Service Manager Principal Social Worker

Salary range: £68,427 - £76,588 p.a. inc. London weighting
Contract: Permanent 
Hours of work: 36 hours per week
Location: Civic centre and other locations from time to time 

Providing senior professional leadership, safeguarding oversight and practice excellence across Adult Social Care. 

We are inviting applications for the position of Principal Social Worker (PSW), a key leadership role within Adult Social Care (ASC). The PSW provides senior professional leadership across the department, ensuring the highest standards of social work practice, safeguarding, workforce development and quality assurance.

As part of our strengthened leadership model, the PSW will oversee the Principal Social Worker Office, lead professional governance arrangements and contribute directly to ASC’s unified Improvement Function. The role is central to embedding excellent practice, supporting consistent, person‑centred delivery across all ASC pathways, and ensuring a strong professional identity across our social care workforce.

A major element of the role is safeguarding leadership. The PSW will operationally manage Adult Social Care Safeguarding Teams, hold full oversight and accountability for all Section 42 Care Act enquiries, and ensure thresholds, statutory duties and Making Safeguarding Personal are applied consistently.

The Principal Social Worker will:

• Provide strategic professional leadership for social work across Adult Social Care.
• Lead the Principal Social Worker Office, driving practice improvement and professional standards.
• Oversee workforce development including CPD, practice education, student placements, ASYE programmes and capability frameworks.
• Support ASC’s preparation for CQC Assurance, ensuring evidence, quality standards and professional governance are robust.
• Drive quality assurance, audit activity and learning across ASC services.
• Build strong partnerships across health, voluntary sector, regional PSW networks and wider council teams.

Safeguarding Leadership

• Operationally manage the Adult Social Care Safeguarding Teams.
• Hold full oversight and accountability for Section 42(1) and Section 42(2) Care Act enquiries.
• Provide expert professional advice on complex safeguarding, risk management and defensible decision‑making.
• Ensure safeguarding learning, SAR themes, audit outcomes and performance intelligence drive continuous improvement.

We are looking for a credible, motivated and professional leader who:

• Is a qualified social worker, registered with Social Work England, with substantial post‑qualification experience and can also evidence of ongoing professional development.
• Brings strong expertise in safeguarding, Section 42 enquiries and statutory decision‑making.
• Has a proven track record in practice improvement, quality assurance or workforce development.
• Can lead teams confidently, build practitioner confidence and influence positive practice culture.
• Shows strong analytical ability, excellent communication and the ability to drive change.
• Works confidently with partners and builds strong multi‑agency relationships.
• Demonstrates commitment to person‑centred practice, professional standards and inclusive leadership.
• Has significant experience in social work practice, safeguarding and/or professional leadership.
• Has experience leading practice improvement, delivering QA programmes and managing complex cases.
• Has strong partnership working across internal and external networks.