Knowsley Council is an award-winning Local Authority, named Local Authority of the Year in the Municipal Journal Awards 2024.

We are 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 if you are passionate about helping families thrive in the face of complex challenges? Do you have the skills and experience to deliver life-changing therapeutic parenting and child interventions 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 work as a member of the Shield Team to support families and children who are experiencing or at risk of exploitation.    

Working as a Shield worker, you will support children, young people and families who are experiencing, or at risk of, child sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, trafficking, missing episodes and other forms of harm. Through a therapeutic and trauma-informed approach, you will work with some of the most vulnerable and hardest to engage children, young people and families, helping them to reduce harms, build resilience and achieve positive outcomes.

You should have significant experience of working with children, young people and families affected by exploitation and a strong understanding of child development, safeguarding and the impact of harm occurring outside the family home. Experience of building trusted relationships, undertaking holistic assessments, developing outcome-focused plans and delivering effective interventions is essential.

You will be confident in working directly with parents and carers, supporting them to better understand and respond to their child's vulnerabilities and safeguarding needs. This includes working with families affected by child exploitation, harmful sexual behaviour, emotional wellbeing concerns, neglect, domestic abuse and other complex challenges. The ability to adapt interventions to meet the needs of neurodiverse children and adults is also important.

A key aspect of the role is acting as a lead exploitation specialist, coordinating multi-agency plans and ensuring safeguarding responses are timely, effective and focused on improving outcomes. Strong partnership working skills are essential, alongside experience of working collaboratively with Children's Social Care, Police, Education and wider partner agencies to assess and respond to risk. 

This is a challenging but rewarding role that offers the opportunity to make a lasting difference to the lives of children, young people, and their families.

If you are dedicated to making a positive impact through partnership working and therapeutic practice, we encourage you to apply.

At Knowsley Council 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. There is a requirement for you to attend your work base at least 3 day’s per week.

We welcome applications from residents and beyond, 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.

Please note sponsorship is not available for this role.

See the benefits of working for Knowsley MBC https://www.knowsley.gov.uk/yes.

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

For an informal discussion please email Shield TM, Julie Price for further information – julie.price@knowsley.gov.uk  or Chloe Vose (Prevention and Intervention Coordinator) chloe.vose@knowsley.gov.uk

Closing Date: Thursday 3rd September 2026 at 5:00pm 

Interviews will be held on or around 14^th & 15^th September

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.