Location: Aylesbury
Overview
We’re looking for an experienced and passionate Child Protection Adviser to play a vital role in safeguarding children and young people across our communities. This is an influential position within Children’s Social Care, offering the opportunity to shape high‑quality child protection practice, provide constructive challenge, and champion the voices of children and families.
Working across Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Amersham, you’ll be part of a committed service that values collaboration, reflective practice and continuous learning — all with the shared goal of achieving better outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.
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About us
Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally.
About the role
As a Child Protection Adviser, you will be responsible for chairing Initial and Review Child Protection Conferences, ensuring they are timely, inclusive and firmly focused on building safety and achieving change. Using a strengths‑based, relationship‑focused approach aligned with Strengthening Families, you’ll support professionals and families to understand risk, address harm and agree effective, child‑centred plans.
You’ll act as a critical friend to social work teams and partner agencies, offering expert advice, professional challenge and guidance on thresholds, planning and statutory requirements. Quality assurance is a key aspect of the role — you’ll monitor and review Child Protection Plans, contribute to the audit framework, and share learning and best practice to continually improve standards across the service.
The role is highly collaborative. You’ll work closely with multi‑agency partners, contribute to dispute resolution where required, take part in a weekly duty rota, and support learning and development by contributing to training and performance reporting. Above all, you’ll ensure that the voice of the child is central to every discussion and decision.
About you
You are an experienced, confident and reflective social work professional with substantial post‑qualification experience in statutory children’s services, ideally at an advanced practitioner or management level. You bring a strong working knowledge of child protection legislation, statutory guidance and safeguarding procedures, and you are comfortable using your professional authority to challenge constructively when needed.
You are an excellent communicator — able to chair complex meetings, engage families and professionals, and produce clear, well‑evidenced reports. You understand risk, can develop robust child‑focused protection plans, and are skilled at working collaboratively with partners to promote safety and positive change.
You will hold a recognised social work qualification, be registered with Social Work England, and be committed to ongoing professional development. You’ll also need the ability to travel across the county, with access to a vehicle.