Inclusion and Co-Production Manager

Social Work England; Sheffield; Hybrid; GBP 49,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

25 days annual leave

Additional 5 days buy‑back option

Pension and life insurance

Job summary

Social Work England, a specialist regulator for social work in England, seeks an Inclusion and Co-production Manager. This role provides operational leadership on EDI and co‑production, advising colleagues and engaging with stakeholders to embed best practice.

Hybrid, permanent, with a salary starting at £49,358 and rising after probation. The role collaborates with People and Development, QA and data teams, and reports to the Head of EDI.

Qualifications

• Excellent knowledge of equality legislation and co‑production practices, aligned with business objectives.
• Experience in leading, managing and motivating a team to deliver objectives.
• Strong interpersonal and influencing skills, handling sensitive situations with discretion.
• Excellent time management to handle changing priorities.
• Autonomous with sound judgment and decision-making.
• Experience of benchmarking and measuring impact for effectiveness.
• Proven stakeholder relationship development and collaborative delivery.
• Excellent written and oral communication, drafting reports and presentations.
• MS Office skills including PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams.
• Demonstrated commitment to inclusion and diversity.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert advice and guidance on EDI and co‑production to colleagues.
• Lead the National Advisory Forum and ensure effective governance, recruitment and stakeholder management.
• Work with quality assurance and customer experience teams on feedback, complaints and information requests.
• Align EDI action plan with people plan and monitor activity data.
• Lead benchmarking activities and recommend improvements based on data.
• Engage with external EDI opportunities with stakeholders and internal teams.
• Oversee equality impact processes and ensure compliance with Equality Act 2010.
• Build relationships across the business and identify process improvements.
• Deputise for the head of EDI as needed.

Skills

EDI expertise

Co-production

Stakeholder management

Communication

Project leadership

Strategic advisory

Policy alignment

Time management

Data interpretation

Tools

MS Office (PowerPoint)

MS Word

MS Excel

MS Outlook

Teams

Job description

The Role

Social Work England are the specialist regulator for social work in England, focused on enabling positive change in social work. Every day, social workers support millions of people to improve their chances in life. We are taking a new approach to regulating social workers in their vital roles. 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.

We believe that the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are central to us being an effective regulator and employer.

Working to the head of EDI, this role supports Social Work England’s commitment to ensuring that EDI and co-production remain our guiding principles in all of our work.

The Inclusion and Co-production Manager will provide operational leadership and management and has a cross‑organisational focus. This role will lead the development of policy and auditing processes in relation to co‑production and EDI, ensuring that internal and external stakeholders are engaged in assessing our performance against benchmarks so recommendations can be made for improvement in our practice as an employer and as a regulator.

This role will work closely with the people and development team and provide expert advice and guidance on good practice in EDI and co‑production matters, and ensuring all of our colleagues understand the significance of EDI and coproduction to their particular work.

What you will do

• Provide expert advice, guidance and challenge on EDI and co‑production to colleagues and establish innovative ways to engage with our people to embed best practice in these areas.


• Lead the development and management of the National Advisory Forum (NAF) to fulfil its role effectively as a critical friend to Social Work England and as the epicentre of co‑production across the organisation. Ensure the smooth running of the forum, identifying risk, escalation and identifying and implementing effective solutions. Lead on the for recruitment, induction and succession planning for the group and relationship management with the Board and executive leadership team.


• Work closely with the internal quality assurance and customer experience team and data protection team to manage feedback, complaints and information requests relating to EDI and co‑production. Investigate concerns and drafting responses for approval from the head of EDI and other key stakeholders.


• Work collaboratively with the people and development team to ensure alignment between the EDI action plan and people plan.


• Monitor and report on EDI and co‑production activity and data and prepare written reports for a range of stakeholders including executive leadership team, board and committees.


• Lead on benchmarking activities for EDI and co‑production to evaluate our organisational effectiveness. Make recommendations to improve our organisational performance based on data and insights and the implementation of identified solutions.


• Manage and influence external EDI and co‑production engagement opportunities with a wide range of stakeholders working closely alongside our engagement and external relations team.


• Be accountable for the implementation, and development of our equality impact process, ensuring plans, policies and processes take full account of our obligations under the Equality Act 2010.


• Build and maintain relationships at all levels in the business, both internally and externally.


• Identify system and process improvements to most effectively make use of resources within the EDI and co‑production team.


• Deputise for the head of EDI as necessary.

Your Skills, Knowledge And Experience

• Excellent knowledge of equality legislation and co‑production practices with proven experience of applying this knowledge in an organisation and aligning them with other important business objectives.


• Experience of leading, managing and motivating a team to deliver identified objectives.


• Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills, with proven ability to effectively handle sensitive situations with tact, diplomacy and professionalism.


• Excellent time management skills with the ability to respond to changing priorities and conflicting timescales to ensure the objectives of the team are met.


• Ability to work autonomously, using judgement and initiative to assess and make robust decisions.


• Experience of benchmarking and measuring impact to ensure effectiveness of activities.


• Considerable experience of successful stakeholder relationship development, management and collaborative delivery.


• Excellent written and oral communication skills including the ability to draft, and review correspondence, reports and presentations for a range of stakeholders, often addressing difficult and/ or contentious issues.


• Working knowledge of MS Office including PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams.


• A demonstrable commitment to inclusion and diversity.

The Benefits

In Addition To Your Salary, We Also Offer

• Hybrid working


• 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, with staff networks, social events and forums.


• A contributory NEST pension, life insurance, an employee recognition scheme and cycle to work scheme.

Details

• Job type: Permanent


• Working pattern: Full time. We offer flexible working subject to business need.


• Salary:£49,358 per year, rising to £51,768 per year after successful completion of a 6‑month probationary period.


• Location: Sheffield/Hybrid (1‑2 days per week in office)

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 [e-mail] 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 [e-mail].