Advanced Practitioner (Adults)

Overview

Are you an experienced and confident social work professional ready to take the next step in your career? We are seeking committed Advanced Practitioners to support high‑quality, strengths‑based practice across our Adult Social Care services.

This is an opportunity to play a key leadership role within frontline services, providing expert practice guidance, supporting reflective supervision and contributing to service development, while continuing to hold a complex caseload. You will work in an organisation that values professional judgement, invests in learning and development, and creates the conditions for excellent social work practice.

We have fixed term 16 months, full-time Advanced Practitioner opportunities available within our safeguarding services.

In addition to the salary advertised you will receive a market premium of £2,525 per annum.

We also offer a golden hello payment of £2,500 paid on successful completion of your probationary period (for external candidates only).

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that brings together the strengths of the previous five councils to better serve local people, communities and businesses. We are focused on improving outcomes for residents and are committed to delivering effective, timely and proportionate safeguarding responses for adults at risk.

Why work with us

We recognise the important role Safeguarding Advanced Practitioners play in supporting good practice and safeguarding outcomes. When you join us, you can expect:

• Professional investment –  Payment of Social Work England registration fees and access to a wide range of learning and development opportunities, including safeguarding-focused training.
• Excellent transport links – Easy access via the M25, M40 and A-road networks; locations outside the ULEZ zone.
• A strong focus on wellbeing – A supportive culture, wellbeing initiatives and team development opportunities.
• Robust induction & ongoing support – Structured induction, shadowing opportunities, and ongoing management support.
• Hybrid working – Flexible, mobile working supported by appropriate IT.
• Staff benefits – Free parking (where available), essential car user allowance, pension scheme, employee discounts and car lease scheme.

About the role

As a Safeguarding Advanced Practitioner, you will support the delivery of effective safeguarding practice across Adult Social Care, ensuring duties under the Care Act 2014 are applied consistently and appropriately.

You will bring a solid working knowledge of safeguarding processes, particularly Section 42 enquiries, and play an important role in supporting practitioners with triaging concerns and making defensible eligibility decisions.

While supporting others, you will remain operationally active, managing a complex safeguarding caseload and working closely with partners to reduce risk and improve outcomes for adults.

You may also chair strategy discussions or meetings where appropriate, helping to ensure multi-agency responses are timely, coordinated and proportionate.

You will:

• Lead and support safeguarding enquiries, including those requiring Section 42 Care Act intervention.
• Contribute to triaging safeguarding concerns, supporting consistent and proportionate eligibility decision-making.
• Manage a complex caseload, completing strengths-based, outcome-focused assessments, plans and reviews.
• Provide reflective supervision, guidance and support to colleagues, including less experienced staff.
• Work collaboratively with multi-agency partners (e.g. health, police, housing and providers) to manage risk and safeguard adults.
• Contribute to and, where appropriate, chair safeguarding strategy discussions/meetings.
• Support sound risk management and defensible decision-making in practice.
• Ensure work is compliant with the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act and local safeguarding procedures.
• Contribute to quality assurance, audit activity and service improvement.
• Maintain clear, accurate and timely records and reports.
• Promote a culture of professional curiosity, accountability and continuous learning.

Knowledge or experience of LASM/PIPOT processes would be an advantage, but is not essential.

About you

You must hold a Social Work degree and be registered with Social Work England. You will have experience of working within Adult Social Care in the UK.

You will have substantial post‑qualifying experience working with adults in a statutory setting. You bring strong, up‑to‑date knowledge of adult social care legislation, safeguarding arrangements and strengths‑based practice and are confident supporting complex decision‑making and positive risk‑taking. You can work flexibly to meet service needs, balance leadership responsibilities alongside your own casework.

As a skilled practitioner and role model, you will be comfortable providing professional guidance, supervision and support to colleagues, using reflective approaches to promote learning and development. Organised, resilient and outcome‑focused, you will maintain high standards of recording and report writing and are committed to continuous professional development.

For further details, please see the full job summary attached.

Other information

A full UK driving licence with access to a vehicle is an essential requirement for this role.

For more information about this exciting role, please contact:

• [email protected]

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled ‘Exceptions Order’).

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

We understand that candidates may use AI tools to assist with their applications. While we welcome innovation, we expect all submissions to reflect your own experience, skills, and achievements accurately. Please ensure your application is truthful and demonstrates your personal capabilities, as this will be assessed during the selection process.

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining us, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

We know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Service Area

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to ensuring that our residents stay as independent as they can, for as long as possible. Everyone has the right to live a fulfilling and nourishing life, and for many people, social care plays a key role in achieving that.

We are looking for dynamic Social Workers who are passionate about enabling clients to fulfil their potential, whilst promoting self-determination, and who are passionate, supportive, motivated, and confident when supporting and communicating with people - either on the telephone or face to face.

Your work will include carrying out needs assessments, creating person-centred and strengths-based care plans, ensuring delivery of services, and reviewing outcomes with the individual, their personal networks, and support providers.

You will work in partnership with other professionals and organisations to support our residents effectively and holistically. Our Social Workers will endorse and act by the principles of personalisation, ensuring that care and support plans are person-centred, and as far as is safely possible, you will put the people with whom you work in control of their lives.

You will also demonstrate emotional resilience and intelligence - which is the ability to maintain focus and to ‘keep going’ despite setbacks and stressful situations, a real desire to enable clients to achieve or maintain their goals of living independently and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment.

 So, if you are looking for a new challenge, want to become part of a team that places a premium on listening and learning, and which is determined to make a difference – we want to hear from you!

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/