Child Protection Lead Practitioner– Children’s Services

Salary - £49,498 - £53,630 (Grade 8)

Contract type - Permanent and secondment/fixed term opportunities until March 2025

Location – Strengthening Families Hubs across the City

Be the social worker you want to be…

In Wolverhampton we are ambitious for our social workers, passionate about excellent, relational social work practice and courageous in our innovation, with leaders who are visible and responsive.

We need people like you who want to make a real difference in the lives of children and families and will support us to deliver excellent services to the most vulnerable children in our city. 

The CP Lead Practitioner will be a qualified social worker with significant demonstrable knowledge and experience to act as a recognised expert in the field of child protection.  You will demonstrate excellent knowledge in issues such as domestic abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and contextual safeguarding. You will be able to provide expert advice and consultation to practitioners across the multi-agency partnership and support the allocated social worker to continue to work effectively with families when significant harm has been identified.  You will have responsibility for section 47 enquiries, children on child protection plans and children in pre proceedings as part of an allocated caseload.  You will be able to encourage and facilitate critical thinking and challenge across the multi-agency group. You will demonstrate robust and evidence-based understanding of the application of threshold in order to support children and families at the appropriate level.    

If you are someone who is passionate and tenacious, wants to do the best job possible and is committed to excellent social work practice and achieving the very best for our Children, Young People and Families then we want to hear from you!

At the award-winning, Ofsted rated good with outstanding features, City of Wolverhampton Council, we work restoratively with children and families, building strong relationships and connections to help them find long-lasting solutions.

Our vision for the Children and Young People Services is:

• To develop respectful and empowering relationships with children, young people and families
• To ensure children are at the centre of everything we do
• High aspirations, high expectations

We are a forward-thinking, responsive and innovative organisation and want our social workers to spend their time building relationships with families to achieve real, sustainable change. We focus on teams having manageable workloads and we have a clear development pathway alongside a substantial training and development offer which is varied and responsive to practice challenges.  Our senior managers and leaders are visible and take the time to listen to frontline employees. We are proud to say we are Ofsted rated Good with outstanding features.

We will inspire, support and champion you so that you can be the social worker you want to be.

Join us…

For your valued contribution we offer:

• Fantastic learning and development offer including access to Research in Practice and regular social work briefings and conferences
• A Social Work CPD / Career Pathway which will support you to progress and develop
• Permanent social workers will be able to claim back their Social Work England fees annually from December 2023
• Reimbursement of Blue Light discount card membership fees
• Additional payments for practising Practice Educators
• Supportive and flexible working arrangements, including some home working
• Vibrant and active employee networks including four staff equality forums (Race Religion and Belief; Disability and Age; Gender Maternity and Paternity and LGBT+)
• Access to an external and independent confidential reporting service for employee concerns to be raised (“Safe Place”)
• Commitment to eliminating discrimination and supporting employee wellbeing to ensure a good work /life balance, including a strong employee assistance scheme and wellbeing offer

These posts are subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. It also goes without saying that you will be Social Work England registered and have completed the Assessed and Supported Year of Employment (ASYE) or an equivalent post qualifying pathway.

To find out more about us why not take a look at our website: www.wolvessocialworkjobs.com

As part of the interview process, candidates will be required to undertake:

o A Children’s panel interview

o A written exercise

o A panel interview (incl presentation)

For further information on these posts please contact:

Louise Monger (Service Manager) via email to louise.monger@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Written exercises will be held on w/c 14 October 2024

Children's panel interviews will take place on Saturday 19th October 2024

Formal panel interviews will take place on w/c 21st October 2024

You will be notified on the outcome of your application form as soon as possible after the closing date. Please note, there are no alternative dates available for the Children's panel or formal interview.

For full details of the responsibilities and requirements of this role please see the attached Job Description and Personal Specification.

Our working arrangements

All council roles are allocated to either a fixed, field or flexible work style. Some roles are agile which enable and empowers employees to maximise their performance and productivity, whilst maintaining a healthy work life balance.  Roles with a fixed workstyle work in a fixed permanent council location.  Roles with a field workstyle are usually allocation where employees are required to be out working in the community with a minimum requirement for 'touch down' space at any council location.  Roles with a flexible workstyle have a flexible base location to meet the needs of the business and employees can work from a mixture of home or any council office, partner/client, or external location, as required to meet service requirements.

Please refer to the Job Description for further information on the workstyle assigned to the role you are applying for.

For more information about working for our organisation including the culture of the Council, the Council plan and vision, staff equality forums, core HR policies and much more please click here.

Diversity 

We are committed to building a workforce that is reflective of the diverse community we serve. We want to attract the best applications from people of all backgrounds and underrepresented groups because we strongly believe in adding value through diversity, inclusion, and equality. Our employees enable us to deliver services that are accessible, inclusive, and reflective of Wolverhampton residents. 

Our status as a Disability Confident Employer showcases our commitment to people with disabilities or health conditions, advocating for their opportunities and potential. We've received the Stonewall Silver Award, emphasising our dedication to the LGBT+ community by nurturing an inspiring, inclusive, and equal workplace. As of March 2023, the RACE Code Quality Mark signifies our active engagement with racial equality. These recognitions validate our continuous efforts towards fostering an inclusive work environment that respects and values our diverse employees. 

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the essential criteria for the post. 

We encourage, inspire and value an inclusive culture here at the council where employees can flourish, thrive and be themselves. We have four staff equality forums for employees to join. These help to ensure our employees have a voice, they feel empowered to speak up and where everyone is treated with respect - Learn more about the staff equality forums here

Recruitment of Ex-Offenders 

We are committed to the fair treatment of all our employees, potential employees, or users of our service regardless of offending background. The Council uses the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for any vacancies that require a DBS check to obtain information about applicants to assess their suitability for employment in positions of trust. We do not discriminate unfairly against any individual on the basis of a conviction or any other information revealed as a result of a DBS disclosure - Learn more here

Employment Information & Support 

If you are considering applying for an apprenticeship or a role where the salary is (Grade 2-5), and would like to visit us to learn about the application, interview process and what it is like to work for the council, please click on this link to find out more - support.html" style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(19,50,69);text-decoration:none;">Learn more here

Attached documents
Job Description and Person Specification