Overview

Advanced Social Work Practitioner — MB4 (£45,091 - £51,356) plus essential car user allowance and reimbursement of Social Work England registration fees.
37 Hours, Full Time
Permanent
Hybrid Stockport Civic Complex and Home Working

Application Deadline: 8 October 2025, 11:59pm. Shortlisting date: 9 October 2025. Interview Dates: 10 October 2025. Interview Type: Face to face.

Please be aware that we may close this vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Your role

We’d love you to come and join our Stockport Family! Here in Stockport, we’re looking for driven, dedicated, and caring children’s social workers to help support some of our most important people, our children and their families.

We have a unique way of working which is centred all around relationships; our social workers assess and deliver interventions from the point of a family needing support until that family no longer requires a statutory service from us, meaning for our families there are no transition points. They’ve told us that this is really important to them.

As a Senior Practitioner in Stockport Family, you will meet families, build relationships with them, and retain these relationships across all levels of intervention, meaning you’ll see the outcomes of the hard work you’ve put in. This will also provide you with a breadth of different skills and experiences, which will enhance your social work knowledge.

Senior Practitioners are key people in our management structure. You will be a real source of support to our Team Leaders, be crucial to performance management, contribute to the development of student and ASYE social workers, and hold a reduced but more complex caseload to support professional development and give you time to develop your team.

We are committed to career development in Stockport. Our Team Leader cohort grew their careers from being social workers here; we support you with mentoring and buddying, and annual PDRs provide positive feedback for career development.

You will be part of a friendly and welcoming team, with two experienced senior practitioners and a skilled, nurturing team leader in each team.

Here’s what current social workers say about Stockport Family:

“I have felt like I mattered as a person and am part of a family.” — Leoni, social worker
“I’m able to do purposeful direct work with children and with parents; Stockport lets me be the social worker I want to be.” — Jess, ASYE social worker.

About You

In Stockport, we are driven by our values and want social workers who are motivated by building relationships with children and families and who take an empowering approach to working with families. We would ideally like our Senior Practitioners to have experience across both duty and locality systems and to have held both private and public court proceedings, as well as experience of the pre-proceedings process.

You’ll be hardworking, passionate about making a difference, and a team player who shares knowledge and continues to learn. We provide a strong support framework, including learning and development, to help you flourish and develop in your career.

What we offer

We have an excellent package of benefits, including tailored support if you need it. Learning and development are central to our culture, with regular support to help you thrive. We will discuss our career development pathways and the difference you could make for children and families in Stockport.

About Us

In Stockport, our vision is for all children to have the best start in life. We co-designed an outcomes framework focused on safety, belonging, health, empowerment, and voice. We have a restorative practice model where relationships are central to everything we do, including with colleagues. All colleagues are offered training to develop this restorative approach, and our social workers have access to reflective and clinical supervision and to specialist advice from services such as IROs, Aspire (domestic abuse and complex safeguarding), and disability and short breaks teams.

Our commitment to our staff

• Direct access to a team leader and two senior practitioners on each team, overseeing six social workers.
• Strong workforce development programme with restorative practice foundations and additional training (e.g., SEND needs).
• Encouragement of continual CPD with protected time; yearly professional development review (PDR).
• Solid induction with progressively increasing caseload and complexity.
• High-quality reflective supervision monthly from line managers; group and reflective supervision available; ASYE mentors.
• Integrated services with access to specialist advice and consultation from various teams.
• Full corporate induction to meet other professionals across the council and ongoing support from senior leadership.

What can we offer you?

• Modern offices with hybrid working in the town centre.
• Reimbursement of Social Work England regulator fees.
• Full subscription to Research in Practice.
• Discounted on-site parking.
• Essential Car User Allowance from £846 per annum.
• Annual ‘Ambitious Stockport’ Awards to recognise colleagues who live our values.
• Opportunity to be a Practice Educator and mentor a student with a payment.

Why Stockport?

Stockport offers a supportive and vibrant working environment with partnerships across the council and our multi-agency colleagues. We are committed to wellbeing and flexible working where possible and promote inclusive employment policies and staff engagement forums.

We are recognized under the Good Employment Charter for paying the real living wage and ensuring fair and flexible working conditions.

If you would like to find out more about the role please contact Sophie Shaw at Sophie.shaw@stockport.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

The successful applicant’s appointment will be subject to satisfactory pre-employment clearances including a DBS check. Visa sponsorship is available only for certain roles and this campaign does not currently qualify.

Additional notes

If you have completed GM Elevate (Leadership Development) please indicate this in your application and email recruitment@stockport.gov.uk. We support applications from people with disabilities, care leavers, and ex-military personnel; guaranteed interview schemes may apply if criteria are met.

Find out if you meet the criteria for the Guaranteed Assessment Scheme via the employer's information page (no external links included here).

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