Principal Social Worker - Service Manager Level

Job description

Job responsibilities

At Kirklees we want to be innovative and creative in the way we work to deliver our services to our communities. We know we have challenging times ahead, so we are always looking for better and smarter ways to work.

You will be the Council wide professional lead for adult social work both within the Council and across multi-agency settings. You will ensure promotion of core social work values, strength and asset based approaches and will ensure the highest standards of practice by social workers by taking a professional lead across the organisation on the quality of adult social work practice. Ensuring people we work with remain central to everything we do, you will support and influence adult social work practice at operational and strategic level, relating the views of social workers to all levels of management; providing independent scrutiny of adult social work practice and standards; and ensuring that the views and experiences of adults, their families and carers (and practitioners), inform service planning and delivery. The role will include strategic advice and guidance to Senior Leadership, including the Executive Director of Adults and Health.

Key areas of responsibility

Reporting to the Head of Social Care Communities, you will have overall responsibility for championing professional adult social work practice and development within the organisation.

You will act as a challenge and quality improvement agent to the system, in the role of critical friend providing quality assurance on adult social work practice, including observations of social care practice, safeguarding practice and DOLs work. You will practise and promote social work values and demonstrate a leadership style that fosters a culture of innovation in adult social work practice, providing for coherent local implementation of the national social work agenda for adults.

You will lead and oversee excellent adult social work practice, through the development of quality assurance/audit mechanisms that improve social work practice.

You will contribute to the development of the teaching partnerships, or their equivalents, with local higher education establishments and neighbouring local authorities.

You will have strategic oversight of, and ensure that, professional support and supervision is available to senior social care staff in the Council and will have a lead role in ensuring there are adequate opportunities for peer support and the maintenance of professional identity for those social care specialists working in integrated teams such as mental health.

You will establish and maintain effective systems for local social work practice governance, quality and outcomes to ensure the best outcomes for service users.

Is the champion for professional social work practices within adults, leading on the development and review of policies and procedures relating to the delivery of social work.

Bridges the gap between professional and managerial responsibility, to influence the delivery and development of social work practice.

Takes a lead role in ensuring the framework for practice, quality, performance and use of resources is operationalised, using practice evidence, performance information and intelligence to identify and address performance/quality variation across teams.

Maintains an overview of the effectiveness of adult social work practice and represents the views of practitioners to all levels of management and Elected members in Kirklees and to partner agencies.

Leads on audit activities to ensure agreed objectives and targets are met. Develops and sustains continual quality improvement and best practice.

Ensures adult social work employees are supported with regular guidance, mentoring and coaching to enhance the quality of practice.

Ensures the Council is taking an active role in regional and national networks, including liaison with the Chief Social Worker, contributing to developments and sharing best practice.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Significant experience at a managerial level and able to demonstrate successful employee, budget and resource management

Qualifications

Essential

• Social Work qualified and Social Work England current live registration with significant post qualification experience. A post qualification, such as completed Practice Educator level 2, Best Interest Assessor or an Approved Mental Health Professional

Employee Specification

Essential

• Specialist knowledge of Care Act 2014, MCA, safeguarding and
• DOLS including relevant legislation and government guidelines.
• Understanding of the political environment.
• Proven relationship management skills and ability to influence at all
• levels.
• Ability to understand and manage complex situations across services,
• partner agencies and organisational boundaries.
• Ability to work on their own and with others to create system change
• by translating strategy into operational reality.
• Experience of performance management and quality assurance
• processes in service delivery and the ability to analyse and interpret
• very varied and highly complex information from several sources.
• Ability to develop and implement management systems and
• procedures which evaluate service provision and employee
• performance.
• Analytical and problem solving skills based on a clear understanding
• of issues facing the service.
• Experience of addressing and managing complex service based
• issues and complaints.
• High level communication skills and to be able to present complex
• information both verbally and in writing to a variety of audiences.
• Accepts an enhanced DBS and barred list check is required. Please
• note that a conviction may not exclude candidates from appointment
• but will be considered as part of the recruitment process.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

Kirklees Council

Address

Kirklees Metropolitan Council

High Street

Huddersfield

HD1 2TG

Employer's website

https://www.kirklees.gov.uk/beta/default.aspx (Opens in a new tab)