Job Description

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: County Hall, Glenfield, LE3 8RA

Salary: £46,110 -£50,079 (inclusive of market premia at £2,250) per annum (pro rata for part-time) (Pay Award pending)

Working Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 16th July 2026

Interview Date(s): TBC

We have a fantastic opportunity for a permanent full time Assessing Senior Practitioner to join our Kinship Assessment team.

We are committed to achieving the very best outcomes for our children to have the opportunity to remain in the care of their birth family (where-ever safe to do so) – through the completion of comprehensive and analytical Friends and Family assessments (both initial viability assessments and the full Form C Kinship/SGO assessments).

• Are you passionate about supporting young people to remain in the care of their families wherever it is safe to do so?
• Do you have experience of undertaking detailed family focused assessments and have a strong ability to engage and build positive relationships?
• Are you creative, empathetic and committed to the right outcomes for our children
• Do you enjoy working as part of a fast paced and dynamic team

If so, then this could be the role for you !

About the Role

We are looking to recruit a senior practitioner assessing social worker to join our busy team which focusses on supporting kinship carers to be assessed in caring for children within their family and friends network. You must be passionate about working directly with kinship carers and their families to ensure that they have the necessary skills to care for children that have experienced trauma and you must have a keen interest in working with the whole household including birth children, partners and drawing in the support network. We want to provide the secure and open platform to all of our kinship carer to develop their confidence and feel enabled to care for children and provide them with the sense of belonging, connection and attuned care that will enable them to flourish. We work in a trauma informed and therapeutic manner, and strive to equip our carers with the skills to develop this awareness throughout their journey with us, and carry forward into whichever direction their care goes – which for us includes Kinship foster care, SGO, CAO and as part of the ongoing safety/support plan around children remaining with their parents, Ideally you will have taken learning opportunities that have developed your own knowledge and learning around therapeutic parenting, PACE and/DDP in order to support your work with carers, the carers household and also others in the team, through reflective discussions and PODs for example.

The role is a dual role as assessing senior practitioner, so you will hold a case load of assessments for our kinship carers, and in addition, you will be expected to support the team manager in managing the operational aspects of the team such as attending meetings, completing the QA on reports, supervising support workers and external assessors, and supporting the team manager in the development and progression of the team. This role will include developing the service specifically around the cohesion and progression of carers progressing to an SGO so that there is continuity and support at each stage of their journey, with the aspiration of developing confidence in providing and sustaining permanence and belonging to our children – this will include development work across all aspects of the Kinship world – including our family support provision, kinship post approval and the post order support fund, and embedding PACE and therapeutic tools within this work. We will also be focusing on the reforms, including work within the reunification focus, helping children home, whether that be to parents or family members within their networks.

We are a fast paced and highly effective and support part of the wider fostering service, with a focus on high quality assessments, all with individualised and carer specific training, support and care. We have strong relationships with our locality partners, legal services and across CFS. As part of the team you will also need to be a part of our duty system on a rolling basis.

We want all of our kinship carers, at whatever stage of their journey and no matter the outcome to feel equal value, respect and confidence from our service and across their interactions with LCC, and you will be vital in the provision and drive to achieve that, supporting them to access training, support and the wider activities and opportunities for carers to engage and connect with other carers – either from the activities held by LCC fostering service and training department but also via the Kinship charity and community based resources.

As a team we hold a number of events throughout the year and it will be part of your role to help to support these, some of which are outside of the normal office hours.

The role is 37 hours per week working Monday- Friday, and there is 1 permanent post available.

An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

• Have a Social Work degree or equivalent, e.g. CQSW, DipSW (with specialism in children’s services) with evidence of continuing professional development (ASYE pass as a minimum).
• A several year post-qualification experience of working with children and families and experience of statutory childcare social work, including safeguarding, child protection and care proceedings.
• Have experience of working with service users from ethnic minorities and those who have a protected characteristic.
• Demonstrate your continuing professional development, including self-development.
• Experience of working within a fostering service/with foster carers (including kinship care) and Children in Care alongside a working knowledge of Fostering Regulations and National Minimum Standards, and the Kinship Strategy
• The ability to communicate clearly and accurately, both orally and in writing, with a wide range of people, including representatives from other agencies, using skills of negotiation and persuasion. In addition you must have the ability to prioritise effectively across a wide range of competing demands to meet deadlines.
• The ability to use information technology applications e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Word and database applications as relevant to the department.

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part-time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Rebecca Allen - Team Manager Kinship

Telephone: +441163054847

Email: Rebecca.Allen@leics.gov.uk

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions

About Leicestershire County Council

At Leicestershire County Council, we're committed to making a real difference in people's lives. Our aim is to work with communities and partners to deliver public services that make Leicestershire the best possible place to live and work for everyone.

Our employees play a key role in supporting this goal and helping us deliver the vital services we provide to the people of Leicestershire. Whether you're starting your career or looking for your next challenge, you'll find a place with us where your ideas are valued, and your work has purpose.

For further information on what it’s like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following:

Our Recruitment Process
Our Organisational Values
Our Employee Benefits
Working for Us