Organisation: Leicestershire County Council
Work Location: County Hall Glenfield LE3 8RA (Various locations across the County)
Salary: £35,451 - £39,165 per annum (pro rota for part time) (pay award pending)
Working Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: 9th August 2026
Interview Date(s): over 3 days, 24 th August, 27 th August and 2 nd September - face to face at County Hall
Targeted Family Help is expanding, and we are looking for additional Keyworkers to join teams across the county, including our Disabled Children's Team. These opportunities arise from service growth and the implementation of social work reforms.
About the Role
We are seeking motivated, adaptable individuals who can build positive relationships with children, young people, and families, confidently navigate challenging conversations, and bring a proactive, solution-focused approach.
If you have experience providing direct support to children and families with complex needs, delivering evidence-based interventions, and managing conflict while de-escalating difficult situations, we would love to hear from you.
Join us at this exciting time of growth and transformation. If you have the passion, resilience, and commitment to help children, young people and families overcome challenges and achieve lasting positive change, we want to hear from you. Apply today and play a vital role in improving outcomes for families across Leicestershire.
An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post.
For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement .
About You
To apply for this post, you must be able to evidence in your application how you meet the following criteria:
- A Level 3 qualification in a relevant subject and/or experience of providing direct support in the home to children and families with complex needs which may include mental health, offending, substance misuse, domestic violence, and abuse, and/or educational issues
- Experience of identifying and delivering appropriate evidence-based interventions e.g. solution focussed brief therapy, the Freedom Programme, parenting programmes, brief intervention, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy based approaches, motivational interviewing
- Knowledge and awareness of issues which may have an impact on the lives of families such as domestic violence and abuse, mental health difficulties, substance misuse, poverty, housing
- An understanding of the impact of discrimination on the lives of those from minority ethnic communities and others that experience social exclusion, and an ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds
- Awareness and understanding of ‘good enough parenting’ and relationship between poverty and social deprivation and to be able to hold a compassionate position but still hold protection of children as the priority. Be able to recognise ‘cumulative harm’ and risk indicators of different forms of harm – sexual, physical, emotional and neglect.
- Ability to work proactively, persistently, and persuasively with families who may not be willing to engage with services, using a range of techniques that encourage active participation
- Ability to build professional confidence and resilience, good working relationships with families, ability to over-come barriers to them engaging, recognising reasons for resistance to change, where tensions can exist. Ability to communicate sensitively and effectively with children and adults, focusing on hearing and capturing the child’s voice.
In your personal statement please specify which locality you wish to be considered for. Current locality bases are, County Hall (Disabled Children's Team), West localities (Blaby, Oadby & Wigston, Northwest Leicestershire, Hinckley and Bosworth) or East localities (Charnwood and a combined locality across Melton and Harborough).
Open evenings are taking place across county, please drop in to learn more about the role, ask questions about the interview process and meet staff ahead of submitting your application
NWL – 27 th July at Coalville Children and Family Centre
H+B – 30 th July at Hinckley Children and Family Centre
BOW – 3 rd Aug at Wigston Magna Family Hub
Melborough – 28 th July at Market Harborough Family Hub
Charnwood – 29 th July at Loughborough West Children and Family Centre
In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.
Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer .
Interested in Flexible Working?
We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.
For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:
Jane Read - Team and Partnership Manager for enquires for East localities
[email protected]
Lesley-anne Rothnie- Team and Partnership Manager For positions within disabled children’s team
[email protected] k
Robert Cotterill - Team Leader H&B West localities
[email protected] or
Rebecca Y Walker - Team and Partnership Manager West localities
[email protected] for West localities
We are offering an information session for an opportunity to ask questions and gain advice on submitting your application – please follow this link for the Microsoft Teams meeting:
Wednesday 5 th August 5:30pm to 7pm – drop in
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/326847615722957?p=OxQjv3jVovLqLsvZlW
Meeting ID: 326 847 615 722 957
Passcode: gx2r9pH6
How to Apply
At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.
If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support .
By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions .
