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Solicitor/Senior Solicitor Children's Social Care

Employer
City of Wolverhampton Council
Location
Civic centre
Salary
£45,648 - £49,702
Closing date
22 Aug 2022
Reference
WLV000004430

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Sector
Local Councils
Job Type
Legal
Contract Type
Full time permanent
Working Pattern
See advert details
Hours
Full-Time

Job Details

This is an exciting opportunity to join a supportive and successful in-house Social Care and Education legal team. The team provides legal support and representation to our children, adult social care and education client departments and aims to support the Council with a proactive and solution-focused approach. The team is looking to recruit an experienced qualified Solicitor, to join our busy Child Care Team. 

About the position


The successful candidate will be required to carry a full caseload dealing with matters including, but not limited to:

  • Advising on public law children matters relating to care and placement proceedings, fostering and adoption, and general children’s social care matters including non-school education prosecutions  
  • Advocacy experience in all tiers of court, including the High Court, Family Court and ideally the Court of Protection.
  • Advising senior officers within the local authority.

You will be required to pick up an existing caseload from the outset and the successful candidate must have experience in conducting social care children and ideally adults work or an interest to learn more about this increasing area of work.

 

To succeed in this role, you will have recent in-depth knowledge and post qualification experience in Child Care litigation. You will also be required to demonstrate advocacy skills and a willingness to undertake advocacy and we would particularly welcome applications from those with an interest in developing their advocacy practice.

 

As a great communicator you must be able to demonstrate excellent oral and written communication skills as well as demonstrable skills and strengths in negotiation, drafting, persuading, and influencing. You will need to have an ability to command the respect, trust and confidence of your clients and senior managers as well as the court.

You will be working on some of the most sensitive and challenging, yet the most rewarding of cases, supporting our Social Care clients in achieving the best outcomes for children within the city.

The successful candidate will have extensive knowledge and experience of the law and practice relating to safeguarding children litigation and proven advocacy skills to represent the Council in contested proceedings. You will need to be highly motivated, enthusiastic, and work effectively as part of a team.  

Knowledge and understanding of local government and procedures, and an appreciation of the challenges facing local authorities is desirable.

The successful candidate will join a highly regarded team. The existing team is hard working, friendly and supportive, with an excellent reputation.

The successful candidate will not only have previous relevant experience but will also be a team player who takes pride in delivering a high-quality service and is able to work under pressure.

Effective advocacy skills and the ability to be flexible to assist other team members as required is essential.

 

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate an ability to manage a demanding and varied caseload with minimal supervision

The ideal candidate will be a qualified solicitor or barrister with previous childcare experience. Adult social care experience is desirable.

We will consider less experienced individuals with the right personal qualities and an excellent approach to client care who are able to grow into the role. Candidates from both the public and private sector are encouraged to apply for this position.

 

We can offer you an excellent benefits package including a pension scheme, generous leave allowance, flexi-time including flexible working options, leisure concessions and more.


Closing date: -The deadline for all applications is 22nd August 2022

Interviews week commencing 05th September 2022

If you would like to discuss the role in more detail, please call Tracey Christie on 01902 554925 or Saroj Bangard on 01902 554922

Company

Bingley Hub

From Monday 11th December 2023 an exciting change is happening for us as an organisation - we are implementing a new system which will improve your candidate experience! To access your candidate portal for our new system, head to https://wolverhampton.wm-jobs.co.uk/members/.

If you already have an application in progress with us before the new year, don’t worry, this will continue as it normally would and there will be no impact on your application or the process. More information on our new and improved system can be found on the WMJobs help pages

City of Wolverhampton

There’s never been a better time to join the award winning City of Wolverhampton Council to further your career. We are a progressive and future facing organisation, and passionate about making our city better for all who live, work and travel here.

We are an ambitious organisation focused on delivering the best services for people in Wolverhampton; working for us gives you the opportunity to make a difference to their lives.

Our continual drive for improvement led to us winning APSE Overall Council of the Year Service Delivery Award, also achieving Annual Service Award Finalists for our services in Waste and Recycling; Public Protection; Best Housing Regeneration and Homelessness multi-agency work, showing that the City of Wolverhampton Council is truly an organisation striving for daily excellence in all we do.

Equal Opportunities

The City of Wolverhampton Council employs over 5,000 people in more than 600 different trades and professions. We are committed to representing Wolverhampton’s diverse community and therefore strongly encourage applications from all applicants meeting the essential criteria.  The council operate a guaranteed interview policy for veterans who have served in the military, those who have previously been under our care and are under the age of 25 and disabled candidates, where it is evidenced that the essential criteria of the post is met.

A Great City to Live and Work

The city has seen rapid developments with major projects like the i54, Way Youth Zone and i10 and more exciting developments are planned for the westside of the city. The leisure-led mixed user scheme includes a multi-screen cinema, restaurants, bars, hotel, multi-storey car park and apartments, all accessible by foot from our city centre.

We benefit from being in a prime location, with excellent transport links at the heart of the UK’s high speed rail and motorway networks, making us an employer of choice for people across the West Midlands.

Wolverhampton is rated as one of the top cities in the UK for families. Almost 90 per cent of the city’s primary and secondary schools are rated as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. The City also offers a wide range of family friendly facilities with stunning parks and green spaces and top entertainment attractions such as Wolverhampton Art Gallery, the Civic and Wulfrun Halls and the Grand Theatre all of which attract top acts such as Jimmy Carr, Gary Barlow, World Darts Competition, upcoming bands and West End productions.

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Why Work for City of Wolverhampton Council?

We invest heavily in skills and training for our employees; you will develop and grow with us through your time, benefiting from regular professional development conversations, and varied training opportunities.

We offer a wide range of benefits including competitive salaries that progress within different grades for the variety of jobs on offer. The majority of our positions offer a generous annual leave entitlement of 25 days - this increases with length of service. There is also an added option to buy up to 10 days additional leave in each leave year. New entrants also benefit from 8 days bank holiday entitlement (basic leave entitlement of 33 days).

The council offers an excellent Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with employee and employer contributions based on salary grades and other benefits including:

  • Index linked pension
  • Option to convert your pension for tax-free cash when you retire
  • Retirement on the grounds of ill-health at any age.

The council also offers a wide range of flexible working options to fit in around your commitments including:

  • Flexi-time
  • Reduced hours working
  • Job share
  • Homeworking
  • Term time only

Other rewards

  • Discounted city parking at a number of sites with reduced charges for blue badge holders
  • Annual Travel Card Scheme
  • Salary Sacrifice scheme for cars - with a wide range of ‘green’ vehicles, cycles and associated equipment, personal IT equipment and smartphones
  • Retail, leisure, legal and ethical savings and loans through our competitive rewards portal

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Company info
Website
Telephone
01902 552345
Location
City of Wolverhampton Council
Civic Centre
St. Peter's Square
Wolverhampton
West Midlands
WV1 1HE
United Kingdom

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