Advanced Practitioner - Safeguarding

Advanced Practitioner (Safeguarding)
Barnsley Council | South Yorkshire
£37 per hour (Umbrella) | Locum contract
Working pattern: Hybrid working (office presence required in line with service needs)

Barnsley Council is looking for an experienced Advanced Practitioner to join a busy Safeguarding service, supporting high-quality frontline practice and driving strong outcomes for children and families. This is a great opportunity for someone who enjoys combining complex casework with practice leadership, mentoring and quality assurance.

About the Role

You’ll provide day-to-day practice guidance across safeguarding pathways, supporting social workers to deliver confident, timely and child-focused interventions across CIN / CP / PLO / Court work.

Key responsibilities

  • Led on complex safeguarding cases, providing high-level risk analysis and clear planning to improve outcomes for children.

  • Supported social workers with case direction, reflective discussions and decision-making at key points (strategy, legal planning, CP planning).

  • Undertook quality assurance activity (case audits, dip sampling, file scrutiny) and drove improvement actions with practitioners.

  • Produced high-quality assessments, plans and court statements where required, ensuring evidence-based analysis and proportionality.

  • Strengthened multi-agency working with Police, Health, Education and partner agencies to manage risk and progress plans.

  • Contributed to escalation, threshold discussions and safeguarding decision-making, ensuring responses aligned with statutory guidance.

  • Supported supervision and development of less experienced staff, including coaching around direct work and written analysis.

Practice Model

Barnsley’s approach is grounded in relationship-based, strengths-led safeguarding practice—working in partnership with families, being professionally curious, and keeping the child’s lived experience at the centre of assessment, planning and intervention.

Requirements

  • Social Work qualification (Degree/DipSW/CQSW) and current Social Work England registration.

  • Strong post-qualifying experience within statutory Children’s Social Care (CIN/CP and legal processes).

  • Confident working with risk, thresholds and multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

  • Proven ability to deliver high-quality written work (assessments, plans, reports) with clear analysis.

  • Experience supporting other practitioners through mentoring, coaching, QA activity or practice leadership.