Advanced Practitioner - Req25069

Internal vacancy. Applications will only be considered from existing Leeds City Council employees.

Fixed Term 18-month Secondment
This is an exciting opportunity for a full time Therapeutic Social Worker to step up into an Advanced Practitioner role, to support the implementation and development of the Staying Close pilot. This pilot is based around supporting care leavers in Leeds and the Leeds Care Leaver Hub. This is a new role, being recruited to on a temporary seconded basis, for a 18 month period.

Leeds City Council Care Leavers’ Service supports young adults aged between 17.5 years and 25 years of age who have left care: providing guidance, and practical assistance to support their transition to interdependence. The service is committed to developing positive and meaningful relationships with young people, developing practice across the service, and building the care leavers local offer in Leeds. At the last Ofsted inspection, the service was judged to be outstanding.

The Staying Close Pilot financed by the Department of Education is designed to offer extra support to young people leaving care, with the highest support needs and vulnerability. This includes young people leaving care from children’s residential homes, hospital, care leavers experiencing homelessness, exploitation, UASC, and young people in or leaving custody. The pilot will support forty young people per year and is an extended offer through the hub for all Leeds care leavers.

The Staying Close pilot is designed to provide an enhanced community of support for care leavers and will be supported by several dedicated new roles based in the care leavers service: including targeted housing support, staying close workers, therapeutic support and an increased offer from the Care Leavers community Hub and partnership service offers.

The therapeutic Advanced Practitioner will support the Care Leavers Service and Staying Close pilot, utilising a consultation type approach by providing regular therapeutic discussions with the Staying Close team and care leavers service. The post holder will link the Staying Close pilot and care leavers hub offer with the therapeutic service offer in Leeds and promote trauma informed therapeutic practice across the care leavers service.

The advanced therapeutic practitioner will also lead on the development of the care leavers hub therapeutic drop-in sessions and the role will also offer some opportunity to contribute to developing the emotional health and wellbeing strategy for care leavers living in Leeds. The Advanced Practitioner will also hold a small protected case load.

The successful candidate will be situated across the therapeutic social work service and the care leaver service. Case supervision will be managed by the care leaver service and clinical supervision will be provided by the therapeutic social work team.  They will also be actively involved and present within the multi-disciplinary care leavers hub and will be a valued and essential part of the Staying Close pilot team and offer. They will be supported by a dedicated social work team manager within the care leavers service, care leavers service managers, therapeutic team supervision and support and work alongside a range of other dedicated staff employed to support the pilot. 

The ideal candidate for this role will have direct experience working with and supporting looked after children and care leavers in a therapeutic role and will be experienced in supporting young people and their carers and supporting team to understanding the needs of young people through a trauma informed lens.

This recruitment provides an excellent opportunity for an existing therapeutic social worker to be part of strategic service development, project work and partnership working. The role offers a unique opportunity to influence and develop relational and direct community-based support for young people in Leeds and to be part of the re-imagining of leaving care services and support in Leeds.

To apply for this role, you must also hold an appropriate social work professional qualification and registration with Social Work England.

Leeds Care Leavers Service is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all members of the service to share this commitment. Employment is subject to a satisfactory enhanced DBS check as well as a Warner interview depending on the role applied for.

If you would like to discuss this role further, please contact Service Manager Harriet Byatt on 01133785191 or Team Manager Molly Randell on 01133785239.

If you would like to apply for this post, then please complete the attached shortened application and send to harriet.byatt@leeds.gov.uk before the closing date below.

The closing date for applications is 11:30pm on Friday the 5th of July 2024 with a view to holding interviews week commencing the week of 8th of July 2024.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. 

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s barred list will be carried out on preferred candidates.

We promote diversity and want a workforce that reflects the population of Leeds and the communities we serve. Leeds City Council is an Inclusive employer, ranked 70 on the Stonewall top 100 employers 2023 list. We are also an Age friendly employer, a Mindful employer and a Disability Confident leader.

All new Leeds City Council appointments are made subject to the satisfactory completion of a six month probationary period. 

This role is based in the UK. Employment is conditional on confirmation of the right to work in the UK  - either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa. If you do not have the right to work in the UK and the role does not meet eligibility for sponsorship, please consider carefully whether you meet the eligibility to apply.

Job Description

Job Purpose:  The Advanced Practitioner role is to deal with the most complex cases requiring a social worker of considerable experience with a wide knowledge base and excellent skills.  The role will predominantly manage a complex caseload, support the team manager on day to day operational issues and work on complex cases with less experienced workers to ensure quality and consistency and to disseminate learning.

Prior to the Interview we will request your References. Failure to obtain both references will result in your interview being withdrawn.

Responsibilities: 

• Manages a caseload of the most complex cases.  Case allocation will be determined based on their complexity, level of risk, profile and potential publicity surrounding a case.
• Undertake complex case assessments
• This post demands increased level of autonomy and decision making, based on experience and knowledge, around the case allocated and report to the Team Manager on case progress, risks and outcomes.
• To co-work and coach less experienced social workers on cases so they can benefit from the greater experience and expertise of an Advanced Practitioner
   
• Support Team Managers in;
• Overseeing and decision making with regard to allocation of cases and workloads
• Ensuring case work is appropriately planned, critically evaluated and reviewed
• Achieving timescales and targets in respect to performance indicators 
• Mentor, coach and advise newly qualified and less experienced social work staff
• Line manage and supervise Social Work Assistants, Trainee or  newly qualified social workers
• To undertake Practice Educator Level 2 training, supervise students and provide mentoring support to those wishing to undertake Practice Educator 2.
• Provide consultation and development in the areas of social care staff acquiring skills.
• Provide direction and development in consistent application of thresholds 
• Chairing planning and review meetings e.g. supervision order reviews, child and family support meetings and other relevant meetings in respect of children in need or at risk
• Lead and contribute to strategic developments and support the embedding of excellent practice across the city
• To effective use and manage appropriate financial resources within available budgets.
• Lead and participate in training and development activities as necessary to ensure up to date knowledge and skills to meet national standards
• Comply with the requirements of all Leeds City Council and directorate policies, procedures and staff instructions, including responsibilities under the Health and Safety Policy and Procedures
• Actively promote and support Leeds City Council Policies on Equal Opportunities and working in an anti-oppressive manner
• Being proactive in employee development activities including regular supervision and appraisal to ensure up to date skills and continuous professional development
• Undertake other duties appropriate to the post as required by the Team Manager

Economic Conditions:

Annual Leave: 28 days plus 5 days pa for 5 years local government service pro rata plus statutory holidays

Hours: 37 hours per week - Normal office hours are 8.30am – 5.00pm Mon – Thurs and 8.30am to 4.30pm on Friday.  

Variable working arrangements, including evening and/or weekends, may be necessary on occasion to complete on-going casework, emergency situations, evening visits or meetings

Flexi time: Eligible to participate in flexi-time scheme

Conditions of Service: NJC Conditions apply
PROSPECTS
Promotion: Whilst no guarantee can be given to subsequent promotion, there are currently a number of higher graded posts within the Council which potentially provide the opportunity for career progression within the Council.  Any subsequent vacancies will be filled in compliance with agreed Council procedures.
Training: The Council has a positive commitment to the training and development of employees in all areas of its activities.  Similarly employees are also expected to adopt a positive attitude to any training provided and also to their own personal development.
Relationships: The post holder will maintain effective relationships with staff at all levels within the Directorate, other Council Directorates, Elected Members, external agencies and the general public.
Qualifications:  The post requires an appropriate professional qualification (DipSW, Degree, CQSW or equivalent). 

You should be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) upon commencement of the post and maintain yearly registration.
Practice Educator 2 and recent experience of having a student.
Please note that a criminal record will not necessarily be a bar to obtaining employment; this will depend on the circumstances and background to any offence.
References for this post will be taken up at the shortlisting stage and candidates will not be interviewed without two appropriate, professional referees including the most current/most recent employer
PERSONAL SPECIFICATION ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS: It is essential that the Candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post within the context of the specific role duties and responsibilities:  Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate on the application form that they meet all the essential requirements.
This post will require that candidates are assessed against a full range  of recruitment processes.
Skills Required 

• Ability to critically apply social work theory in practice
• Ability to identify indicators of risk and carry out effective risk assessment
• Ability to communicate, negotiate and influence a wide range of practitioners, managers and partners from other agencies
• Ability to present and disseminate information to support learning and development of social care staff and partners
• Ability to chair meetings
• Competent in the use of ICT
• Ability to lead practice development

Knowledge required

• Extensive knowledge of relevant child care legislation, including public and private law proceedings
• Knowledge of current developments affecting the provision of children’s services from a legal, political and social policy context
• Knowledge of social work practice issues
• Extensive knowledge of child protection issues and best practice
• Understanding of the work of other key agencies and links to social work practice
• Extensive knowledge of social work theory and methods that underpin practice
• In depth knowledge of current research findings and their implication to practice
• Knowledge of the work of CWDC Social Work programme and Task Force findings and the potential for improvement of social work
• Evidence of continuous professional development since qualification which could include Post Qualifying Award of PQCCA
• Knowledge of budgetary and financial regulations

Experience required 

• Extensive post qualifying experience in Children and Families Work in a Local Authority setting with demonstrable experience in a child protection setting
• Developing inter agency and multi disciplinary approaches to work with children and families
• Experience of providing structured supervision for social work staff/students
• Experience of supervising, mentoring and coaching staff through assessment and care planning processes and court proceedings
• Practice Educator 2 and recent experience of having a student.
• Preparing and presenting high quality reports on complex issues to a range of different audiences
• Extensive experience of using a range of social work interventions to undertake assessments of complex family situations A/I

Behavioural & Other Related Characteristics required 

• Ability to inspire and motivate self and colleagues.
• To be committed to deliver high quality social care services
• To deliver services to children and young people with a clear child centred approach and philosophy
• Committed to continuous improvement and high quality service provision
• Taking ownership for informed decisions and delivering quality outcomes
• High degree of personal integrity with commitment to fairness, diversity and equality and to actively promote the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy.
• Willingness to lead by example to promote excellence
• To carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under the Council’s Health & Safety Policies.
• Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities to ensure up to date knowledge, skills and continuous professional development, including the achievement of Advanced Social Work Professional status and ongoing re-assessment of status