An exciting opportunity has become available to work within Social Care Reform, Practice Assurance and Development in the Adult Social Care Department, within Adults Health and Integration Directorate. The position is for 30 hours per week.
About you
You will act as a champion of excellence in Adult Social Care social work practice, providing expert professional leadership, scrutiny and challenge to ensure high‑quality, safe and effective practice across the organisation. You will work closely with Practice Managers, Social Workers and partner agencies to embed nationally recognised standards, strengthen professional capability and drive continuous improvement.
You will lead and support workforce development activity by identifying practice and skills gaps through training needs analysis, contributing to the Adult Social Care workforce strategy and annual training plan, and commissioning or delivering targeted learning solutions. This includes overseeing the professional development of specialist roles (such as Practice Educators, Approved Mental Health Professionals and Best Interest Assessors), facilitating practice excellence forums and action learning, and embedding research‑informed practice.
As part of the role, you will provide professional advice, supervision and peer support, particularly to newly qualified staff and those in specialist roles, and contribute to quality assurance through observation of practice, audit, and learning from complaints and reviews. You will ensure learning and development policies and provision meet local, regional and national priorities, align with regulatory and legislative requirements, and support safe, person‑centred and outcome‑focused practice.
The role is diverse with no one day the same, for more information on the role please view the 'In this job you will' section within the attached job description specification document.
The successful candidate will have:
- Substantial post qualifying experience as a frontline Social Worker or Approved Mental Health Professional, preferably working in a Local Authority setting;
- Experience of Practice Education/student supervision, training delivery or coaching;
- Experience of performance and change management;
- A high degree of interpersonal skills;
- Theoretical and practical knowledge of social work practice;
- A flexible approach to work;
- Knowledge of the legislation and statutory and policy framework in relation to Adult Social Care.
To find out more about the essential and desirable criteria for the role please view the attached job description specification document.
In return we are able to offer:
- Enhanced annual leave - Start with an impressive 34 days of annual leave (including bank holidays) from day one, and watch it grow to 39 days after just five years of service
- Purchase of annual leave – Want more time off? You can purchase up to 10 extra days of annual leave each year, giving you the flexibility to balance work and life just the way you want (Pro-rata for part-time staff)
- Flexible working pattern - Enjoy a 37-hour standard full-time work week with the added perks of flexi-time and hybrid/remote working arrangements where possible. Your work-life balance just got a whole lot better
- Salary sacrifice green car scheme - Drive green and save green! Lease a brand-new electric or hybrid car through our salary sacrifice scheme. There’s no credit checks, no deposits, just significant savings and exclusive offers on a three-year lease
- White goods salary sacrifice scheme - Upgrade your home with ease. Purchase home and electronic items through our salary sacrifice scheme, spreading the cost of big-ticket purchases like appliances, computers, and tech gadgets directly from your salary
- Enhanced public pension - Secure your future with our career average pension, where contributions are built at a rate of 1/49th of your yearly pensionable pay
- Cycle to work scheme - Save up to 25-39% on the retail price of bikes and safety equipment through Income Tax and National Insurance savings. Get fit and save money!
- Employee assistance programme - Access a completely free and confidential assistance service to help manage, reduce, and overcome life’s challenges, both at work and in your personal life
- Discounted gym membership - Stay active and healthy with corporate membership prices for Everybody Leisure, including:
- Gym, Swim and Group Fitness at all 16 facilities
- Off-Peak Racket Sports
- Athletics Tracks
- Sauna/Steam/Spa
Join us and experience a workplace that truly values and supports you!
Organisation
Cheshire East Council
Job Category
Adults Health and Integration
Salary Min
£48,072 pro rata per annum
Salary Max
£54,994 pro rata per annum
Employment Type
Permanent
Cheshire East is an amazing place to live and work. As one of the largest employers in the borough, we are able to offer you a wide range of challenging and rewarding career opportunities.
We are working for a brighter future – together and our commitment to you is that our workplace culture will provide a shared purpose, a well-led organisation with valued people succeeding together as one team and one council to deliver the best service for our customers and communities.
If you want to be part of our award-winning council and contribute to our ongoing success, have the flexibility and drive to enable us to innovate, are committed to working as part of a team and striving to deliver exceptional service wherever you can, we would especially like to hear from you.
As an equal opportunities employer, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and want our workforce to reflect the diversity of our local communities so that we can all work for a brighter future - together.
Applicants should ensure all sections of the application form are completed as failure to do so will result in their application being rejected. Please ensure you check the email account (including junk/spam boxes) from which you apply regularly as we will use this to contact you regarding your application.
If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date then it is likely that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion, however, please do not be discouraged from applying again.
For any technical enquiries please email [email protected]
Please quote job reference number in all correspondence.
For further information, please contact the Strategic Practice Assurance and Development Manager, Naomi Pearce on 07929664469 or email [email protected]
We reserve the right to close any vacancy sooner than the advertised closing date, should a suitable candidate be found. Early application is therefore advisable.
Cheshire East Council is committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults across the Borough. As such, any cautions, convictions, reprimands or final warnings that are ‘not protected’ as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) order 1975 (as amended in 2013) relating to the non-disclosure of spent convictions do not apply to this job. You must therefore, disclose whether you have any previous convictions where prompted to do so within the application process.
