Practitioner Manager

London Borough of Lambeth; Hill; Hybrid; GBP 56,000 - 59,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid Working

Local Government Pension Scheme

Generous annual leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Discounts at local restaurants

Learning and Development opportunities

Job summary

Lambeth Council is recruiting a Practitioner Manager for the Mental Health of Older Adults Social Work team. The role sits in a hybrid working environment and is designed to ensure a high quality, person-centred service for Lambeth residents.

You will supervise up to 8 social care staff, manage statutory assessments, and support social workers through complex cases. A qualified social worker with post-qualification experience is required, with knowledge of Care Act and Mental Health Act

Qualifications

• Qualified social worker with significant post-qualifying experience.
• Familiar with Care Act, Mental Capacity Act, and Mental Health Act.
• Experience in mental health services preferred but not essential.
• Excellent organisational and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Supervise up to 8 social care staff in the team.
• Ensure timely statutory assessments within targets and quality standards.
• Support social workers with casework, complex cases, the Court of Protection and safeguarding procedures.
• Provide regular 1:1 supervision and appraisals.
• Lead on service development areas with other Practitioner Managers.

Job description

Adult Social Care – Practitioner Manager REF: 2860

Hybrid Working

PO5 Grade: £56,154 pa rising in annual increments to £59,394 pa inc LW.

2 x Permanent and Full Time

About Us

It is an exciting time to join Lambeth Council, we have bold ambitions for the future of Lambeth’s communities and residents through ourLambeth 2030 Plan ‘Our Future, Our Lambeth. To deliver on these ambitions, we have embarked our transformational One Lambeth Programme ensuring we are ‘connected by purpose,’ in everything we do to deliver excellence. We are proud to have recently developed a refreshed set of One Lambeth Values and Behaviours that were develop for staff by staff;Equity, Ambition, Kindness, and Accountability. For more information, please have a look at our dedicatedOne Lambeth Values and Behaviours page.

About the Borough

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.

About the Role

Lambeth is a fantastic place to work. If you’re looking for a challenging but exceptionally rewarding opportunity to move into a social work position within Mental Health Adult Social Care Services, then Lambeth is definitely for YOU!

We currently looking to recruit a Practitioner Manager for our Mental Health of Older Adults Social Work team (MHOA).

The MHOA is a team of 4 experienced social workers. We work in close partnership with the Community Mental Health Team for Older Adults. We specialise in working with people who have complex mental health and dementia, particularly people who struggle to engage. We aim to support individuals and their carers/family to sustain quality of life, independence and wellbeing. Using strengths based and rights based approaches we work closely with health colleagues to support wellbeing in the community and effective hospital discharge work. The team also support the duty service within the broader Mental Health service and the PM would be on a rota to cover duty days.

The Practitioner Manager is responsible for managing the daytime social care service alongside the team manager, ensuring that a quality, responsive, safe, and person-centred service to support which promotes the well‑being of Lambeth residents is delivered. The role also includes leading on specialist areas across the other services and managing some service areas jointly with the other PMs.

The PM will supervise up to 8 social care staff in the team. The PM will ensure that statutory assessments are assigned and completed in a timely manner within expected performance targets and quality standards. This will include supporting social workers through managing their cases, and complex cases, the court of protection, safeguarding procedures, and authorising assessments with a view to supporting them to produce high quality, strength‑based work. With support from the Team Manager, the PM may also be elected to take the lead on service development areas arising from service user requests and member’s enquiries from time to time.

The PM will support social care staff with their professional development through regular 1:1 and appraisals.

The role requires that you are a qualified social worker with significant post qualifying experience, have excellent organisational and communication skills. Some previous management experience and an experience in working within mental health services is preferred but not essential. You must be familiar with the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act, and Mental Health Act. The hours are Monday to Friday 9am‑5pm or as the service requires at 35hrs per week.

‘We especially encourage applications from people from the Black, Asian and Multiethnic communities and while the role is open to all applicants, Lambeth will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from underrepresented groups where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit.’

For detailed qualifications and requirements, please review the job description and person specification in hyperlink below:

Job Description and Person Specification

Contact Information

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Catherine McManus on 07720041987.

Recruitment Timelines

Advert close date: 11:59pm on Sunday 25 October 2026.

Benefits

We believe in rewarding our staff. When you join us, you’ll gain access to a range of benefits, including:

• Participation in our 5 Staff Networks: Black, Asian, and Multi‑Ethnic, LGBTQ+, Disability, Young Professionals, and Women’s.
• Generous annual leave entitlement starting from 27 days, increasing to up to 35 days depending on length of service.
• Membership in the Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Hybrid Working.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Discounts at local restaurants.
• Discount at our Active Lambeth Gyms.
• Learning and Development opportunities, including Apprenticeships.
• Cycle to Work Scheme.
• Secure Bike Storage facilities at our Town Hall and Civic Centre.
• Trade Union Membership.