Job Description

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: County Hall, Glenfield, LE3 8RA

Salary: £36,621 - £40,458 (pro rata for part-time)

Working Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 29th September 2026

Interview Date(s): TBC

Are you looking for an exciting and interesting opportunity to work within a creative, dynamic and energetic team?

Make a Real Difference in the Lives of Children and Young People.

Are you passionate about helping children, young people and foster families overcome challenges and achieve positive outcomes? Join our dedicated team and play a vital role in supporting children in care, young people and their carers through meaningful, trauma informed and therapeutic interventions. This is a rewarding opportunity to work directly with children and families, helping them build resilience, strengthen relationships and successfully navigate important life transitions. Working collaboratively with carers, foster families, residential staff and partner agencies, you will empower children and young people to have their voices heard, advocate for their needs, support them to thrive both emotionally and practically. A key focus of the role is improving placement stability, helping children and young people experience safe, secure and sustainable care arrangements that enable them to thrive.

If you are committed to improving outcomes for children and young people and want to be part of a supportive, skilled and passionate team, we would love to hear from you.

About the Role

Working directly with children/young people and their carers, using targeted interventions, and a variety of resources and approaches, including joint work where appropriate. Assessing the needs of children, young people and their carers, in order to inform the planning and delivery of work that will meet the needs of children/young people, in order to sustain positive outcomes for them. Supporting young people making transitions, particularly when ‘stepping down’ from a residential placement, or rehabilitation home. Increasing carers’ understanding of therapeutic parenting and trauma informed ways of managing children’s behaviour. Supporting safety planning around a child or young person, by delivering strategies and interventions which address identified risk factors, and planning support that will meet the needs of an individual’s care plan. Regularly monitoring and reviewing the purpose of work and making adjustments when required, dependent on the needs of children, young people and their parents/carers. Using a variety of methods and to help sustain improved outcomes, including putting parents/carers in touch with community groups and other support services as part of a care plan. Advocating for children in care, ensuring their voices are heard, and their needs are fully met, both physically and emotionally. Building effective and positive working relationships with foster families, and residential staff. Planning, delivering and evaluating group work.

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:

Please ensure that you cover all 7 points in your application and provide clear examples and evidence of how each point has been met.

• Have an NVQ level 3 in Childcare Diploma or Childcare Qualification, or evidence of continuing professional development.
• Have experience of working directly with challenging children and young people, as well as vulnerable young people in at least one of the following settings: social care, education, youth offending or health.
• Have knowledge of child development and an awareness of differing needs of children and young people and their carers, knowledge of other cultures, and have an understanding of the risk factors and prevention work that impacts upon children’s attachment, and presenting behaviours.
• Have an understanding of the impact of trauma upon child development, behaviour and ability to build trusting relationships.
• Have good time management skills, organisational and planning skills, assessment skills, IT skills, and a good standard of case recording and report writing skills.
• The ability to communicate effectively and build trusting relationships with children, young people and carers; respond flexibly to changing needs; remain calm in difficult situations; analyse behaviours and identify solutions; work effectively independently and with others
• The ability to maintain accurate records and manage casework and undertake administrative tasks.

You must have a current driving licence, access to a car, and be able to travel to designated locations.

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:

Heather Hughes, Assistant Service manager

Telephone: 0116 305 9655

Email: Heather.hughes@leics.gov.uk

Or

Aimee Hassell, Supervising Senior Social Work Practitioner

Telephone: 0116 305 8001

Email: Aimee.Hassell@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