Re advert - Previous applicants need not apply. 

Knowsley Council is an award winning Local Authority, named Local Authority of the Year in the Municipal Journal Awards 2024 and is an Accredited employer under the Liverpool City Region Fair Employment Charter, demonstrating that we are committed to the principle of fair employment and we are dedicated to providing a healthy, fair, inclusive and just workplace.

Come join us and be part of our success.

This role is both challenging and deeply rewarding, offering the chance to create lasting positive change in the lives of children, young people, and families. Are you passionate about helping families thrive in the face of complex challenges? Do you have the skills and experience to deliver life-changing therapeutic interventions around exploitation and family dynamics that make a real difference? Do you enjoy working directly with families to empower them and build lasting resilience? If so, you may be the perfect candidate for this exciting opportunity to join the Shield Team as an Experienced Social Worker.

As the Shield Team’s practice has developed in relation to exploitation, we are seeing harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) at times intertwine with both sexual and criminal exploitation. The remit of the team is therefore being expanded to offer specialist support in these areas, including targeted parenting and therapeutic interventions that address a range of exploitation-related harms.

This role centres on delivering a range of therapeutic interventions to both children and their parents or carers, with a particular focus on addressing complex issues linked to harmful sexual behaviour and various forms of exploitation, including both sexual and criminal exploitation. You will play a vital role in providing coordinated and effective support to families with children and young people aged 0–25, often facing challenges such as developmental trauma, peer influence, and broader contextual harms.

You will carry out holistic assessments that consider a range of harms and take the lead in the development and implementation of outcome-focused family plans. You will work closely with families, professionals, and partner agencies to reduce harms associated with harmful sexual behaviour and exploitation and anti-social behaviour. In this role, you will be expected to contribute to safeguarding processes and risk management and take the lead in coordinating support, ensuring services are responsive and effective.

You should have a good understanding of child development, safeguarding principles, and the complexities families face when dealing with exploitation and contextual harm. Excellent communication, planning, and partnership-building skills are essential, along with the ability to build trusted relationships with children, parents and carers.

You will be working alongside police and multi-agency partners to identify and respond to community threats and risks. This includes contributing to intelligence gathering, mapping activity, and participating in multi-agency forums to ensure coordinated and strong multi-agency working.

Interviews will be held on 31st October 2025.

We promote applications from all sections of the community, regardless of background, belief, or identity, recognising the value that diversity brings to our organisation. We particularly welcome applications from individuals from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and candidates with disabilities as we acknowledge their underrepresentation in our workforce.

We will consider requests for flexible working.  For most roles, the following types of flexibility are usually possible: flexible hours, working from home, compressed hours, part-time.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applicants.

At Knowsley we value our applicants and want them to feel well-informed and welcomed. If you have any questions about this specific job role or what it is like to work at Knowsley, please contact Chloe Vose (chloe.vose@knowsley.gov.uk)

If you are interested in this vacancy, please upload your CV along with a supporting statement as one document in PDF or Word format. Your CV and supporting statement should be tailored to reflect the competencies within the person specification.

Please note if a CV and supporting statement does not reflect the person specification it is unlikely to be shortlisted.