Head of Strategy and Programmes, Adult Social Care (Job Ref: 4222)

Salary: £86,889 - £96,983 (Dependant on experience)

Grade: Level 6 Zone 2

Location: 5 Pancras Square, London N1C 4AG/Hybrid

Hours per week: 37

Contract Type: Permanent / Full Time

Closing Date: Monday 27^th July 2026 at 23:59

Interview: Week commencing 3^rd August 2026

About North London Councils Partnership

The post sits within the North London Councils Partnership, which is hosted by Camden Council. The North London Councils Partnership is a local authority led partnership supporting 13 boroughs to:

deliver programmes of work that address shared priorities in social care in partnership, and
promote a strong local authority presence within North London’s Integrated Care System (ICS).

The Partnership is a high profile, high performing team that in 2021 won the national LGC award for Adult Social Care demonstrating the impact of our work.

What You’ll Be Doing / How You’ll Be Involved

This key leadership role directs the North Central London (NCL) adult social care (ASC) programme across Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington Councils. It develops and leads a cross-borough market shaping and management programme covering key ASC service priorities including accommodation-based services, digital development and matrix leadership of workforce-related activity. The role provides strategic leadership of joint work with health partners, influencing them to support excellent outcomes for residents, and builds effective professional ASC leadership networks across the 5 boroughs.

Adult Social Care markets strategy and programme:

Lead the development and delivery of cross-borough programmes of work with the ASC market that yield benefits for the local authorities, NHS partners and residents.
Drive strategic collaborative and aligned commissioning approaches for ASC services across NCL to secure provision in line with local need and to yield substantial cost avoidance and/or financial savings, whilst ensuring the market remains sustainable.
Champion a data driven and evidence-based approach to innovative programme strategy, delivery and reporting, including cyclical market analysis of trends, opportunities and risks; sustainable cost modelling; data digitisation and access for boroughs; expanding the range of data sources; and demonstrating impact and performance.
Provide strategic leadership and coordination on ASC issues and in response to changing circumstances or guidance where there is aspiration to develop aligned approaches, coordinate responses or joint strategies.
Oversee complex market shaping workstreams (including quality, price, market oversight and sufficiency, digital), to deliver specified outcomes and savings against challenging timeframes.

Strategic direction to NCL ASC Programme Board and Integrated Care System:

Form trusting, credible relationships with a range of partners through an ability to think strategically, persuade, negotiate and influence a complex local agenda. This will include working closely with the 5 Directors of Adult Social Care and senior commissioners to agree approaches across the 5 boroughs.
Lead on planning for the NCL ASC Programme Board reporting to the 5 Directors of Adult Social Services (DASS) and their leadership teams, providing expert advice and guidance that drives forward programme delivery and ensures the Partnership is achieving the anticipated outcomes.
Develop excellent strategic relationships with care providers to promote health and social care input (e.g. digital social care), understand providers’ challenges and opportunities, improve outcomes and quality, and inform supportive effective council-NHS partnerships.
Provide strategic and programme input on behalf of the 5 local authorities into a range of ICS workstreams with a focus on building effective joint planning and integrated working across health and social care.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and will require an Enhanced DBS. Please note Camden also offers the DBS update service.

To view the Job Profile, please click HERE or copy and paste the below URL into your Microsoft Edge browser (please note the attached will not open in other browsers):

http://camdocs.camden.gov.uk/HPRMWebDrawer/Record/11818333/file/document?inline

All About You

To find out more about what it is like to work at Camden, meet some of our People by visiting 'www.camdenjobs.co.uk/our-stories'.

We are looking for a proven and growing leader who is looking to further develop their skills, experience and impact in delivering complex change. You will benefit from direct exposure to senior local government officers and politicians across five local authorities. You will bring an ability to think strategically, persuade, negotiate and influence a complex and evolving local commissioning and market management agenda. You will also bring the skills required to develop and deliver a complex and evolving programme of commissioning and market shaping work that yields benefits for the local authorities, NHS partners and residents.

To be successful in this post, you will be excellent at building credible relationships across a wide range of stakeholders across the 5 Councils and NHS partners. You will be experienced at working collaboratively and successfully across agencies to deliver improved outcomes and will be confident in your ability to act as a system leader, developing excellent partnerships across the local authority and health landscape and inspiring confidence in stakeholders and staff at a time of significant change. You will be able to deal with conflicting views at a senior level including offering pragmatic and palatable solutions. You will be confident at analysing health and social care datasets to support a deeper understanding of local services and using your commissioning knowledge and experience to identify and action priorities for change.

You will be educated to degree level or equivalent, potentially with a professional qualification in health or social care.
You will have extensive knowledge and experience of local authority and potentially health commissioning and ASC provider market management.
You will have significant experience and understanding of building support for and managing complex, multidisciplinary projects across several partners that develop new approaches to address system challenges.

We strongly encourage applicants to write their applications themselves. While we understand the growing use of AI tools, we believe that personal reflection and authenticity are key to a strong application. Please avoid using AI-generated content when applying.

What We Offer

At Camden, you’ll receive a host of benefits including:

27 days annual leave for new starters, rising to 31 days after 5 years
Local Government Pension Scheme
Flexible working opportunities
Interest free loans
Access to our incredible staff networks
Career development and training
Wellbeing support and activities

Visit 'www.camdenjobs.co.uk/staff-benefits' for more details.

Inclusion and Belonging

At Camden, we want every colleague to feel they belong and can thrive. We welcome applications from all parts of our community, and particularly encourage people from Black, Asian and Other Ethnic Heritage communities, LGBTQ+ people, disabled and neurodiverse people, survivors of domestic abuse, and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds or with care experience. We know that different voices and perspectives make us stronger, and we are committed to providing the support, adjustments and flexibility people need to succeed.

To discover more about Camden and our commitment towards diversity, equality and safeguarding, please visit https://www.camdenjobs.co.uk/inclusion-and-diversity

Asking for Adjustments

Camden is committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and as accessible as possible for everyone. This includes making adjustments or changes for disabled people, neurodiverse people or people with long-term health conditions. If you would like us to do anything differently during the application, interview or assessment process, including providing information in an alternative format, please contact us on 020 7974 6655, at resourcing@camden.gov.uk or post to 5 Pancras Square, London, N1C 4AG.

Anonymised Application – in keeping with Camden’s commitment to inclusion the recruitment to this role is anonymised and supports the objective of reducing the impact of unconscious bias.