Practice Development Officer

Job introduction

Job title: Practice Development Officer 

Salary: £49,764 – £54,916 per annum

Location: Cunard Building/City Wide

A bit about us:

Liverpool is home to vibrant, energetic, and engaged communities, people who take real ownership of their local area and are passionate about making our city a better place. We've got ambitious targets to meet by 2025 and we need people who are driven, dynamic and ready to deliver the very best for our communities.  Public service is more important than ever, and this role represents a real opportunity to make a difference to our communities by transforming the way we work and placing our residents at the heart of everything we do. 

Working at Liverpool City Council provides an opportunity to contribute to your community and make a positive impact on the lives of residents. Our values shape how we work to deliver public services, and how we communicate with the residents we serve. We care about the best outcomes for local people, through our public services. 

We are proud of our world-famous thriving city with its rich culture, affordable housing, stunning waterfront, and our beautiful green spaces – there’s really something for everyone!

Liverpool City Council Children and Young People’s Service is on an exciting journey and the recently created Children’s Workforce Academy is at the forefront of driving high quality practice across the holistic children’s practice system.  

This role is part of our ongoing commitment to the development of the Children’s Workforce Academy in implementing its Operating Model to support the practice system to deliver impact and focused outcomes for our children, young people, and their networks via building a sustainable foundation of support to our holistic workforce. This is a great opportunity to be part of an aspirational and forward-thinking portfolio with a priority of ensuring the workforce are equipped with the skills, experience, and knowledge to promote and enable change. 

The role:

• In the role of Practice Development Officer, you will be an experienced and registered children’s social worker, who is a practice educator or working towards the qualification
• In this key learning and development role, you will develop and deliver a clear and robust learner’s programme to support the Continuous Professional Development of all our social care workforce through bespoke programmes, i.e., AYSE, Apprenticeships, Step-ups, Practice Educators
• You will be confident in designing and delivering comprehensive high-quality training, learning and development sessions, applying your wealth of knowledge of children’s legislation, case management, policies, frameworks and procedures
• You will support the implementation of several faculties within the Children’s Workforce Academy to support the whole children’s workforce in accordance with the Children’s Workforce Academy Operating Model and the Children’s Workforce Strategy
• As a Practice Development Officer, you will be an advocate of promoting good practice across the organisation, undertaking audits and support our Quality Assurance Service. You will have the drive and passion to influence and motivate workforce in practice improvement

Our offer to you:

• At least 31 days holiday entitlement, rising to 35 after 5 years’ service – option to purchase further days
• Agile working – a “Flexibility First” approach to agile working, where flexibility is the norm rather than the exception.
• Part of the Local Government Pension Scheme – option to join the AVC Scheme  
• Progression – opportunities and training through a wide range of high quality learning
• Health and Wellbeing – including Employee Assistance Programme
• Cycle to Work and Travel Pass Schemes 
• Drive Time – a salary sacrifice car lease scheme
• Family friendly policies with enhanced leave  
• Discounted gym memberships 
• Employee Volunteering Scheme 
• Medicash 

Next steps:

Closing date: Sunday 9 February 2025

Interview date: Tuesday 25 February 2025

If you would like to discuss the role further, please contact Harriet Cadman, Recruitment & Retention Lead, via harriet.cadman@liverpool.gov.uk or Paul Elliott, Head of Service – Workforce Development and Learning, via paul.elliott@liverpool.gov.uk.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service and up to date registration with Social Work England as a qualified Social Worker.

If you are an international social worker candidate and require sponsorship, we have currently closed this programme and are in the process of reviewing it. If we advertise again in the future this will be a separate advert, so please do not apply to this vacancy.

Liverpool City Council is committed to fostering a workforce representative of the communities we serve. As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we believe in appointing candidates based on their skills, experience, qualifications, and abilities. To support this commitment, we guarantee an interview to candidates from under-represented groups who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role. 

If you require any reasonable adjustments in line with the Equality Act 2010, such as an application form in a different format or additional time to complete your application, please contact us at recruitment@liverpool.gov.uk.

Although we advertise on Jobs Go Public, and other websites, your application process will be directed to our Tribepad system. Please note that all communication regarding your application for this post will be sent to the email address that you have registered on Tribepad, including your invite to interview if you are shortlisted. Please check your emails regularly, including Spam/Junk, after the closing dates for notifications.  Please ensure you complete your full profile, work and education history in Tribepad. 

Watch our recruitment video and see what life is like working at Liverpool City Council!