Do you have a talent for building relationships with families and helping them to create sustainable change?
Do you have experience of supporting children and families and the ability to work in a relational way?
Are you able to help us implement a new way of working and to build better relationships with communities?
Would you like to join a service that is rated outstanding by Ofsted, has a well-established model of relational practice, and is striving to embed anti-racist practice?
We are implementing our Families First Transformation in September 2026 and we want talented practitioners who can deliver support and interventions to families helping them to achieve the changes that want to make.
Interviews to be held: 9 July 2026
There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact Kate Townsend, Partners in Change Manager,
[email protected]
About the role
You will join a team of Change Practitioners working in our Partners in Change Hub. The Partners in Change Hub provides specialist support to social workers, keyworkers and families and is made up of Advanced Social Work Practitioners and mental health and substance misuse specialists. You will work directly with children and families to help them address the concerns that have led to the need for family help, child protection or children in care support. This will include building relationships with families and supporting them to access services designed to help. You will also deliver specific time-limited interventions to support change, such as group work, parenting interventions and input to address specific risks such as domestic abuse.
We are looking for pro-active, flexible practitioners who can get alongside families and build effective, purposeful relationships with them. You will need to understand the diverse, complex challenges families face and strive to enhance their safety, well-being and build hope and capacity for change. You should have an excellent ability to work as part of a team and build collaborative networks around families to review plans and progress. You will be well-supported in your work and benefit from high quality supervision, reflective practice and training.
By working with us you will have the opportunity to be part of a unique whole-system approach to relationship-based practice, which does not rely on agency workers. You will be part of a system that prioritises trauma-informed relationships within teams and with families. Support will be provided to develop your skills as a relationship-based practitioner and a learning pathway will be in place to support your development and progression. You will also have opportunity to be part of creating innovative new teams which focus on working more closely with communities and shifting support to prevention.
We offer flexible working and have a range of posts and can accommodate a range of part-time working as well as full-time posts.
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).
Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
- be connected
- be confident
- be innovative and creative
- be diverse and inclusive
- be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.
How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
