Senior Practitioner - Childrens & Families HUB, North Essex

Please note that this is a permanent part-time role, offering 29.6 hours per week / 0.8 Full Time Equivalent (FTE). 

Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It’s an exciting time to join us having received our 2^nd Outstanding Ofsted rating in a row.

To read more about our business area, please visit: Children & Families

Please take a look at our ‘No Magic’ Children & Families video

Children & Families Hub 

Based in Colchester, the Children & Families Hub is the single point of contact for members of the public and professionals to raise concerns about the welfare and safety of children or make a referral. 

The Opportunity 

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity, and compassion; promoting development and wellbeing of children, young people, and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse.  Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers, and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future.  

The Senior Practitioner role provides leadership in the team, providing both support and mentoring to Social Workers and Alternatively Qualified staff and deputising for the Team Managers when needed. They will oversee the quality and timely progression of Early Help and Social Work triage undertaken by staff at the Hub. The Senior Practitioner role is key in undertaking quality assurance activities to ensure the best possible service is offered to children and families in Essex. 

There will be good opportunities for your own professional development and for being part of developing our team and service. There is an ethos of openness to the development of new ideas, particularly to reinforce our relationship based focus, both with our service users and within the staff group. 

The successful candidate will be expected to bring skill and high standards of social work to their own work as well as providing modelling, advice and support to colleagues. They will be committed to systemic, relationship based social work, providing effective, innovative interventions and with the ability to build good partnerships, both with our external partners and within the organisation.  

Accountabilities 

• Responsible for providing a source of expert advice and professional supervision for social workers and alternatively qualified staff; contributing to the development of practice standards.
• Accountable for working within the statutory legal framework, policy and guidance and determining when the threshold for statutory intervention has been reached.
• Responsible for maintaining accurate, timely and robust oversight of Requests for Support, ensuring that contacts and early help triage steps are reviewed, progressed and concluded within statutory and local timescales.
• Builds strong effective working relationships across the Council, with partners and members of voluntary agencies to help people get the best start in life and age well. 
• Delivers a high level of expertise in particular areas of practice and leads on those areas, contributing to the development.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework. 

The Experience You Will Bring 

• A recognised social work qualification i.e., Diploma, degree or Masters in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, with current registration with Social Work England as a registered social worker.
• Evidence of continuing professional development, aligned to any relevant Professional Competency/Capability frameworks or Knowledge and Skills Statements.
• Significant experience of social work, demonstrating a comprehensive and up to date understanding of all relevant legislation, regulation, and guidance.
• Experience of mentoring both Social Work students and newly qualified and experienced Social Work staff, being a subject matter expert in professional social work practice.
• Experience of chairing meetings involving clients, family members and/or carers and other multi-agency professionals.
• Developing strong relationships with partners, other agencies, and the local community to achieve joint objectives and offer a supportive framework for children, young people, and families.
• In depth understanding of delivery of value for money interventions balanced against need.
• Proven track record of clear decision making in order to highlight and limit the potential risks associated with intervention. 

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, the Government announced that councils in Greater Essex will be reorganised into five new unitary authorities from April 2028. In addition to this, Greater Essex has been accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency.  Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service.  The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate.  This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained.  For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

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