Celebrates impact and encourages high support and high challenge

At Southwark, we’re committed to Southwark Stands Together, our anti-racism and equity framework. We empower social care professionals to thrive, lead, and innovate - so you can truly make a meaningful difference every day.

For detailed qualifications and requirements, please review the job description and person specification located at the bottom of the advert.

Contact Information:

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Chloe Harvey at Chloe.Harvey@southwark.gov.uk

Additional Information:

This post requires a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) DBS check at Enhanced level.

Benefits and more information:

In your role, we want you to feel supported, challenged and rewarded. You will benefit from our family-friendly policies including flexible working, home working, and a local government pension scheme, plus many other staff benefits. You will join a motivated, driven and supportive team that strives for excellence and values its members. You will also be part of a successful and high-achieving development team that is making a real difference to the lives of residents in the borough. For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit our Staff Benefits page.

Recruitment timetable

Advert close date: 11:59pm on 20th August 2025

Shortlisting date/s: 22nd August 2025

Interview date/s: 8th September 2025

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme:

As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care, or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together programme. We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.

Attachments

• Family Link Senior Prac JD Jul 25.docx