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

About the Borough

Found in zone 6 with good transport links in and out of London, Kingston is a vibrant and diverse university town which creates the rich sense of community shared across the borough and its Residents. Kingston boasts an idyllic riverside location, good shopping and great restaurants, as well as a mix of modern and historic town centre. Kingston has lots of open parklands and cycle routes that help connect the district town centres into an enjoyable place to live and work.

We are passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

About the Service and Team

Health & Adult Social Care in Kingston has a key vision - Working together to make a positive difference. This includes how we work to:

• Listen and understand our residents, focusing on their strengths, maximising prevention and independence
• Value and support our workforce
• Work in collaboration, delivering joined up care and support
• Innovate and learn
• Promote financial sustainability

The key component to this is putting residents at the heart of what we do.

As the Principal Social Worker, you will be a key member of the senior management team, acting as a change agent and contributing to the strategic leadership of services. You will report directly to the Director for Adult Social Care Operations and Transformation, with a dotted line to the Executive Director of Health and Adult Social Care.

You will have three reporting lines including the Learning and Development Officers and Practice Lead. Your role will lead on practice development, service learning and development, quality assurance and workforce.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

Are you an experienced and skilled social work leader looking for a challenging and rewarding role? We are seeking a Principal Social Worker & Head of Workforce Development, Practice & Quality Assurance to join our team in Kingston. This is a permanent position.

As the statutory Principal Social Worker (Care Act S1.27), you will be accountable for ensuring the highest standards of social work practice are embedded across the service.

A core part of the role is ensuring adherence to complex social work functions related to The Care Act, The Mental Capacity Act, and the Mental Health Act. You will also play a strategic leadership role in preparing for and adhering to the CQC regulatory assurance framework. This will involve leading on practice quality assurance and workforce development.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead adult social work practice and adult social care practice for other professionals.

• Develop, lead, and implement robust quality assurance systems and processes.

• Lead on the professional development of all social care staff, including social workers and managers.

• Advise senior leadership on complex safeguarding, as well as other complex and potentially controversial cases.

• Champion the rights of citizens and lead on effective anti-racist and anti-discriminatory practice.

• Act as an ambassador for the Council, forming strategic alliances and developing effective working relationships locally, regionally, and nationally.

• Oversee the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) program and the Social Work Apprenticeship program.

About You

The ideal candidate will have a recognised Social Work qualification, be registered with Social Work England, and have extensive post-qualifying experience. You will need strong leadership skills, a high level of confidence, and the ability to challenge and influence at all levels. The role requires detailed knowledge of relevant legislation, research, and professional competency frameworks. You should also have management experience across a range of roles and experience as a practice educator or supervisor.

You must be able to work in a complex and challenging environment, demonstrating analytical skills, sensitivity, and political awareness. Excellent negotiation skills and the ability to find solutions where conflicting factors exist are essential.

If you are a dynamic and experienced leader ready to make a significant impact on adult social care, we encourage you to apply. If you would like an informal discussion, please contact katie.o'driscoll@kingston.gov.uk.

Our Offer to You

As 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.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 25-32 days, plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade.
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Hybrid working (dependent on the role)
• Flexible and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• 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
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Kingston we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our STAR values.
Here at Kingston we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

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, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are in the process of updating our payscales in line with the pay award for NJC, Chief Officers and Chief Executives for April 2025 therefore please take this into account when viewing the salary on this position.

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families 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 also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.