Practice Development Lead

Borough of Lambeth; Greater London; On-site; GBP 54,000 - 57,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Living Wage Employer

Stonewall diversity champion

Job summary

Lambeth Borough is seeking a Practice Development Lead within the Social Care Academy in London. This role focuses on driving practice improvement and embedding Signs of Safety across Children’s Services, while supporting frontline teams and managers to deliver high-quality, relationship-based work.

You will lead workforce development, provide coaching and supervision, and ensure reflective learning and audit processes inform service improvements for children and families.

Qualifications

• Experience leading practice development and workforce development within children’s services.
• Ability to coach, supervise, and develop social workers including students and ASYEs.
• Strong understanding of Signs of Safety and its practical application.

Responsibilities

• Lead practice development across the Lambeth Social Care Academy to improve outcomes for children and families.
• Embed Signs of Safety, support practitioners, and drive reflective learning and audit activity.
• Analyse themes from service work and translate learning into service improvements.
• Collaborate with managers and partner agencies to sustain high standards of practice.

Skills

Frontline social work

Practice development

Coaching & mentoring

Signs of Safety

Quality assurance

Data analysis

Communication & facilitation

Education

Social Work England registration

Job description

Lambeth Civic Centre, 6 Brixton Hill, London,SW2 1EG, United Kingdom and 1 more

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Job Description

PO5: £54,360 rising in annual increments £57,495 pa incl. LW

Permanent / Full Time

Hybrid Working

About Us:

Located in the heart of South London, Lambeth Borough is a vibrant community of over 317,600 residents. Stretching from the dynamic neighbourhood of Streatham in the South to the iconic landmarks of Waterloo in the North, we are proud to be the 9th largest borough in London. Our diversity is our strength, with more than 130 languages spoken, making Lambeth the home of the Windrush generation, London's largest LGBTQ+ community, and a thriving Portuguese-speaking community.

With exceptional schools, lush green spaces including Brockwell Park, cultural gems like the Black Cultural Archives, and world-renowned institutions such as St Thomas's Hospital, Lambeth offers an enriching and dynamic environment.

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Lambeth Social Care Academy due to the promotion of the current post holder. We are seeking an experienced and passionate Practice Development Lead to join our ambitious and forward-thinking team

This is an excellent opportunity for a highly skilled social worker who is committed to improving outcomes for children and families through practice excellence, workforce development, and continuous learning.

About the Role

As a Practice Development Lead, you will be a key member of the Lambeth Social Care Academy, working closely with the Principal Social Worker, Service Managers, Advanced Practitioners, and frontline teams to drive practice improvement across Children's Social Care.

You will play a central role in embedding Lambeth's Signs of Safety practice model, ensuring that practitioners are supported, challenged, and developed to deliver relationship-based, strengths-focused practice that keeps children safe and achieves lasting change for families.

The role combines practice leadership, quality assurance, workforce development, coaching, and organisational learning. You will act as an agent of change, championing what good practice looks like and supporting services to achieve and sustain high standards through reflective learning, audit activity, supervision, consultation, and training.

Working collaboratively with operational services and partner agencies, you will identify strengths, analyse themes and trends, and help translate learning into meaningful improvements that enhance outcomes for children and young people.

You will bring:

• Strong and credible frontline social work experience with a track record of excellent practice.
• A passion for practice development, learning, and supporting others to grow.
• Experience of coaching, mentoring, supervising, or developing social workers, including students, ASYEs, and experienced practitioners.
• A sound understanding of Signs of Safety and the ability to support practitioners to apply the model confidently in their work with children and families.
• Experience of quality assurance activity, including auditing, case consultation, reflective learning, and practice improvement.
• The ability to analyse complex information, identify themes and learning, and influence change at both practitioner and service level.
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and facilitation skills.

Why Join Us?

Lambeth is committed to creating a learning culture where practitioners are supported to do their best work with children and families. The Social Care Academy is at the heart of this ambition, providing innovative learning opportunities, professional development pathways, and practice leadership across the directorate.

You will be joining a dynamic, creative, and highly regarded team that values curiosity, collaboration, reflective practice, and continuous improvement. Together, we are working to ensure that every child receives the right help at the right time and that our workforce feels confident, supported, and empowered to make a difference.

If you are passionate about developing others, championing excellent social work practice, and embedding Signs of Safety across Children's Services, we would love to hear from you.

Please note you must be registered with Social Work England at the time of application

You will be required to undertake a Cifas check. Further information about Cifas can be found here Cifas

At Lambeth, we are dedicated to providing quality services and equal opportunities for all. We are committed to safer recruitment and are proud to be a Stonewall diversity champion, a Living Wage Employer, and to guarantee interviews for all disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria of the role. For a full list of our accreditations, please click here .

Job Info

• Job Identification 2902
• Job Category Social Care Manager
• Posting Date 08/10/2026, 02:13 PM
• Apply Before 08/23/2026, 10:59 PM
• Job Schedule Full time
• Locations 6 Brixton Hill, London, SW2 1EG, GB