Location
London Borough of Hillingdon

Hours
Full Time - 36 hours per week

Salary
Up to £62,766 per annum plus an additional annual £4,250 Retention Payment

About the Role
Following an Outstanding Ofsted judgement, the London Borough of Hillingdon continues to invest in innovative services that improve outcomes for children. The new Multi-Agency Child Protection Team (MACPT) brings together social care, police, health, and education professionals to deliver robust, timely, and effective child protection responses.
As a Lead Child Protection Practitioner, you will operate at the highest level of child protection practice, influencing key safeguarding decisions across the borough while focusing on direct practice leadership rather than traditional line management.
The MACPT is a specialist, highly skilled service responsible for overseeing child protection concerns across Hillingdon. Working alongside partners from the Metropolitan Police, health, and education, the team undertakes child protection investigations, leads strategy discussions, and manages the child protection conference process to ensure children at risk receive the support and intervention needed for their growth and development.
The service provides expert analysis of complex safeguarding information and acts on behalf of the local authority in fulfilling statutory child protection responsibilities under the Children Act 1989 and Working Together 2023.

Key responsibilities include convening and chairing multi-agency strategy discussions, leading Section 47 child protection enquiries, chairing Initial Child Protection Conferences, providing expert analysis of safeguarding information, supporting legal planning and court processes, working closely with Family Help practitioners and family networks, ensuring children’s voices remain central to all processes, and acting autonomously on behalf of the local authority in fulfilling statutory child protection duties.

We offer ambitious, dynamic, and welcoming teams with support for your practice and professional growth, flexible and hybrid working arrangements, free parking, accessible office location minutes from Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines and M40, TOIL provision, manageable workload, regular reflective supervision and clinical consultation, excellent learning and career progression opportunities, a relationship-based and trauma-informed practice model, modern locality-based teams and working environments, and up to 34 days annual leave rising to 37 days after long service, in addition to bank holidays.
This is a rare opportunity to join a pioneering service and become one of Hillingdon's recognised child protection specialists with genuine influence over safeguarding practice across the borough.

Experience
Significant recent frontline child protection experience including expertise in safeguarding, risk assessment, and Section 47 investigations.
Experience chairing complex multi-agency meetings and influencing professional decision making.
Strong analytical skills with the ability to evaluate complex information.
Confidence in making autonomous decisions in challenging situations.
Excellent communication, report writing, and partnership-working skills.

About you
A committed professional dedicated to achieving the best possible outcomes for children and young people.
Ability to work collaboratively within multi-agency teams.
Professional curiosity and a proactive approach to safeguarding practice.
Resilient and able to manage a manageable workload effectively.

Qualifications
Social Work qualification and Social Work England registration required.