Job Type
Fixed term
Fixed Term End Date
12 month fixed-term contract
Working Pattern
Full-time
Location
Sheffield/Hybrid working
Salary
£55,242 per year, rising to £57,644 per year after successful completion of a 6-month probationary period.
Closing Date
19/07/2026
The Role
Social Work England is the specialist regulator for social work in England. Every day, social workers help millions of people improve their lives, and our role is to ensure regulation supports safe and effective practice. We believe in the power of collaboration and share a common goal with those we regulate – to protect the public, enable positive change and ultimately improve people’s lives.
You will be responsible for leading a critical function at Social Work England designed to ensure public safety and confidence in the profession. You will lead, train and develop the triage team to ensure all actions and decisions at the case reception stage are undertaken in a robust, efficient and timely manner in accordance with Social Work England’s statutory and customer service requirements.
You will be required to make decisions in cases in line with Social Work England’s triage guidance and procedures. This will require you to proficiently identify risks and opportunities associated with the evidence received and to anticipate the impact on the wider work of Social Work England. You will play a key role in accordance with our overarching objective to protect the public by making decisions about whether we should apply for interim orders to restrict social workers’ registration while we complete our investigation of very serious fitness to practise concerns.
Please note: This role is offered on a 12‑month fixed term contract. However, subject to operational needs and funding, there may be scope to extend the contract beyond the initial term.
To support a consistent and efficient recruitment process, applications from candidates who have previously applied for this position in the most recent round of recruitment will not be reconsidered unless there has been a significant change in qualifications, skills or relevant experience since their last application.
What you will do
Manage the triage of complaints received regarding social workers in England, ensuring triage decisions are risk based, proportionate, transparent and apply relevant legal tests.
Lead, coach and motivate the triage team to ensure fitness to practise concerns are actively progressed and prioritised in line with risk indicators, challenging key performance indicators, internal guidance and legal requirements
Direct and oversee the progression of high risk and high-profile fitness to practise cases, including identifying and progressing matters requiring legal/professional advice and providing technical advice when needed.
Determine whether cases should be referred to Social Work England’s adjudicators for consideration of whether an interim order is necessary to protect the public and/or in the social worker’s best interests
Set key performance indicators (KPIs) and ensure all work is undertaken effectively in adherence with these.
Ensure the implementation and monitoring of effective mechanisms for quality assurance of triage decisions and correspondence.
Analyse and respond to a range of performance and quality indicators to lead and drive performance and continuous improvement within the triage team and across the fitness to practise process, including identifying and addressing training and development needs within the team.
Ensure the triage team capture and use required performance data and ensure this is aligned to the requirements of Social Work England and key external stakeholders such as the Professional Standards Authority.
Work with the senior lawyer (fitness to practise), head of fitness to practise investigations, assistant director – regulation, executive director - regulation and other key stakeholders, to deliver continuous process improvement projects.
Anticipate issues and risks that may affect the triage team and assist key internal and external stakeholders in preparing for these.
Build good working relationships with Social Work England colleagues and engage with external stakeholders, including representative bodies and employers to build credibility, trust and confidence in the triage service.
Provide accurate and comprehensive responses to queries from external/internal customers as well as corporate complaints.
Deputise for the Triage Head of Section as and when required.
Your skills, knowledge and experience
Experience of working in a regulatory or similar environment.
Evidence of multi-agency working, sharing sensitive and confidential information effectively with external shareholders and continually providing excellent customer service.
Proven track record of making timely and robust decisions which are evidence-based.
Proven ability to use investigative, analytical and problem-solving skills to identify issues, explore investigative options, propose solutions and make decisions based on sound judgement.
Evidence of successfully developing processes and procedures, implementing new and more efficient ways of working and effectively responding to new challenges.
Evidence of maintaining records, case information and other records including databases accurately, monitoring workload and reporting KPIs.
Ability to promote a performance orientated culture and successfully manage, motivate and develop a team of staff.
Ability to successfully prioritise and organise a varied and complex workload with competing demands, ensuring personal, individual and team targets are met.
Excellent verbal/written communication and customer service skills with the ability to communicate professionally with a range of stakeholders in challenging situations.
Ability to work effectively as part of a team as well as cross-teams and directorates and to build effective working relationships with a wide range of key internal and external stakeholders.
Strong IT skills, including experience of working with case management systems and a good working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
A proven role model for respectful, open and honest behaviour including a demonstrable commitment to equality and diversity in service delivery.
Benefits
In addition to your salary, we also offer:
25 days annual leave, rising with service to 30 days per annum, plus bank holidays.
The option to purchase up to an additional 5 days of annual leave per annum.
A TIDE award winning inclusive culture, made up of staff networks, social events and forums.
A pension scheme, life insurance, an employee recognition scheme and cycle to work scheme.
Details
Job type: 12 month fixed-term contract
Working pattern: Full time. We offer flexible working subject to business need.
Salary: £55,242 per year, rising to £57,644 per year after successful completion of a 6-month probationary period.
Location: Sheffield/Hybrid
Application
During the application process, you'll be asked to provide answers to three questions from the job description. These answers will be what your application is scored on, please answer in as much detail as possible using examples where necessary.
About us
Join us - Social Work England
Our behaviours and values - Social Work England
What our people say - Social Work England
Pre-Employment Checks
If you are successful at interview, we will carry out a series of routine pre-employment checks. These include verifying your references, confirming your right to work in the UK, and completing a Basic DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check.
These checks are conducted in partnership with our third-party provider, Amiqus, who will guide you through the process.
Please note that all offers of employment are subject to the satisfactory completion of these checks. If you have any questions or concerns please contact our recruitment team via
[email protected] and our team will be happy to help.
Contact
If you have any queries about the recruitment process, or would like to discuss the role, please contact
[email protected].
How to apply
To apply, complete the application form by the closing date.
Interview
At interview we will seek to further understand your skills, knowledge, experience and motivation and test the key competencies of the role. If you are successful, we will undertake routine pre-employment checks.
Find out more about our application and interview process.
