Principal Social Worker and Social Work Academy Lead

Knowsley Council is an award winning Local Authority, named Local Authority of the Year in the Municipal Journal Awards 2024. Come join us and be part of our success. 

We are seeking an experienced Principal Social Worker & Social Work Academy Lead to join our Children’s Services team.

You will:

• Lead on promoting a learning environment in which good social work can flourish
• Develop and motivate an effective, high-quality workforce, who are capable of meeting the needs of children and families through continuing professional development, career progression, recruitment and retention
• Monitor and report on the effectiveness and quality of social work services for children and young people across through our quality assurance framework.

You will be pivotal to driving forward our Children’s Services Improvement Agenda, working to significantly improve the difference we make to the lives of children and young people who access support from our service and their families.

Working closely with the department’s senior leadership team, you will contribute to a sustainable and enduring turnaround of services; building a service offer for the future for all children and families in Knowsley.

Our Vision

Following our recent Ofsted inspection, our Children’s Social Care (CSC) services are on an improvement journey - one we would love you to join us on. 

We have high aspirations for our children and young people and are determined to work together to make the necessary improvements to deliver outstanding services. This is an exciting time to join our service - improving CSC is one of the Council’s main priorities; there’s significant investment in the service, expertise on-hand and a real  opportunity for you to make a difference; helping to shape the future delivery of our services for the benefit of our children and young people.  

If you choose to join us, you will be coming to an inclusive, supportive, and friendly team.  With a new, engaging and ambitious leadership team in place, we welcome you to join us at Knowsley and bring your experience and expertise to help us achieve the best possible outcomes for our children and young people.

The Person

As Principal Social Worker & Social Work Academy Lead you will be a strategic thinker with demonstrable experience and a proven track record as a manager with involvement in front line delivery of services to children and families. You will have the ability to demonstrate creative thinking and innovation in services with a proven track record of driving through change, whilst supervising and managing the performance of others.

If you enjoy working with passionate staff who truly care about what they do, a senior leadership team who work together to achieve a shared vision and a corporate team who wrap their support around Children’s Services to achieve positive outcomes - You may be the perfect candidate for this role.

Further Information

At Knowsley Council we will consider requests for flexible working. For most roles, the following types of flexibility are usually possible: flexible hours, working from home, compressed hours, part-time.

We promote applications from all sections of the community, regardless of background, belief, or identity, recognising the value that diversity brings to our organisation. We particularly welcome applications from individuals from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and candidates with disabilities as we acknowledge their underrepresentation in our workforce.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applicants. 

At Knowsley we value our applicants and want them to feel well-informed and welcomed. If you have any questions about this specific job role or what it is like to work at Knowsley, please contact: Joe Barnham at joe.banham@knowsley.gov.uk

Key Dates

Closing Date – 30^th May 2025

If you are interested in this vacancy, please upload your CV along with a supporting statement as one document in PDF or Word format. Your CV and supporting statement should be tailored to reflect the competencies within the person specification.

Please note if a CV and supporting statement does not reflect the person specification it is unlikely to be shortlisted.