Senior Practitioner - MASH

About the job
Salary: £41,511 - £44,711 a year pro rata plus £5,500 market supplement and £963 essential car user allowance (subject to criteria) a year pro rata
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Fixed Term until 31st March 2025

This position is available as a secondment opportunity until 31st March 2025. If you are a permanent LBC employee, you must have written approval (an email will suffice) from your manager prior to applying and a copy will need to be submitted with your application. Please note: we will not be able to proceed with your application form without your manager's permission.

Are you ready to make a real difference in the lives of vulnerable children and families? Join our MASH team as a Senior Practitioner!

As aMASH Senior Practitioner, you will be providing essential support to the most vulnerable and at-risk children and families. Your role will include assessing contacts from various sources, prioritising urgent cases, and ensuring that timely, high-quality action is taken by signposting to the appropriate teams and services. This role is critical to our commitment to safeguarding children, and you'll play a key role in shaping the safety and welfare of young lives every day.

What You'll Be Doing:

• Act as a key contact point, managing all incoming social care queries via phone and written communication.
• Swiftly assess and prioritise cases, identifying those in urgent need and making appropriate recommendations.
• Provide high-level advice, guidance, and support to colleagues, ensuring all cases are efficiently transferred or handled by the relevant services.
• Mentor, coach, and guide team members, sharing best practices to continually raise professional standards across the MASH.
• Develop and maintain strong partnerships within the MASH and externally to ensure cohesive and effective interventions.

Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.
About you
As a valued part of our MASH team, you'll work alongside dedicated professionals in a dynamic, supportive environment committed to protecting children and supporting families. You'll have opportunities for professional growth, a robust support network, and the chance to make a profound impact! We are looking for:

• Experienced Professional: You bring substantial post-qualifying experience in children's social care, with deep knowledge in safeguarding and risk management.
• Passionate Mentor: You have demonstrable experience in coaching, mentoring, and practice teaching, sharing your expertise to uplift team standards.
• Skilled Communicator: Known for your ability to build meaningful relationships across teams, you can communicate effectively with staff, public, and professionals alike.
• Solution-Oriented: Your practice is defined by a commitment to delivering exceptional support, with a proven aptitude for effective decision-making in complex and sensitive cases.
• Collaborative Team Player: Your commitment to the highest professional standards goes hand-in-hand with your ability to work collaboratively and provide critical guidance within a multi-agency framework.

Ready to make a difference?
Apply today and be part of a team that puts the welfare and safety of children at the heart of everything we do.
About us
Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision- that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty - is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.

The people of Luton depend heavily on this council - and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?
Application process
Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person's criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.
Additional information
We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:

• From 25to 32days' annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
• Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
• Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
• Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
• Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
• Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
• Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. W e welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
• Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
• Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
• Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
• Friday Funday Socials - One Friday every 2 months where we encourage our staff to get together to socialise after work