Senior Practitioner, Mulberry Tree Family Centre, Colchester

The Role

Essex family centres work with children and their families offering a wide range of services such as assessment, group work and bespoke packages of change work aimed at supporting parents to resolve concerns in relation to their children’s safety and wellbeing as highlighted by fieldwork teams.

Our assessment work is quite varied, including assessments of known and suspected male sex offenders, AIM assessment and intervention for children who are demonstrating harmful sexual behaviour; parenting capacity assessments for court, ParentAssess assessments with parents who have learning needs as well as the assessment of sibling relationships.

Our group work interventions offer support to women who are in a protective role for children where there are concerns regarding a man’s sex offending; support for dads; healthy relationships and trauma.

We are looking for motivated social workers, who are passionate about making a difference for children and their families, to join our team.

This is what one of our staff have to say about working in a family centre:

“ Working within North Family Centres brings new challenges every day, it is quite different to being in a frontline team, the work is well managed, although there are often tight timescales to get things done! We get to co-work with others, including our fieldwork colleagues and other agencies such as Family Solutions. We also can specialise in chosen areas (mine are assessing parents with learning needs and collaborating with people who have been involved in sexual offending.)

I love working within an experienced team who offer fantastic support to each other, I enjoy going to work and have a sense of pride in all the work we do.” Tina Moore, Senior Practitioner, Clacton Family Centre.

The Experience You Will Bring

• A recognised social work qualification i.e. Diploma, degree or master’s in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, with current Social Work England (SWE) registration.
• 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.

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

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

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 February 2025 , Greater Essex was accepted onto the Government’s devolution priority programme, which will see local authorities in Essex work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority by May 2026. You can read more about devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR ) 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.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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