Permanent - Duty & Assessment / Senior Practitio...

Windsor & Maidenhead are recruiting for a Senior Practitioner for their Referral and Assessment Team Salary up to: £53,600 What the role involves — Job Description (Duty & Assessment / Senior Practitioner) Organisation Context Achieving for Children delivers children’s social care, early-help, safeguarding, SEND, fostering/adoption etc for the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead. The Duty & Assessment (D&A) team is the first point of contact for new referrals into children’s social care Core Purpose / Responsibilities As a Senior Practitioner / Senior Social Worker in Duty & Assessment (or Support & Safeguarding) you will typically: * Carry an allocated caseload of children and young people, often those referred via Duty & Assessment. Undertake initial and ongoing assessments of children and families, evaluating risk and protective factors, needs, and decide the most appropriate response or next step. * Safeguard and promote the welfare of children, working within statutory frameworks (e.g. relevant Children Acts, statutory child-protection guidance) and organisational policy. * Provide direct social work: intervention, planning, support, working with families to address needs and support children’s safety and wellbeing. Prepare high-quality written reports for child protection conferences, reviews, care planning meetings, and where needed, for court / legal processes. * Reports must clearly document risk assessments, child’s voice, case history, professional assessment and plan. Work collaboratively with multi-agency partners (health, education, other social care professionals, family support, third sector) to plan and deliver effective support and interventions. * Manage complex cases in accordance with statutory requirements, balancing safeguarding obligations, family support, and planning for children’s long-term welfare. Use a strength-based, child-centred approach: building effective, enabling relationships with children, young people and their families; advocating for children’s needs and rights. # * Maintain accurate, timely case records, using standard systems (e.g. local casework databases) — demonstrating accountability, transparency and professional standards. What Makes This Role Different / Senior-Level As a Senior Practitioner, the role often involves: Handling the most complex and high-risk cases — requiring experience, judgement and confidence. Possibly providing supervision or guidance to more junior workers or working alongside multi-disciplinary teams to coordinate care plans and interventions. Taking decisions that shape outcomes (e.g. care planning, child protection, support packages) — being a key decision-maker for children’s welfare. Hybrid working available Position is Full Time