How you'll make a difference:
As a Occupational Therapy Senior Practitioner, you will play a key role in promoting an independence-focused approach, ensuring the social, health and welfare needs of adults in South Gloucestershire are effectively met. You will contribute to improving outcomes and the quality of services for adults with care and support needs, while playing a pivotal role in maintaining high performance and quality standards across Adult Social Care. Through your expertise, you will help ensure vulnerable adults in our community receive effective, person-centred support.
What you will be doing:
- With the support of the Occupational Therapy Localities Team Manager, you will take a proactive role in the day-to-day supervision of the team, providing advice, guidance, and support on casework and practice.
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Working alongside other Senior Practitioners, you will assess risk, manage referrals and waiting lists, and support staff with complex cases, ensuring decisions are made in line with procedures and professional standards.
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It will be your responsibility to maintain high performance and quality standards across the team, ensuring compliance with statutory and local requirements whilst supporting positive outcomes for service users.
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Using your experience and knowledge, you will effectively prioritise and allocate work, ensuring high standards of record-keeping and the production of clear, high-quality reports.
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As an experienced practitioner, you will maintain up-to-date professional knowledge of legislation and practice and support the development of students and newly qualified staff.
What we need from you:
- It is essential that you hold a relevant professional qualification (e.g. DipSW, CQSW, CSS, OT Diploma or degree) and are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
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With relevant post-qualifying experience in a social care setting, you will have managed complex cases and supported casework supervision.
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We require you to have the skills, knowledge and experience to assess and manage risk, alongside the ability to provide effective supervision and guidance on casework.
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You will demonstrate a commitment to continuous professional development and maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current social care legislation and practice.
What you need to know:
- This is a limited term contract until 3rd January 2028
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You will be expected to travel throughout the authority and surrounding area so you must have a full, valid driving licence with regular access to a vehicle or have an alternative means of travel.
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Business insurance will need to be added to your insurance policy and you can claim back mileage expenses.
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Please note that due to the nature of this role, it is a requirement of employment that an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is obtained.
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This role is hybrid, with a mixture of working at our office in Badminton Road, working from home and working within the community.
Interviews are likely to be held on 18th August 2026.
How a career at South Gloucestershire Council is different:
- As part of our benefits package, you will receive generous annual leave (pro rata), employee wellbeing support and you will have access to a range of staff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities.
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We recognise that our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities.
- Seniors and managers will genuinely listen at panel and will support you to ensure your service user’s needs are met.
- What’s special here is the strength of the team ethos. We are a relatively small local authority, so managers know staff well. They can plan their services to ensure teams have manageable caseloads and have effective supervision so feel supported to make decisions which are right for the people they work with.
- We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. Ensuring all our staff are given right skills, knowledge and support to recognise and respond effectively to potential abuse or neglect.
Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.
- We're building and shaping communities which people are proud of.
- We're working with the most vulnerable in our community to help them achieve what they want in life.
We're investing in our schools to ensure every child and young person in South Gloucestershire achieves their full potential.
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We've achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference.
We’re making a difference, be part of it!
To view the full job description, please click this link: Senior Practitioner - Job Description
