Lead Child Protection Practitioner

x1 Permanent Post and x1 12 month Fixed Term Contract

Hackney is one of the most dynamic and progressive local authorities in the UK. We are a resilient, vibrant, and creative borough in the heart of London, with strong, diverse communities and a powerful set of shared values.

Over the past twenty years, the Council has built up first-class services, outstanding public infrastructure, and a reputation for excellence, innovation, and ambition. We are leading the way on essential work such as our fight for equity in Hackney with a particular focus on becoming an actively anti-racist borough. But the work doesn’t stop there, we are proactive in our approach to bringing fairness to all aspects of life including gender, neurodiversity and across the poverty divide.

Hackney’s Children and Families Service is looking for a Lead Child Protection Practitioner to undertake a new role within our Multi-Agency Child Protection Team within the Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Service. These roles provide an opportunity to further shape the quality assurance and practice across our Children and Family services, for children in need of protection.

We are looking for a dynamic, innovative, committed, and passionate worker who will bring a comprehensive knowledge and skill base to the challenge of working with vulnerable children and families, and who will have sound knowledge of services from the front door, through to long-term work, and looked-after children and care leavers.

Our Service seeks to actively contribute to organisational learning through recognising, promoting and supporting best practice and service development, retaining a clear focus upon positive outcomes and stability for children and families across the borough. Hackney is proud of its organisational learning culture and strives to find innovative ways of engaging and facilitating change with children and their families.

We have excellent local services and a thriving cultural sector, making this one

of London’s most popular areas to live, work, and visit. Our challenge is to ensure Hackney’s economic growth leaves no one behind and that we harness opportunities to transform the lives of local people.

For this role, the following requirements are essential;

• a relevant professional Social Work degree or equivalent
• current registration with Social Work England
• substantial post-qualifying experience
• experience of managing and developing staff and best practice
• evidence of continuing professional development

As a Council, our most outstanding asset is our staff, who are highly dedicated to serving our residents and committed to our goals as an organisation.

If you want to work in a place where you can represent our values so we achieve the best for our residents, please click on the apply button below.

We operate a fair and open anonymous selection process. Therefore, we do not accept supporting statements or CV’s.

To proceed with your application, you will need to create an account and submit your application.

As part of the application process, you will need to complete a number of competency based questions. These questions allow you to demonstrate your suitability for the role and provide examples of your skills, knowledge and experience outlined in the job description.

We understand the benefits of using AI in the workplace. However, if you are thinking of using this tool to submit your application, we ask you to think about what value it will add. AI tools tend to lack the personal touch and authenticity we value in candidates. We encourage you to showcase your unique knowledge and skills using your own voice.

Closing date for applications: 17 May 2026 (22.59)

Interview date: W/C 8 June 2026

We are also working towards our vision, which is to be a place for everyone; where residents and staff can be proud; a place that celebrates diversity and where everyone can feel valued, included and involved. In order to achieve this, we look for people who are: Proud; Ambitious; Pioneering; Open; Proactive; Inclusive.

Hackney Council works to eradicate discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We also recognise that people can be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will also work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class. We also welcome those interested in flexible working. We particularly welcome applications from disabled people, as this group is currently under represented in our workforce.

The Council has a dedicated employment support service (Hackney Works), which offers Hackney residents guidance in relation to applying for jobs. If you are thinking about applying for a job, please contact the Hackney Works team to find out what support is available: hackneyworks@hackney.gov.uk