Principal Social Worker & Head of Workforce Development, Practice & Quality Assurance

Job title:

Principal Social Worker & Head of Workforce Development, Practice & Quality Assurance

Company

Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames

Job description

About the BoroughThis special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else – it is where the first kings of England were crowned.Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston’s riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer.Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London – with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink.Kingston’s people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other.We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston’s key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand.Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK.About the RoleThis postholder is the statutory Principal Social Worker (Care Act S1.27) and will directly report to the Assistant Director for Adult Social Care Operations and Transformation. The role will also have a dotted line to the Executive Director of Health and Adult Social Care.The Principal Social Worker is accountable to ensure that the highest standard of social work practice is embedded across the organisation, by providing skilled and experienced leadership and practice knowledge to social workers and social care practitioners, the organisation and its partners.This role is responsible for ensuring adherence to many complex social work functions associated with adult safeguarding and statutory social work functions associated with The Care Act, The Mental Capacity Act and the Mental Health Act. The post holder will be required to balance professional judgements on authority-wide, non-standard problems and will be responsible for putting in place appropriate and complex partnerships. This will require excellent negotiation skills and the need to find solutions where there are many conflicting factors.The environment in which the post-holder will work is complex and challenging and the role requires a range of both analytical skills and sensitivity, as well as political awareness and sound judgement.This role will play a key strategic leadership role in preparing for and ongoing adherence to the CQC regulatory assurance framework in the delivery of statutory social care responsibilities under the Care Act 2014 and includes responsibility for practice quality assurance and workforce development.About Us
As a member of the senior management team, the role will act as a change agent, contributing to the strategic leadership of services, developing and implementing standards to ensure a cohesive and high performing Adult social care workforce which embraces cultural change and improved strength based practice to our residents.About YouIn order to successfully deliver the responsibilities of the role, you will need to:

• Have a recognised Social Work qualification and be registered with Social Work England with extensive post qualifying experience
• Have strong leadership skills, modelling a performance culture and constructively building achievement, confidence and skills in others
• Question and challenge conventional thinking, with a continual eye on the bigger picture in terms of the corporate context and external environment
• Ability to challenge and influence at all levels
• Demonstrate detailed knowledge of legislation & research
• Have detailed knowledge of the qualification and competency frameworks of social work professionals

Work successfully with key stakeholders including Members, residents, businesses, communities, partner organisations and other public services * Management experience over a range of professional roles with significant experience of managing functions in a number of specifications, eg: Older People, Mental Health, Learning Disability, Safeguarding

• Experience as a practice educator or supervisor
• Ability to undertake workforce analysis and workforce development programmes to ensure practice excellence
• Demonstrate a high level of confidence
• Ability to communicate both verbally and in writing to a wide range of audiences (including ability to write clear and concise reports & presentations)
• Show initiative in identifying areas of practice improvement and in ensuring dissemination of pertinent information at all levels

Our Offer To YouAs an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. We operate hybrid working, a flexible working model which allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week. It enables staff to achieve a work life balance whilst still meeting the needs of the organisation.Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Flexible and agile working arrangements
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Application ProcessPlease apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.We are committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) so all personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc is completely anonymised during the shortlisting process. Our hiring managers review applications based on the knowledge, skills and experience demonstrated in your application, and how well these match the job profile. Our HR Shared Service with Sutton Council was recently recognised nationally for having the ‘Best Inclusion and Diversity Programme’ at the PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards 2023, something that we’re incredibly proud of.Hiring managers are encouraged to ensure that their interview panel is diverse, and representative of a range of protected characteristics, to help remove unconscious bias and ensure candidates are treated fairly during the selection process. Some characteristics may not be obvious, but our panels are diverse wherever possible. We have a number of measures in place to inform and support our approach, including mandatory EDI and unconscious bias training for all staff, safer recruitment training for diverse panel members, engaging with our staff networks and encouraging allyship. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.Additional InformationWe are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough. Our aim is to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and staff feel a sense of belonging. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to thinking differently about disability and taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role.We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.We are an accredited London Living Wage Employer and this means that everyone working at the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers receive the London Living Wage. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the for right to work guidance.Job Profile

Expected salary

Location

Kingston upon Thames

Job date

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 01:41:00 GMT

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