Advanced Practitioner
| Posting date: | 13 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | Competitive |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 12 April 2026 |
| Location: | Wigan, WN1 1NJ |
| Company: | inploi |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 75793051 |
Summary
Priority Candidates will be considered in the first instance
Salary: Grade 10, £22,545 - £24,641 per annum.
18.5 hours per week
Permanent
We're on a journey to build a workforce reflective of our Borough.
We are committed to fostering diverse teams where everybody can bring their authentic selves to work and feel that they belong. If you want to work for a Council where everybody is encouraged to meet their full potential and make a difference in our neighbourhoods, we would love to hear from you!
Your role:
As Advanced Practitioner in the Fostering Recruitment and Assessment Team you will be supporting the team to recruit, assess and train fostering applicants and foster carers. You will support the retention of current approved foster carers and be invested in the development of the wider service
You will be responsible for supervising staff members within the team ensuring that this is reflective and demonstrating confident analysis and decisions making. You will be responsible for the development of the training strategy for Wigan Foster Carers and ensuring that this continues to be an exceptional offer to promote their learning and development. You will ensure the team understands and adheres to the quality assurance framework, practice standards including case audits and that continued improvement is evidence based.
About you:
You will be a passionate and motivated individual who appreciates the value that fostering provides to some of our most vulnerable children. You will be able to work using initiative and have strong interpersonal skills to not only engage carers, but to build robust relationships with colleagues. You will be a team player and be able to see the strengths in all you encounter with a keen commitment to problem solve innovatively.
You will be confident in collating and analysing data and using this to inform strategic planning within recruitment, engagement and retainment of Foster Carers.
About us:
Wigan Council has been voted ‘Overall Council of the Year’ at the APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) Awards. We are signed up to the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment ensuring that your service will be continuous or 'unbroken' between the supporting organisations.
The Progress with Unity plan is a place movement for change for the next decade, bringing a new era for Wigan Borough. It draws on the strengths of our individual organisations, recognising that together we can achieve much more for our communities by delivering on our 2 place missions; create fair opportunities for all children, families, residents and businesses and make our towns and neighbourhoods flourish for those who live and work in them.
As a Local Authority we Achieve ‘Good’ following an Ofsted visit in October 2025 with Services linked to Children in Care and Care Leavers (therefore including Fostering) graded ‘Excellent.’
We understand that for great social workers to stay with us we need to invest in your career, which is what we will do from day 1. Whether you are an experienced social worker or newly qualified we have a career pathway that will support you to achieve your aspirations.
Here at Wigan, we are proud to support flexible working patterns, when the service can accommodate this. We also take a blended approach to where we work, depending on the work we do. This may include working from home, the office, or the community. We like to thank our employees for their hard work and commitment by giving them the opportunity to access a range of exclusive rewards and benefits click here to find out more about working for #TeamWigan.
To be appointed to this role you must be able to prove your right to work in the UK. Please visit the link below to check you qualify to apply. Please note, at present we are not a licenced sponsor. Prove your right to work to an employer: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Prove your right to work to an employer
If you would like an informal chat about this role, please contact Karen Dolan, Team Manager on 01942 287200, who will be happy to talk to you about the role.
Interview date: 02/04/2026
This position is subject to Enhanced Disclosure Procedures plus child and adult barred list check
The employer is committed to safeguarding
To view the details relating to this position, please click the links below:
Supporting Documents
↗ Job Specification↗ Privacy Notice
↗ DBS Applicant Information
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