Location: Leicestershire County Council (Hybrid Working)
Role: Senior Social Worker - Children and Family Services (CFS) Permanence Team
Hourly Rate: £38.00 per hour (Umbrella)
Contract Type: Locum / Agency (Full-Time)
Are you passionate about securing lifelong stability and positive futures for children in care?
Leicestershire County Council is seeking a highly skilled and compassionate Senior Social Worker to join our dedicated CFS Permanence Team. This team is focused on ensuring that children who cannot safely live with their birth parents are provided with secure, loving, and permanent homes-whether through long-term fostering, Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs), or adoption.
We are looking for an experienced practitioner who can champion best practice, manage complex casework, and bring a deep understanding of developmental trauma and attachment to their work.
What You Will Be Doing:
- Complex Casework: Hold a specialized caseload of children requiring permanent placements, navigating complex legal and emotional landscapes.
- Permanence Planning: Drive forward care plans focused on long-term fostering, adoption, and SGOs, ensuring statutory timescales are met and drift is avoided.
- High-Quality Reporting: Write detailed, analytical Child Permanence Reports (CPRs), court statements, and matching assessments.
- Direct Work: Undertake sensitive and meaningful direct work with children, including life story work, to help them understand their journey and prepare for their forever homes.
- Mentoring & Leadership: Act as a practice champion within the team, providing informal mentoring and support to newly qualified and less experienced social workers.
- Multi-Agency & Panel Work: Present cases confidently to adoption and fostering panels and represent the local authority in complex family court proceedings (e.g., Placement Orders).
What We Are Looking For:
- Qualifications: A recognized degree in Social Work (BA/MA/BSc/DipSW/CQSW).
- Registration: Active and unrestricted registration with Social Work England (SWE).
- Experience: At least 3+ years of post-qualifying experience in statutory frontline children's services, with a strong, demonstrable background in Looked After Children (LAC), Court Work, or Permanence/Adoption teams.
- Skills: Exceptional direct work skills, a strong understanding of attachment theory, and the ability to write robust, evidence-based assessments.
- Compliance: An Enhanced DBS (on the update service preferred) and Right to Work in the UK.
- Transport: A full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle for visits.
Why Choose Leicestershire County Council?
- Highly Competitive Pay: Secure a top-tier regional rate of £38.00 per hour.
- Meaningful Work: Join a team where your daily actions directly contribute to securing permanent, loving homes for children.
- Hybrid Working: Benefit from a flexible working model, combining home-working with time in the office and community visits.
- Supportive Culture: Work within a forward-thinking authority known for visible management, regular reflective supervision, and a commitment to safe caseloads.
Apply Now: Please submit your most recent CV detailing your statutory permanence experience, or contact for a confidential discussion about this role.
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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