Adult Social Care Safeguarding Lead

About the Borough

The London Borough of Sutton is situated less than 30 minutes by train from Central London, with direct connections to London Victoria and London Bridge. Found in zone 5 with good transport links in and out of London, Sutton boasts award winning parks and open spaces, low crime rates, affordable housing and great schools. As well as high levels of resident engagement and satisfaction, providing quality services and success in addressing our financial challenges, whilst involving residents in key issues and high street changes.

Sutton is continuously investing in the health, wellbeing and education of our residents and the future generation, as set out in the “Ambitious for Sutton” corporate plan. We are home to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together with the development of the London Cancer Hub, Sutton will be the world’s leading life-science district, specialising in cancer research and treatment. Our vision will create around 13,000 jobs while contributing £1.2bn to the UK economy each year, a vibrant community of scientists, doctors and innovative companies intended to deliver real benefits for cancer patients and drive economic growth. With the regeneration of the local areas with new homes and schools, Sutton is 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.

The Council is seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment. As we strive to improve our services and spaces for our residents as set out in the ‘Ambitious for Sutton’ corporate plan, Sutton aims to shape the future of the borough and adapt to the needs of its residents to make our Borough a great place to live, work and raise a family.

About the Service and Team

At the London Borough of Sutton (LBS), we put the well-being, safety and protection of our residents at the very heart of everything we do. Our Adult Social Care team is driven by a shared passion to continually elevate safeguarding standards, ensuring that our residents receive the necessary level of care and support, exactly when they need it.

We are a forward-thinking, collaborative, and compassionate service. We operate under a culture that champions a person-centered approach, explicitly guided by the principles of Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP). This means that we tailor our interventions to the specific needs, preferences and desired outcomes of our residents. Our service is dedicated to fostering independence, ensuring that our residents exercise complete agency and self-determination over their daily lives.

Our teams act as a vital bridge between strategic vision and operational excellence. We also take pride in building strong, resilient networks across the partnership, and playing a pivotal role in delivering the priorities of the Sutton Safeguarding Adults Board (SSAB). Innovation, research-informed practice and continuous development define who we are. If you are looking for a supportive environment where your expertise is valued, your professional development is nurtured and your work directly improves lives, you will find your home here.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

Lead, develop and uphold expert adult safeguarding practice, bridging strategic priorities and operational delivery in order to protect Sutton residents at risk of harm.

Responsibilities

In this role, you won't just be managing a workload; you will be the go-to safeguarding specialist responsible for driving forward excellent practice. On a day-to-day basis, you will be expected to:

• Mentor and Empower Staff: Deliver high-quality coaching, mentoring, and reflective case supervision, acting as a supportive practice leader and stepping up to provide management oversight when the Team Manager is away.
• Shape Policy and Training: Translate the latest research and legislation into practical reality by designing and delivering engaging safeguarding training, policies, and practice guidance, across internal teams and multi-agency partners.
• Model Best Practice in Complex Cases: Step in to directly handle and model expert statutory social work practice for the most complex, high-risk cases involving adults at risk and their carers.
• Drive Quality and Performance: Lead regular casework audits and quality assurance checks to ensure the teams consistently meet key performance indicators and remain prepared for regulatory framework inspections.
• Champion Multi-Agency Collaboration: Act as the organisation’s Self-Care Support Lead and Person in Position of Trust (PIPOT) Lead, chairing professional meetings and fostering strong, collaborative relationships with external partner agencies.

About You

We are looking for a dedicated, highly skilled social work professional who balances technical expertise with empathy. To be successful in this role, you will need to meet the following criteria:

Essential Qualifications & Professional Standing:

• Qualified Social Worker: You must hold a professional Social Work Degree and maintain an active registration with Social Work England (SWE).
• Advanced Training: Evidence of post-qualifying training relevant to a social work specialism (e.g. Safeguarding).
• Vetting: Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and relevant Council vetting.

Essential Experience & Skills:

• Statutory Expertise: At least 4 years of post-qualifying experience within Adult’s Statutory Services, with a robust track record in undertaking assessments, support planning, risk analysis, and case reviews.
• Complex Case & Line Management: Minimum of 3 years autonomously managing high-complexity cases, making critical risk decisions under pressure, and holding line management or supervisory responsibilities.
• Legal & Technical Knowledge: A comprehensive, working knowledge of the Care Act (2014), Mental Capacity Act (2005), and safeguarding/social work related legislative frameworks.
• Quality Assurance: Proven experience in auditing casework, implementing departmental procedures, and chairing multi-agency meetings.
• Communication & Autonomy: High-level written and oral communication skills, with the confidence to use your initiative to make decisive judgements outside of the escalation process.
• Flexibility & Presence: Excellent organisational skills to meet strict deadlines, the ability to work regularly from the office, and access to reliable transport to carry out essential home visits and face-to-face meetings.

Desirable Requirement:

• Holding a Best Interests Assessor (BIA) qualification is highly desirable and will be a distinct advantage.

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 26-32 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
• Two volunteering days per year
• Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
• Adjustable 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
• Electric vehicle leasing 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 Sutton 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 PRIDE values.
Here at Sutton 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 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.