Important Information for Current Barnet Council Employees

Where possible, employees who have access to Oracle are encouraged to apply via the Opportunity Marketplace (Internal Career Site). This helps to ensure applications are correctly identified as internal and avoids potential delays during the recruitment process.

This position is open to internal candidates employed by LBB. Any applications received from external candidates outside of the above will not be considered and will be automatically rejected.

About Barnet Council

Barnet is a borough with much to be proud of. Our excellent schools, vibrant town centres, vast green spaces and diverse communities all help make it a great place to live and work. As a council we want to build on these strengths as we move into the future. We are growing and developing as an organisation to meet the challenges facing our borough and we are committed to working with partner organisations and residents to make Barnet even better. As an organisation, our staff are committed to Our Values: Learning to Improve, Caring, Inclusive, Collaborative – which drive everything we do.

About the role

At the London Borough of Barnet, we are ambitious for our children and families. We are committed to delivering an integrated, child‑centred and relational approach to Family Help and safeguarding, focused on improving outcomes through excellent practice, strong partnerships and a culture that values innovation, learning and reflective leadership.

The Court Progression Officer provides strategic oversight, coordination and professional leadership for all court proceedings involving Children’s Social Care, including Public Law Outline (PLO), pre proceedings and care proceedings. The post holder exercises professional authority across the service to direct and influence practice, ensuring that all court work meets high standards of quality, timeliness and compliance.

The role works collaboratively across all social work services, Legal Services and partner agencies, while holding practitioners and managers to account for delivering effective, child focused and legally robust court work in line with statutory requirements and court expectations.

The post holder acts as a central point of expertise, assurance and practice leadership, providing oversight, challenge and direction to practitioners and managers, and supporting senior leadership to maintain strong governance of court and PLO activity across Family Services. This includes driving improvement in case progression, reducing delay, strengthening practice quality and enhancing the Local Authority’s interface with the courts.

Please click here to download the Job description for this role. (Right-click and select “Open in new tab” so you can keep the job description open while completing your application)

About you

You will be a qualified and registered social worker with a minimum of 3 years post qualified experience in statutory children’s social care.

You will:

Have substantial experience of working within care proceedings, including Public Law Outline (PLO), interim and final orders.
Have strong knowledge of care and permanence planning with the ability to promote high quality, evidence-based planning for children.
Have considerable post-qualifying direct experience in adoption work.
Have demonstrable experience of improving or supporting case progression and reducing delay in court proceedings.
Have experience of providing advice, consultation or professional challenge to social workers and managers.
Have experience of joint working with Legal Services, CAFCASS and partner agencies.
Be able to maintain oversight of complex, high volume information and identify risk, drift or delay.
Be able to deliver practice guidance, briefings or learning sessions.

What we offer

31 days annual leave, plus public and bank holidays
Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme, which provides a valuable guaranteed income in your retirement together with security for your dependents
Work-life balance options may include hybrid working, flexitime, job share, home working, part-time
A vast range of lifestyle discounts from major retailers, supermarkets, energy suppliers and more
Broad range of payroll benefits including cycle to work, eye care vouchers, travel and gym membership
Excellent training and development opportunities
Employee well- being training programs including confidential employee assistance

How to apply

Read the job description and person specification before clicking ‘Apply’ to commence the online application form. If you would like any further information about the role before applying, please contact Lakeisha Hicks on Lakeisha.hicks@barnet.gov.uk

System notice: Some dates shown on our online application system (such as “Apply Before”) appear in US date format (MM/DD/YYYY) due to Oracle system settings.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a useful tool to support your application as a reasonable adjustment, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn, escalated to counter Fraud for further investigation and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Barnet Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Barnet operates stringent safer recruitment procedures, this may include AI Detection Screening, Biometric ID/Right to Work Checks, Qualification and Registration Checks, Up to 6 years of Employment Data and Insights to Accelerate Screening (Konfir), Up to 5 years of Employment History References, DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) Checks, Credit Checks and Social Media, Sanctions and Occupational Health Screening.

To deliver Barnet Council’s commitment to equality of opportunity in the provision of services, all staff are expected to promote equality in the workplace and in the services the Council delivers. As such we value diversity and welcome applications from all backgrounds.

Barnet Council embraces all forms of flexible working (including part-time, compressed hours, and hybrid working) and is committed to offering employees a healthy work-life balance. Candidates are encouraged to talk about relevant requirements and preferences at interview. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.

Barnet Council is a Disability Confident Committed Employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

All posts with the council are subject to a probationary period of six months, during which time you will be required to demonstrate to the council satisfaction your suitability for the position in which you will be employed.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close vacancies before the stated closing date if sufficient number of applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.

Please ensure you regularly check the email account (including JUNK MAIL folders) that you use to submit your application, as any further communication regarding your application will be sent electronically. Should you not hear from us within four working weeks of the closing date for this post, then regretfully in this instance, you have not been shortlisted.