Senior Practitioner

North Northamptonshire Council is looking for an experienced and motivated Senior Practitioner to join its Children’s Care Planning Team. This role plays a key part in delivering high-quality social work practice for children in care, ensuring their safety, stability, and long-term well-being. As a Senior Practitioner, you will provide leadership, support, and oversight to social workers while holding a manageable caseload of complex work. You will help ensure that care planning is timely, effective, and always centred on the needs of the child.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead on complex cases involving children in care, including court proceedings, permanency planning, and safeguarding interventions.

• Provide professional supervision, mentoring, and case consultation to less experienced social workers within the team.

• Develop and oversee care plans that are outcome-focused, timely, and regularly reviewed in line with statutory requirements.

• Liaise effectively with internal and external partners, including health, education, and legal services, to coordinate multi-agency support.

• Prepare high-quality reports and represent the local authority in statutory meetings, care proceedings, and reviews.

• Promote best practice by modelling strengths-based, trauma-informed, and child-centred approaches in line with North Northamptonshire’s values and national guidance.