Location: Middlesbrough
Pay Rate: £34.45 per hour (Umbrella)
Contract Type: Full-time (37 hours per week), Ongoing locum contract
Working Model: Hybrid (Office-based in Middlesbrough with flexible working and home visits)
Job Purpose
Middlesbrough Children's Services is seeking an exceptional, highly experienced Advanced Practitioner to join a statutory Children & Families service.
In this senior, specialist practice role, you will act as an exemplar of high-quality social work practice, holding a small caseload of complex, high-risk statutory cases while driving practice standards across the team. Working alongside Team Managers, you will provide clinical coaching, practice mentoring, and reflective support to team members, helping to cultivate a culture of continuous learning, strengths-based intervention, and child-centered care.
Key Responsibilities & Main Duties
- Complex Case Management: Hold responsibility for a small, highly complex caseload involving high-risk safeguarding, court proceedings (PLO/Care Proceedings), and intricate family dynamics requiring specialist expertise.
- Practice Leadership & Coaching: Provide model social work practice, peer coaching, and reflective guidance to newly qualified (ASYE) and experienced Social Workers to drive up overall quality standards.
- Quality Assurance & Audit: Lead on practice development initiatives, conducting case audits, identifying training needs, and supporting the implementation of best-practice frameworks across the service.
- Complex Court & Decision-Making: Draft robust, high-level evidence and court reports for complex legal proceedings; represent the local authority in Family Court hearings as a specialist witness when required.
- Multi-Agency Leadership: Chair high-level multi-agency strategy discussions, complex core groups, and risk management panels, ensuring multi-agency partners adhere to statutory safeguarding frameworks.
- Deputising & Supervision: Support the Team Manager by co-allocating work, delivering reflective supervision, and stepping in to lead team operations during management absence.
Person Specification & Requirements
- Professional Qualification: Degree in Social Work (BA, BSc, MA, DipSW, or CQSW).
- Professional Registration: Active registration with Social Work England (SWE).
- Post-Qualifying Experience: Minimum 4-5 years post-qualifying experience in statutory Children & Families services, with a proven track record operating at a Senior or Advanced Practitioner level.
- Knowledge & Expertise:
- Expert operational understanding of the Children Act 1989/2004, Working Together to Safeguard Children, and Family Court legal frameworks.
- Demonstrated expertise in trauma-informed, strengths-based practice models and risk analysis methods.
- Proven experience mentoring, coaching, or supervising social work staff and driving quality assurance.
- Essential Extras: Full UK Driving License with daily access to a reliable vehicle for community visits. Enhanced DBS check (on the update service).
What Is Offered
- Highly competitive pay rate of £34.45 per hour (Umbrella).
- Hybrid working model offering balance between office presence, remote working, and field visits.
Randstad Care acts as an employment business when supplying temporary staff and as an employment agency when introducing candidates for permanent employment with a client. Randstad Care is an equal opportunities employer and decisions are made on merits alone.
Did you know that Randstad Care have been awarded a place on the National Clinical Staffing Framework for the NHS? This means we will be able to bring you more opportunities within nursing & midwifery and clinical staffing.
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