Early Help Specialist Practitioner WCC620519

Job Details:

Salary range: £41,580 - £45,399 pro-rata, per annum (actual salary £24,948 - £27,239 per annum
Work location: 101 Orchardson Street, Westminster, London NW8 8EA
Hours per week: 21.60 
Contract type: Temporary up to 12 months
Vetting requirements: Enhanced DBS Check  
Closing date: 17 April 2025

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF EMPOWERED FAMILIES 

Children’s Services at Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories where compassionate people bring everything to their work, including their own experiences of parenting.

Take Melissa, a Senior Social Worker in our Assessment Team. She’s one of the first people families meet when accessing our services, so building rapport is critical. And that’s where Melissa’s life experience really counts. She had her first child as a young adult and knows just how judgemental others can be. 

Melissa has something unique to offer and it can’t be found in a textbook: her own experience of raising two children as a single parent. She’s committed to empowering others: giving them the skills, resources and confidence they need, from housing support to baby supplies. And if the family has older kids? Well, she’s been there too. Her youngest is now 15 and Melissa knows the challenges of helping young people navigate inner-city life.

Melissa first learnt her craft as a support worker, then completed her statutory training as social worker – all while raising her family single-handed. And she’s not done yet. Supported by her managers, she’s been training in systemic therapy and is already looking forward to her next development opportunity.  

Melissa’s more than a social worker; she’s a shining example to the families she works with every day.

The Role:

As a Specialist Early Help Practitioner with the Youth Justice System, you can make your own powerful contribution by working with children and young people aged 10-17 who are displaying signs of anti-social behaviour or at risk of offending. Steering them in a better direction, you will work with them to understand the factors that have led them to this point in life – such as poor educational experiences, a lack of employment prospects, adverse childhood experiences or the impact of trauma – and you will determine the measures that need to be put in place to put them on a better path. 

Ultimately, you will be focused on reducing the number of children entering the Youth Justice System and reducing re-referrals to the social work system by working with them and their families or carers to explore the avenues that will help them get the most out of life. We embrace a trauma-focused, child-first ethos to our work, using systemic practice to get young people to change their prospects, and improve their social-emotional and mental health. As such, you will work in partnership with our partners, plus the community and voluntary sectors to devise creative approaches that are individually tailored to the unique needs of every service user. 

Conducting holistic assessments and shaping effective interventions, you will adopt approaches ranging from 1:1 support through to group and project work, constantly assessing the success of these measures and making the relevant tweaks. This will include working with the families of these young people, helping them better manage their behaviour and become more resilient parents, so there will plenty of variety in every day. 

Please note that we reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants. So if you would like to join a team who are passionate about making a tangible difference to some of Westminster’s most vulnerable children and young people, please do apply as soon as possible. 

Please refer to the Job Description for more information.

About You:

To be equal to this fantastic role, you will share our view that everyone has the capacity to change, including the most challenging young people. As such, you will combine empathy with resilience as you work with each child, using your knowledge of safeguarding and child protection issues to identify the most appropriate paths. 

Coming from a background in which you have worked with children and young people who were on the cusp of offending, you will have plenty of ideas on how to work with families with complex needs. We will therefore expect you to have an exceptional knowledge of ‘strengths based’ and ‘outcome focused’ work, so you will be confident in using assessment frameworks and tools to conduct assessments. With an enhanced DBS check, you will have a deep knowledge of early help services and interventions, and you will be fluent in issues relating to the Youth Justice Service. 

Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role.

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit  https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties

As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.

The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.