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Job Title: Practice Manager
Starting Salary: £46,731 per annum + £6,924 market enhanced payment, progressing to £51,802 per annum + £6,768 market enhanced payment - pay award pending
Hours: 37
Location: Base locations in Stevenage (East) with travel across Hertfordshire
Contract Type: Fixed Term Aug 2027
Directorate: Childrens Services

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced and motivated Practice Manager to join our dedicated team. This is an exciting opportunity to provide operational leadership, management oversight, and practice development within Childrens Services.

Working alongside the Team Manager and wider multi-agency partners, you will play a key role in ensuring high-quality service delivery, safeguarding vulnerable children and young people, and supporting staff to achieve positive outcomes for those we work with.

As a Practice Manager, you will contribute to the day-to-day operational management of the service, providing leadership, supervision, quality assurance, and professional support to practitioners. You will help drive continuous improvement, maintain high practice standards, and ensure compliance with statutory requirements, legislation, policy, and performance expectations.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership, supervision, support, and performance management to practitioners and specialist staff.
• Support the operational management of the team and deputise for the Team Manager where required.
• Allocate and oversee cases, ensuring high-quality practice, effective risk management, and positive outcomes.
• Provide management oversight and guidance on complex cases and decision-making.
• Undertake quality assurance activities, including audits, case reviews, and performance monitoring.
• Ensure accurate recording and compliance with statutory, organisational, and professional standards.
• Build and maintain effective partnerships with colleagues, partner agencies, and stakeholders.
• Represent the service at multi-agency meetings, panels, and partnership forums.
• Lead on service development, practice improvement initiatives, and designated projects or areas of responsibility.
• Contribute to the achievement of service priorities, performance targets, and continuous improvement.

Our current vacancies:

Youth Justice
Stevenage
37 hours | Fixed Term to Aug 2027

This role manages a small team of Senior Practitioners, Social Workers and Adolescent Practitioners and specialist workers. This is not a case holding position. For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Elle.Valenti@hertfordshire.gov.uk

About You

You will be an experienced and confident social work professional with strong leadership, communication, and organisational skills. You will be committed to supporting staff development, driving high-quality practice, and improving outcomes for children, young people, and families.

Essential Criteria:

• Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England.
• Significant post-qualifying experience working with children, young people, and families.
• Experience of supervising, mentoring, or managing practitioners within a social care or related setting.
• Strong understanding of relevant legislation, safeguarding frameworks, statutory responsibilities, and best practice guidance.
• Experience of quality assurance and performance management processes, including auditing and case oversight.
• Experience of multi-agency and partnership working.
• Strong analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including report writing and presenting information to a range of audiences.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, meet deadlines, and work effectively under pressure.
• Experience using electronic case management systems and maintaining accurate records.
• Full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle for work purposes.

Desirable Criteria:

• Previous management or advanced supervisory experience.
• Experience leading service improvement initiatives or specialist projects.
• Experience of interpreting legislation, policy, and guidance and implementing changes to practice.
• Experience of undertaking research, analysing data, and producing reports to support service development.
• Experience of working with inspection frameworks and service standards.

Service Specific Essential Criteria:

Youth Justice

• Thorough knowledge of Youth Justice and court experience

Why Join Us?

This is a rewarding opportunity to make a significant contribution to the development of high-quality services and improve outcomes for children, young people, and families. You will join a skilled and supportive workforce committed to delivering excellent practice and continuous improvement.

This job role is within the Health and Social Care, level 12 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Health and social care

To read more about our service and opportunities available visit our Childrens Social Work page

Recruitment timeline: we are checking applications regularly and will arrange ad hoc interviews - please check your emails for updates.

Benefits of working for us

Additional Benefits for Social Work roles include:

Monthly Market Enhanced Payment

Lease Car Scheme

Hybrid working model

5 Days additional annual leave entitlement

SWE Registration Fee paid

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Secondment
This role is open to secondments for eligible employees who work for HCC. If you wish to apply on a secondment basis, you must have your line manager’s approval before submitting your application. You will be asked to confirm this within your application form. If you are not eligible for a secondment (e.g., you are currently on a fixed‑term contract that would end before this positions ends) or you indicate that your manager cannot support a secondment, your application will be considered on a fixed‑term contract basis instead.

Additional information

We are changing
Hertfordshire County Councilis undergoing Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). If you are employed by Hertfordshire County on 1 April 2028, it is expected that most roles will transfer to the newly-created unitary councils on existing terms and conditions under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings – Protection of Employment) principles.

LGR is one of the biggest changes we will face in a generation. It will reshape how we work and how services are organised and gives us a real opportunity to build something better. To find out more, visit https://www.hertfordshire-lgr.co.uk/

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Driving required
You’ll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.