Location
London Borough of Harrow

Hours
Full Time (Hybrid working model with office base and work from home; majority of time spent within the borough)

Salary
£54,843 per annum

About the Role
Join Harrow Children’s Services and be part of an ambitious Children’s Social Care service improving outcomes for children and families. The London Borough of Harrow is undergoing significant change through ambitious Children’s Reforms Programmes including Families First, Best Start Family Hubs, Best Start in Life, and SEND Reforms. We are committed to helping every child thrive by reshaping future support for children, young people, and families across the borough.

As part of the Families First Programme, we are developing a practice system focused on relationships, family-led decision making, and multi-disciplinary support. We are enhancing our child protection approach by creating a dedicated Multi-Agency Child Protection Service (MACPS) to lead in keeping children and adolescents safe.

We are seeking experienced child protection social workers with the expertise, confidence, and professional curiosity to lead complex safeguarding decisions. As a Lead Child Protection Practitioner, you will play a central role in strengthening statutory child protection practice across Children’s Services.

This specialist role requires a qualified and registered social worker to provide expert leadership across Section 47 child protection enquiries, strategy discussions, child protection conferences, and multi-agency safeguarding activities. Working alongside partners from police, health, education, and wider children’s services, you will help ensure children and young people are protected from significant harm and families receive clear, timely, and proportionate intervention.

The role aligns with the Lead Child Protection Practitioner Standards, outlining the knowledge and skills needed to effectively lead child protection processes. You will demonstrate strong capability in identifying and responding to actual or likely significant harm; engaging children and families during Section 47 enquiries; assessing risk and likelihood of harm; and planning interventions to prevent or stop harm.

As Lead Child Protection Practitioner, you will provide consultation, challenge, and guidance to social workers and partner agencies, promoting high-quality analysis, defensible decision-making, and child-centred planning. You will integrate information from the professional network, support robust risk assessments inside and outside the home, and ensure safeguarding responses are relational, trauma-informed, anti-racist, inclusive, and proportionate.

You will work within a co-located Multi-Agency Child Protection Team, exercising statutory child protection duties in line with the Children Act 1989, Children Act 2004, Working Together to Safeguard Children, London Child Protection Procedures, and Harrow’s local safeguarding arrangements.

Key responsibilities include:
- Leading and coordinating Section 47 child protection enquiries across Children’s Services
- Chairing strategy meetings, child protection conferences, and complex multi-agency safeguarding discussions
- Providing expert consultation, guidance, and professional challenge to social workers, managers, and partner agencies
- Supporting timely, evidence-informed, and defensible decision-making where children may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm
- Contributing to protection and safety planning focused on improving outcomes for children and young people
- Promoting high standards of recording, analysis, information-sharing, and quality assurance across the child protection pathway
- Modelling relational, strengths-based, trauma-informed, and culturally competent practice with children, families, and professionals

Experience
- Significant recent operational experience in front-line statutory child protection practice
- Strong understanding of intra-familial and extra-familial harm, including adolescent exploitation and risk outside the home
- Experience chairing or leading complex child protection meetings such as strategy discussions, child protection conferences, or risk outside the home meetings

About You
- Confident and experienced practitioner with professional authority and sound judgement
- Strong commitment to child-centred safeguarding
- Ability to demonstrate professional curiosity, hold complexity, uncertainty, and multiple hypotheses
- Ability to work collaboratively with families and partners while providing clear professional challenge when needed
- Committed to inclusive and culturally competent practice, ensuring anti-discriminatory engagement with children and families

Qualifications
- Recognised social work qualification
- Current Social Work England registration