Senior Practitioner Transitions Team

Permanent

Grade D - £45,091 – £53,460

Working 36.5 hours per week

This is a senior professional leadership role for an established, highly experienced Social Worker who consistently demonstrates authority, integrity, and sound professional judgement in complex adult social care practice.

Birmingham City Council is committed to putting citizens first, protecting rights, promoting independence, and ensuring fairness and equity for Birmingham’s diverse communities. As a Senior Practitioner within the Transitions Team, you will be expected to actively model and uphold these values through your leadership, decision‑making, and approach to practice.

This role operates at a strategic practice level. You will be responsible for leading, challenging, and assuring the quality of practice delivered by a cluster of qualified social workers, many of whom are managing highly complex and high‑risk work. You must bring substantial post‑qualifying experience, credibility, and confidence to influence standards, intervene decisively where practice is insufficient, and provide authoritative professional guidance.

You will deliver robust, reflective, and purposeful supervision, setting clear expectations and holding practitioners to account in line with statutory duties, ethical practice, and organisational standards. This includes rigorous oversight and quality assurance of Care Act assessments, Continuing Healthcare (CHC) disputes and appeals, Section 117 aftercare, and reviews. You will be expected to evidence defensible decision‑making that withstands scrutiny, challenge, and escalation.

This post requires an individual who is comfortable operating autonomously within a complex system and who consistently demonstrates resilience under pressure. You must be able to manage conflict, uncertainty, and competing demands while maintaining a clear focus on outcomes, legality, proportionality, and citizens’ rights. The ability to challenge constructively, escalate appropriately, and maintain professional curiosity is essential.

We are seeking candidates who already lead practice through experience rather than aspiration. You will have a proven track record of managing and developing practitioners, working effectively across health, commissioning, legal, and multi‑disciplinary networks, and navigating complex CHC processes and disputes with confidence and professionalism. Your knowledge of adult social care legislation must be authoritative, current, and applied with consistency.

At Birmingham City Council, strong leadership is grounded in accountability, transparency, equality, and collaboration. In return for bringing your expertise, judgement, and values‑led leadership, we offer a role where your influence directly shapes practice quality and outcomes for citizens at scale.

What we offer

A genuinely senior role with authority and responsibility for practice standards
An organisation that values ethical, strengths‑based decision‑making
Access to coaching, mentoring, and continued professional development
Flexible and family‑friendly working arrangements
29 days’ annual leave (plus bank holidays), increasing with service
£1,000 Golden Hello (external applicants only)
£5,000 annual Recruitment and Retention Payment (pro rata)

Applicants must be registered with Social Work England and hold a satisfactory DBS. Significant post‑qualifying experience, including leadership of practitioners and management of complex adult social care work, is essential.

This role is not suitable for newly qualified, developing, or first‑time Senior Practitioners.

Please upload an up-to-date CV and Supporting Statement via the attachments part of your application. The Supporting Statement should outline how you meet the criteria for the role through your personal qualities, skills and experience and include your motivation for applying to the post. Note the Personal Statement should be no more than 1500 words. Unfortunately, we cannot consider any applications without a CV and Personal Statement attached

Birmingham City Council is an accredited Disability Confident Leader employer, and we are committed to employing, retaining and developing all of our people.

We want to ensure your recruitment journey with us is a positive and equitable one, so please let us know if there are any reasonable adjustments, additional support, accessibility needs, or if there is any way in which we can support you through your application.

For any informal enquires please contact the Resourcing Team <Resourcing@birmingham.gov.uk>

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be undertaken.

Proof of Right to work in the UK will be required for all applicants in accordance with UK Home Office requirements, before any employment offer can be confirmed.

Birmingham City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our citizens and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. You can view our Corporate Safeguarding Policy | Birmingham City Council here.

Job Description and Person Specification