Early Help Practitioner - MASH

Job Introduction

About Us

Working together to help Children, young people, and families to thrive.

Join Oxfordshire County Council on an exciting journey towards Delivering the Future Together, our ambitious transformation programme which will enable us to be an employer, partner, and place shaper of choice.  We’re seeking the right people who can help us get there while embracing our value of ‘daring to do it differently’, as we continue to strive to do better.

In our Children, Education, & Families Directorate, we do our very best to help children, young people, and families to thrive. We know the importance of building relationships, empowering people, and building on strengths and this is reflected in our restorative, relational practice approach. 

We’ve been consistently rated as “good” by Ofsted, but we are not content with that; we are ambitious and want to do even better! Oxfordshire County Council is a financially stable local authority which is committed to investing in Children, Education, and Families, to ensure that we have the resources we need to make a real difference to the families we work with.

This includes the successful operation of our transformational model Family Safeguarding Service (FSS)

About the Role

The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is the front door to Children’s Services at Oxfordshire County Council. The MASH-Family Help Team is a subcategory of MASH who play a vital role in providing support to children, young people, and families. This role is for an early help practitioner within the MASH – Family help team.

MASH – Family help is primarily an office-based team, working closely with parents, carers, and professionals over the phone. When a MASH social worker identifies that a family needs community early help or direct intervention from a family help worker, rather than a statutory assessment, the team step in to explore appropriate, timely and practical support.

What we do:

• Offer advice, guidance, and signposting to community services and charities.
• Complete Strengths and Needs assessments and develop clear community support plans.
• Make referrals to relevant organisations to ensure families receive the right help.
• When a family moves to a local Family Help team, we prepare a detailed analysis and recommendation plan to support a smooth transition.
• Support our colleagues in MASH to meet the needs of the service.

Our goal is simple: to provide the right support at the right time, whether that’s advice, a robust community early help plan, or targeted family help through our area teams.

About the team:

• You’ll join a friendly, fast-paced team consisting of a manager, lead practitioner, and six early help practitioners.
• Working hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am–5:00pm (finishing at 4:00pm on Fridays).
• Due to the nature of the role, we are unable to accommodate condensed hours or a four-day working week, 

About you

What you’ll do:

• Work collaboratively with families and professionals to complete strengths and needs forms and develop community support plans tailored to individual family’s needs.
• Provide relevant advice and signposting to multi families at any one time, holding a case load of approximately 23 children.
• Understand the Oxfordshire threshold of need and respond promptly to safeguarding concerns, ensuring that risks to children and young people are identified and addressed.
• Monitor and manage significant contacts, ensuring accurate and timely responses.
• Complete home/school visits to gain children’s and parents views where required.
• Liaise regularly with colleagues in the wider MASH team, Childrens Assessment Service and family help teams.
• Apply your knowledge of thresholds and professional challenge to ensure families receive the right level of support.

What we’re looking for:

• Strong understanding of both safeguarding and early help principles.
• Ability to work confidently within multi-agency settings.
• Excellent communication (both written and verbal), IT and organisational skills.
• Commitment to improving outcomes for children and families.
• Evidence of working with children and families and knowledge of both community early help and family help

We would like to hear from you if you are…

• Kind and caring, with an understanding of and respect for individuals’ qualities, abilities, and diverse backgrounds.
• Advocating for equality and integrity in all you do.
• Always learning, with a passion to grow and develop your skills.
• Willing to take responsibility and contribute to the delivery of Oxfordshire County Council’s vision. 
• Driven to do it differently to embark on a journey of continuous improvement.

Rewards and benefits

Our commitment to:
 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

At Oxfordshire County Council we are proud of our diverse workforce. Everyone is accepted for who they are, regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marital status, race, faith or belief, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, or on maternity or family leave. We have a number of staff network groups which provide peer support, education and safe spaces for all.

Our commitment to:
Guaranteed Interview Schemes

As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job. We also guarantee interviews to care leavers who have completed further education and who meet the essential criteria for the job. For those leaving care without any further education, we guarantee an interview for our apprenticeships. We are also committed to helping and supporting those transitioning from HM Armed Forces to civilian life and guarantee an interview for those demonstrating the essential criteria for the role, within three years of leaving the service.

Our commitment to:
Safeguarding

Oxfordshire County Council are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect these commitments.

Our commitment to:
Flexible Working

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which can include flexi-time, part time working, job sharing, nine-day fortnights and annualised hours, depending on the requirements of the role and the service.

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