Practice Development Lead North

WE’RE LOOKING FOR A PRACTICE DEVLOPMENT LEAD TO DRIVE EXCEPTIONAL OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN THAT BREAK CYCLES OF CRIME AND IGNITE SYSTEM CHANGE.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the SHiFT movement as Practice Development Lead for the North, supporting SHiFT's existing Practices in Manchester and Middlesbrough and the new Tees Remand Reduction Programme and Greater Manchester Remand Programme.

The PDL North works under the direction of the Head of Place-Based Change (North) and is the primary QA/QI resource for both programmes, holding close knowledge of every child's case, driving the learning-practice loop, and supporting Guides and Lead Guides to embed SHiFT's practice model in the remand context. This is a practitioner-facing, practice-quality role: you will spend the majority of your time alongside Guides, in Child and Family Practice Discussions, and in direct engagement with partner agencies.

We especially welcome applicants with experience or knowledge of systemic practice, youth justice, remand, and/or fostering. Knowledge of the North East or Greater Manchester context is desirable. This is a social work qualified role.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Practice Quality Assurance and Oversight:

• Hold detailed, current knowledge of each child's case and the Guide's work with them across both the Tees and GM programmes.


• Provide balanced, specific, and evidence-based challenge to Guide practice in accordance with SHiFT's practice principles and framework.


• Identify and amplify excellent practice; identify and address practice that does not uphold SHiFT's principles, escalating concerns to the Head of Place-Based Change promptly.


• Embed insider-outsider processes in accordance with SHiFT Ways and host organisation processes.


• Ensure safeguarding concerns are escalated promptly and in line with local arrangements across all four Tees LAs and GM.


• Use SHiFT's QA/QI framework to identify themes and patterns in practice — bringing these to the Head of Place-Based Change, Monthly Partnership Meetings, and SHiFT's Practice Committee.

Child and Family Practice Discussions:

• Facilitate or co-facilitate weekly Child and Family Practice Discussions across the Tees and GM programmes using systemic approaches.


• Ensure CFPD discussions generate multiple hypotheses and keep the child's experience, not professional process, at the centre.


• Ensure SHiFT's Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Practice approach is consistently applied in CFPDs, including naming racial disproportionality in remand decision-making.


• Support Guides to prepare for and follow through on actions arising from CFPDs.


• Maintain records of CFPD themes and learning and share with the Head of Place-Based Change for reporting.

Remand Programmme Support:

• Support the Head of Place-Based Change in developing the ISS+ model for the Tees remand context, adapting SHiFT's practice framework for court-facing, time-pressured work.


• Develop and maintain referral pathways with each of the four Tees YJS teams and with courts, working under the direction of the Head of Place-Based Change.


• Support Guide induction into the remand context including court processes, bail law, custody suite practice, and bail support plan writing.


• Contribute to scoping work on remand foster care in Year 1, including mapping the existing fostering landscape and supporting learning from the BRICS model.


• Support Guides in understanding and navigating court processes, bail applications, and remand decision-making from day one.

Learning, Evaluation and Influence:

• Coordinate programme data collection and case recording, ensuring Guides are recording accurately and consistently in Salesforce.


• Contribute to MoJ quarterly data packs and national evaluation returns, working with SHiFT's Learning and Impact team.


• Produce Impact Snapshots and contribute to Annual Partnership Reviews for governance bodies, under the direction of the Head of Place-Based Change.


• Capture practice learning and case studies and share through SHiFT's knowledge management systems.


• Support the delivery of System Learning Workshops, multi-agency practice development events, and other programme learning activities.


• Work with SHiFT's Head of Impact to produce analysis and learning from practice.

Stakeholder and Partnership Work:

• Build and sustain trusted working relationships with YJS Managers, courts, police, placement providers, education, health, and community partners across Tees and GM.


• Represent SHiFT at the Programme Steering Group and relevant YJ Management Boards where directed by the Head of Place-Based Change.


• Build up relationships and learning with national areas leading on remand fostering, custody transitions, and court-based practice.


• Support judicial engagement activities alongside the Head of Place-Based Change and the SHiFT Tees Team Manager.

Qualifications

Criteria

Essential:

• Assessment Degree level or significant relevant experience in social work, youth work, health, psychology, criminal justice, or equivalent.


• Professional Social Work qualification.

Desirable:

• Systemic practice training or qualification (e.g. Family Therapy, Systemic Practitioner).


• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Knowledge

Essential:

• Knowledge of SHiFT's practice model, Breaking Cycles, and systemic/relational approaches.


• Knowledge of youth justice legislation, remand processes, and court practice.


• Knowledge of adolescent development, trauma, and anti-oppressive practice.


• Knowledge of QA/QI frameworks in a practice context.

Desirable:

• Knowledge of fostering and/or remand fostering models D AF, I


• Knowledge of the Manchester and/or North East context : YJS landscape, local systems, regional partnerships


• Knowledge of Salesforce or equivalent case management and data systems D AF

Skills and Experience

Essential: 

• Experience of supervising, coaching, or developing practitioners in complex casework.


• Experience of facilitating or co-facilitating systemic practice discussions or reflective spaces.


• Experience of delivering or supporting intensive, relational work with children in the youth justice system


• Experience of working across multi-agency systems and influencing professional practice


• Ability to hold detailed knowledge of multiple cases simultaneously and provide accurate, specific challenge.


• Ability to produce high-quality written reports, case summaries, and learning outputs.


• Ability to build trusted relationships quickly across organisational and professional boundaries.


• Confident communicator at frontline and strategic level.


• Experience of data management, case recording, and contributing to programme reporting.


• Experience of setting up or scoping new services or programmes.

Desirable:

• Experience of working across multiple local authority areas or in a geographically dispersed role.

Personal Attributes

• Belief that every child can change and that a skilled, consistent relationship is the driver of that change


• Persistence, tenacity, and a 'can do' approach when systems make practice difficult.


• Comfortable with ambiguity and complexity; able to hold multiple competing priorities without losing grip on the detail.


• Commitment to anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice as a non-negotiable foundation of the work.

How to apply

Send a covering letter (maximum 2 sides of A4) addressed to Hilary Dixon, Director of Practice and Learning, and a CV with details of two referees by an email via the button below.

Please mark your application 'PDL North'. The deadline for applications is 11.59 on 30 July 2026.

SHiFT is an anti-racist and anti-oppressive systems change organisation. This includes monitoring how equitable our recruitment processes are at each stage for people with marginalised identities. We will use this data to take measurable anti-racist and anti-oppressive action, remove structural barriers for racially marginalised and other oppressed groups, and build a workforce culture rooted in equity, belonging, accountability and shared power. We need your help and co-operation to enable it to do this, but filling in this form is voluntary. All responses will be anonymous. See form here.

Review our job application process here.

We will not take up references without your permission. Please include your current notice period.

There will be two rounds of interviews: a virtual staff panel, followed by a face-to-face interview with SHiFT and Tees partners. Dates to be confirmed.

If you have any questions about the role before applying, please contact Sam Fern, Head of Practices ([email protected]) or Hilary Dixon ([email protected]).