Senior Practitioner - Children in Care, North Essex

About the role

Senior Practitioner - Children in Care, North Essex

Permanent, Full Time

£48,205 to £57,988 per annum

Location: Colchester

Essex County Council understand how important flexibility and wellbeing is for our colleagues working across children's Social Care and that we need to think differently. We have therefore developed a nine-day working fortnight for full time frontline Social Workers within Children’s services. If you would like more information on this, please follow this link

We are a friendly, supportive, and hard-working team where we always hold children at the centre of what we do. We have created an open, reflective and learning culture where social workers feel enabled and supported to raise issues, consider different perspectives, challenge authority, and try out different approaches in a safe and non-blaming environment. Good quality reflective supervision is provided to all social workers and senior practitioners.

Children in Care Team

Children in Care (CIC) teams work with children and young people up to the age of 18 who are in care– they’re unable to live at home and are either placed with a foster carer or live in residential homes. They work with children and young people to ensure their experiences in care is a good one and that the work undertaken prepares them for their transition into leaving care or return home to family. The CIC teams receive cases in proceedings after the first hearing, they visit children and young people in placement, develop permanency plans which include Special Guardianship Order (SGO) and adoption, undertake life-story work to enable a child to understand the reasons for being in care and also support children to return home to birth family.

The Role

As a Senior Practitioner you will provide leadership in the team, providing both support and mentoring to newly qualified or less experienced staff, facilitating reflective group supervision, overseeing the team’s duty service, deputising for the Team Manager when needed and having responsibility to lead in a practice area.

This Senior Practitioner role within the Children in Care Team in Colchester offers a distinctive opportunity to combine advanced practice with meaningful leadership in a highly supportive and forward-thinking service.

This position sits at the heart of a stable, experienced team where relational and systemic practice is genuinely embedded. You will work closely with children and young people in care, building consistent, trusting relationships that prioritise permanence, identity, and long-term outcomes.

What makes this role stand out is the balance between hands-on practice and leadership influence. You will:

Hold a manageable, purposeful caseload that enables high-quality direct work with children in care
Provide practice leadership, mentoring, and modelling for less experienced social workers, including Newly Qualified Social Workers (ASYE)
Have real input into decision-making, care planning, and permanence planning, shaping better outcomes at both an individual and service level

About You

A recognised social work qualification i.e. Diploma, degree or master’s in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, with current registration with Social Work England as a registered social worker.
Evidence of continuing professional development, aligned to any relevant Professional Competency/Capability frameworks or Knowledge and Skills Statements.
Significant experience of social work, demonstrating a comprehensive and up to date understanding of all relevant legislation, regulation and guidance.
Experience of mentoring both Social Work students and newly qualified and experienced Social Work staff, being a subject matter expert in professional social work practice.
Experience of chairing meetings involving clients, family members and/or carers and other multi-agency professionals.
Developing strong relationships with partners, other agencies and the local community to achieve joint objectives and offer a supportive framework for children, young people and families.
In depth understanding of delivery of value for money interventions balanced against need.
Proven track record of clear decision making in order to highlight and limit the potential risks associated with intervention.

Extensive experience of report writing, court attendance and giving evidence.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

To read more about our business area, please visit: Children & Families

Please take a look at our ‘No Magic’ Children & Families video

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, the Government announced that councils in Greater Essex will be reorganised into five new unitary authorities from April 2028. In addition to this, Greater Essex has been accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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Senior Practitioner – Children in Care, North Essex