Advanced social work practitioner - Children looked after service - Assessment and Reunification team

As an Advanced Social Work Practitioner, you will play a vital role in ensuring the highest professional standards, conduct, and quality of social work practice. You will work autonomously with complex cases while also supporting and mentoring less experienced social workers, helping them to analyse and think through challenging situations to promote best practice and positive outcomes for children and young people.

An ASWP in this service will provide specialist support in high‑risk reunification work by:

Offering expert assessment, critical analysis, and structured professional judgement.
Embedding best‑practice tools, supporting quality assurance, and ensuring alignment with national standards.
Providing coaching, and specialist guidance to less experienced colleagues and embed practitioner skills and confidence.
Enhancing collaborative planning and child‑centred practice.
Effective reunification improves long‑term stability and reduces costs associated with care and crisis responses.
improve outcomes for children and families

About You

You will be:

A qualified and experienced social work practitioner
Registered with Social Work England
Able to work autonomously on complex cases
Highly skilled in risk assessment and safeguarding
Able to Strengthen safe reunification
Able to reduce re-entry into care
Able to embed evidence based practice
Experienced in multi‑agency working

If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you.

Why Join Sheffield?

We know this is a demanding role – so we work hard to make it a supportive, rewarding, and sustainable career choice.

A genuinely supportive team
You’ll be part of a compassionate team, led by a nurturing manager and supported by colleagues who truly understand the challenges of the work.
Empowered to do your best work
Our excellent managers provide high‑quality reflective supervision, giving you the space, guidance, and confidence to deliver great practice.
Your development matters
We offer a tailored learning and development package, mentoring opportunities, and clear pathways for career progression.
Flexible working that works for you
Generous flexible working arrangements help you balance work with your home life and personal wellbeing.
Innovative practice, better outcomes
Join a service that actively seeks out innovative and effective ways of working – making your job easier and improving outcomes for children and young people.
A great city to live and work in
Sheffield is a vibrant, diverse city with excellent schools, strong transport links, rich cultural and social opportunities, and outstanding access to green spaces and the outdoors.

If you’re looking for a role where your expertise is valued, your wellbeing is supported, and your work truly makes a difference, Sheffield is the place for you.

Further information: Victoria.Laycock@sheffield.gov.uk

We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.

It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application.

Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form. Sometimes, if lots of people apply, we might not be able to interview everyone who qualifies for the Guarantee. In these cases, we’ll interview the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job.

Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.

If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade.

Equality of pay is extremely important to us. All roles at Sheffield City Council are going through an evaluation process which may result in changes to some pay arrangements from 2026. Find out more on our Sheff news page.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyone and where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.