Social Worker-Family Safeguarding

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location:  Various locations across Leicestershire

Salary: Level 2 Social Worker – £38,734 - £42,448 (inclusive of market premia at £3,283); Level 3 Social Worker – £43,222 - £45,982 (inclusive of market premia at £3,283) per annum (pro-rata for part-time) (Pay award pending)

Working Hours: 37 hours per week 

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 19th August 2026

Interview Date(s): 16th September 2026

Come and be part of our Outstanding Family Safeguarding Service.

It’s an exciting time to be a part of Children and Family Services at Leicestershire County Council, our staff are at the heart of delivering excellent services to children and families across Leicestershire. Come and join us and make a difference in the lives of children and families in Leicestershire.

Our recent Ofsted inspection praised Leicestershire’s work to build “strong and long-lasting relationships” with children and families which lead to many families achieving “positive changes” in their lives. They highlighted an “ambitious and child-focused senior leadership that has successfully created a culture where the experiences and progress of children are at the heart of social work practice”.

You can read more about our Outstanding Ofsted rating  here 

About the Role

Our Family Safeguarding Service specialises in delivering high-quality Child Protection Services to children and families across Leicestershire. In this role, as an experienced social worker, you will have a focus on overseeing children subject to child protection plans, alongside pre-proceedings and care proceedings, and therefore experience in this area is essential. 

Please note that an Enhanced DBS check is required for this post. Please ensure your application includes a full career history and provides reasons for any gaps.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.

About You

To apply for this post, you must respond to and evidence the following 7 essential criteria within your personal statement. This should be no more than 1,000 words.

 Previous applicants need not re-apply as all prior submissions have been reviewed 

• Have a Social Work degree or equivalent, e.g., CQSW or DipSW (with a specialism in children’s services) with over 2 years’ post qualifying experience. You must also be registered with Social Work England.


• You MUST hold a full, valid, UK driving licence (or be able to convert your current licence) and have access to a vehicle.


• Be confident and experienced in statutory child protection services, including the completion of Care Proceedings, possessing strong assessment skills demonstrating the ability to make sound decisions that offer support and that are impactful. This would need to be demonstrated through clear and evidenced examples.


• Knowledge of UK childcare legislation and Local Safeguarding Children Partnership procedures, particularly in relation to child protection and Care proceedings. Be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the theoretical underpinning of social work practice and models used.


• You will have a thorough understanding of inclusion in practice, to embrace and promote the fundamental rights of all people as set out in the professional standards of Social Work England.


• Be able to evidence your skills and knowledge of creative, innovative, and relationship-based social work, working in collaboration with families and professionals. Ideally, you will already be confident in the application of the Signs of Safety methodology.


• Have excellent prioritisation and time management skills to ensure the successful delivery of competing and changing work demands and be able to demonstrate this via examples.

Due to the nature of this role, you must be able to work outside normal office hours e.g. evenings on occasion if required.

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents.  You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer.

In Leicestershire, we have a fantastic package to provide our workers. This includes recognition of our staff in annual Pride In Practice events, fantastic learning and training opportunities – enabling our staff to develop and progress within their roles and committed wellbeing support. 

We are proud of our continuous improvement plan - ‘Achieving Excellence through Purposeful Practice which sets out our key values, behaviours and ambitions. We have embedded the Signs of Safety approach throughout our services and this approach mirrors our values of Aspiration, Being Curious and Collaboration. We are focused on working with families and the networks of family, friends and professionals around children, to work in collaboration to achieve shared goals. 

We are committed to our vision of becoming a trauma-informed responsive department where we believe we are “stronger together”. Our culture is one of partnership, where we look for solutions and recognise the potential impact of trauma on the children and families we work with and on our staff. We will strive to create a safe, compassionate, healing environment demonstrated through relationships based on trust, respect, hope and empathy. We will achieve this through a spirit of curiosity, by nurturing connections through relationships, making a deliberate effort to know and understand people, and by providing hope for growth and recovery.

Learn more about how we are responding to trauma, taking pride in practice and celebrating our achievements in social work here.

We support and empower our staff to be the best that they can be. We will give you the support and resources that you need to work in collaboration with children and families.

For further information on what it’s like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please visit :

Children and Family Social Worker Recruitment

Working With Us in Children’s Social Care

Social Worker Benefits

Working in Children and Family Services

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Resourcing Co-ordinator: Jennifer Neville

Tel: 0116 305 7690

Email: [email protected]

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible. 

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support. 

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.