About the Role
We are recruiting a Racial and Cultural Equity Practitioner to champion, embed and strengthen antiracist, antioppressive and culturally responsive practice across the Children & Families Directorate.
The role sits at the heart of our Families First transformation, supporting our whole-system move towards relational, restorative, integrated and child-centred practice. You will be part of a wider supportive team, including Workforce Development, Quality Assurance, Relational Practice Leads, and community partnerships - ensuring you are well-connected and able to influence practice at every level.
Newcastle is a proudly diverse city. Our communities bring rich cultural heritages, languages, faiths and lived experiences that shape the lives of the children and families we work with every day. We are committed to ensuring our services actively value, reflect and partner with the communities we serve.
This is a non-case-holding but deeply practice-focused role, providing direct support to practitioners, managers, leaders and community partners. You will help ensure that families’ identities, cultures and contexts are fully understood and meaningfully integrated into assessment, planning, decision-making and direct work.
Who We’re Looking For
We welcome applications from a wide range of backgrounds, including social work, community early help, family support, youth work, education, community development, voluntary sector organisations, family hubs and culturally specific community services.
You do not need to be a qualified social worker - we value multiple forms of expertise in working with children and families.
You will be confident working with complex situations such as Child Protection planning, identity-related issues, cross-cultural dynamics and relational repair. You’ll also be visible in teams and communities - spending time in office spaces, with partner agencies, and alongside practitioners and families.
We especially welcome applicants with lived experience of racism, discrimination or navigating systems as part of a minoritised community, as this insight is a valued part of our organisational learning.
You Will Bring:
* Deep understanding of racial inequity, cultural identity, discrimination and anti-racist practice
* Experience supporting practitioners or teams in reflective practice, decision-making or complex family situations
* Ability to build trusting relationships across diverse professional roles and communities
* Confidence influencing service design, policy development and organisational learning
* Strong facilitation and communication skills, including supporting reflective and restorative spaces
* Commitment to Families First principles and to improving outcomes for minoritised children and families
* Curiosity, humility, reflective capacity and willingness to learn from others
What You’ll Do
Support Practitioners and Families Directly
* Provide practice consultation for staff working with complex assessments, identity-related challenges, conflict, safeguarding or relational repair
* Offer specialist insight on the impact of race, culture, faith and identity in risk analysis, planning and direct work
* Support practitioners to navigate cross-cultural dynamics and engage families meaningfully.
Strengthen Reflective and Restorative Practice
* Facilitate restorative case formulations and reflective sessions that explore bias, power, cultural assumptions and context
* Work hand-in-hand with the Relational Practice Leads to model relational, restorative approaches across the system.
Develop the Workforce
* As part of the Practice Development Team, design and deliver learning aligned with Families First, PQS standards and anti-racist practice commitments
* Create tools, resources and guidance to help practitioners work confidently in culturally diverse contexts
* Support workforce development through modelling, coaching, mentoring and shared learning opportunities.
Shape Practice, Policy and Quality
* Influence policy, service design, procedures and practice guidance to ensure equity is embedded
* Contribute to quality assurance, audits and equity-focused evaluation
* Lead on implementation of the Social Care Workforce Racial Equality Standard (SCWRES), using workforce insights to influence improvement and culture.
Strengthen Relationships with Families and Communities
* Build strong, trusting partnerships with families, carers and community organisations
* Create opportunities for meaningful feedback and lived-experience-led learning
* Ensure community voices inform practice, planning and workforce development
Our Commitment
Newcastle City Council is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and to building services that reflect, value and respond to our communities.
We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, and particularly from individuals whose identities or experiences are currently under-represented in our workforce.
We recognise that this role involves sensitive and sometimes emotionally demanding work relating to racism and inequity. You will be supported through reflective spaces, supervision and team-based support tailored to your needs
How to Apply
Apply online at, select 'Apply Now' and complete our online application form. Before completing the form please ensure you read the supporting documents. Any communication sent to you regarding your application will be sent to the email address you have set up on your Northeast Jobs account, so you will need to ensure that you check your inbox.
Please email kate.aspray@newcastle.gov.uk, Principal Social Worker for Children & Families, for an informal conversation about the role.
We are committed to protecting and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expect all staff to share this commitment. This post is working in regulated activity. If you are successful we will undertake additional recruitment checks which will include a check to see if you have had any criminal convictions, a check of police information and we will check the barred list(s). It is a criminal offence for a barred individual to apply for a job in regulated activity.