WMJobs
Advanced Practitioner - Permanence Hub
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Sandwell Children's Trust
At Sandwell Children's Trust, we firmly believe that the voice of the child should be at the centre of everything we do. We are on an ambitious journey to ensure that children and families in Sandwell are safe and empowered to thrive.
Our ‘Sandwell Deal’ brings together our new improved offering that make Sandwell Children’s Trust a great place to work; it also sets out our expectations of you as a member of staff.
What we can offer you:
- Generous annual leave of up to 36 days, plus 5 additional days for long service recognition.
- Your birthday off paid in addition to annual leave entitlement and 8 Bank Holidays, plus a concessionary day at Christmas.
- A generous local government career average pension scheme with employer contributions of 21.6%.
- Recognition of individual loyalty with service awards from 2, 5, 10 and every 5 years onwards.
- Flexible working patterns that suit you and all of our roles have well-defined career progression.
- Competitive expenses for both mileage (55p per mile) and subsistence, plus access to a comprehensive employee benefits scheme.
Please visit The Sandwell Deal via this hyperlink: https://sandwelldeal.co.uk/
Job Details
Fixed Term Contract until 31st March 2028
£50,908 - £56,293 per annum dependent upon experience
Hybrid working
We're looking for exceptional candidates who are passionate, committed and dedicated to improving the lives of children and young people.
Make Permanence Matter
Are you an experienced social work practitioner with a passion for achieving lasting, positive outcomes for children? Do you thrive on supporting and developing others while maintaining high standards of practice? If so, we have an exciting opportunity to join our Permanence Hub as an Advanced Practitioner.
This is a key role for an ambitious and highly skilled social worker who wants to use their expertise to influence practice, support workforce development and help children achieve safe, stable and sustainable permanence through reunification and special guardianship orders.
About The Role
As an Advanced Practitioner within the Permanence Hub, you will provide expert practice leadership across the Hub, supporting social workers and family support workers to deliver outstanding outcomes for children and families. You will act as a specialist resource for permanence planning, helping practitioners navigate complex situations and ensuring interventions are evidence-based, child-focused and outcome-driven.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Working closely with Team Managers, Service Managers and the Social Work Academy, you will:
- Provide professional mentoring, coaching and practice leadership to social workers and family support workers.
- Support complex permanence work, including reunification planning, Special Guardianship, and court proceedings.
- Undertake quality assurance activities including audits, practice reviews, and thematic learning.
- Deliver practice development sessions, workshops, and reflective learning opportunities.
- Support practitioners to produce high-quality assessments, care plans, and court evidence.
- Lead on areas of permanence practice and disseminate specialist knowledge across services.
- Monitor and promote timely permanence planning, helping to reduce delay and improve outcomes for children.
- Contribute to service improvement initiatives and the embedding of excellent social work practice.
The role also includes maintaining a small caseload of complex work, enabling you to model best practice and provide hands-on support to colleagues.
About You
We are looking for a confident and inspirational practitioner who:
- Is a qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England.
- Has substantial experience of working with children and families within statutory children's services.
- Has significant knowledge of permanence planning, reunification, special guardianship and court processes.
- Demonstrates strong analytical, assessment and report-writing skills.
- Has experience of supporting, mentoring or developing other practitioners.
- Is passionate about improving practice and achieving the best possible outcomes for children.
- Can provide constructive challenge while supporting professional development and reflective practice.
- Keeps up to date with research, legislation, and developments in children's social care.
- A Practice Educator qualification is desirable.
- Candidates without a Practice Educator Award should either hold equivalent experience or be willing to work towards the qualification.
Why Join Us?
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a service that is committed to:
- Delivering outstanding permanence outcomes for children.
- Investing in workforce development and professional growth.
- Creating a culture of learning, reflection, and continuous improvement.
- Promoting innovation, collaboration, and evidence-informed practice.
- Supporting practitioners to flourish and achieve their potential.
If you are ready to take the next step in your career and play a pivotal role in shaping permanence practice, we would love to hear from you.
Join us and help children find the stable, loving, and lasting homes they deserve.
How to apply:
To be considered for this role, please submit your up-to-date CV together with a supporting statement of no more than 1,000 words demonstrating how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the requirements of the role. Your supporting statement should address the essential criteria outlined in the person specification, providing relevant examples where possible. In order to comply with safer recruitment standards your CV should include a complete employment history, with any gaps clearly explained.
Please submit your application to recruitment_childrenstrust@sandwell.gov.uk
By joining our team, you will be making a real difference in the lives of children and families. We are dedicated to driving meaningful change and ensuring the best outcomes for those we serve. With the work that we have done so far and with the ambitions we have for the future, it’s a really exciting time to join Sandwell Children’s Trust and to become part of our Family.
Sandwell Children's Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable groups including children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Completion of an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check is a requirement for working with children and young people.
If you require further information on the role or working for us please email recruitment_childrenstrust@sandwell.gov.uk and a member of our Recruitment Team will be happy to give you a call.
Please note that pre-employment checks will be carried out in line with the Department for Education KCSIE Guidance 2022.
Terms & Conditions apply for relocation allowance.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Location