Social Work Professional Lead Advisor

NHS; Loughborough; On-site; GBP 47,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading health service provider in Loughborough is seeking a Social Work Professional Lead Advisor to lead their Social Work Service. The ideal candidate will promote best practice, work collaboratively with various agencies, and oversee the development of service delivery. Key qualifications include a degree in Social Work, relevant registration, and significant experience in a healthcare setting. This position offers a salary of £46,040 a year plus a Market Skills Allowance of £5,000 (pro rata for part-time).

Benefits

Civil Service pension

Market Skills Allowance £5000

Extensive training package

Access to Gym & Pool facilities

Access to on-site Cinema

Free on-site parking

Qualifications

• Registered with relevant social work council such as SWE or SSSC.
• Significant post qualification experience in a hospital setting.
• Experience in policy development and cross department collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Lead a professional Specialist Hospital Social Work Service.
• Promote continuous improvement in Social Work service delivery.
• Represent the Ministry of Defence in Family Court hearings.

Skills

Effective decision making

Leadership

Communication and influencing

Changing and improving

Managing a quality service

Working together

Education

Degree in Social Work or equivalent diploma

Job description

Social Work Professional Lead Advisor

Closing date is 04 February 2026

Here at Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Stanford Hall, Loughborough, we are an inclusive and dedicated organisation working to provide excellent rehabilitation service to our entitled personnel.

We are looking to recruit a C1 Social Work Professional Lead Advisor and Regional Lead who actively demonstrates effective decision making, projects personality and character in this role. The successful candidate will motivate, guide and support members of the multi‑disciplinary team to achieve desired end results, whilst working closely with the Head of Service and DPHC Social Work Cadre.

Main duties of the job

As the Social Work Professional Lead Adviser (PLA) you will lead a professional Specialist Hospital Social Work Service, acting as a subject matter expert, for DMRC Stanford Hall. You will be promoting professional best practice, advocacy and advisers on education and training for staff and professional supervision, ensuring that Business Continuity issues are in place and that positive collaboration is energetically fostered with external agencies.

• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• Market Skills Allowance £5000 (pro rata for part time)
• An extensive training package tailored to your role
• Access to Gym & Pool facilities
• Access to on‑site Cinema
• Free on‑site parking

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Promote a continuous and flexible Social Work service development and improvement plan, to meet the changing demands of DMRCs patient cohort.
• Act as the Single Point of Contact or Subject Matter Expert for Safeguarding Children and Adults, including PREVENT, Mental Capacity Act, Liberty Protection Safeguards, Court of Protection applications at DMRC. To represent the Ministry of Defence at Family Court hearings and liaising with MOD legal counsel as required.
• Assisting clinical team managers /Clinical Director/ DMRC Quality Improvement Programme with service improvement and audit measures.
• With other PLAs, conduct Service Reviews with clinical teams to identify and advise on service improvement issues.
• Act as a point of contact for military welfare, and third sector agencies working in collaboration with DMRC, and Head of Defence Primary Healthcare (DPHC) Social Work B2.
• Attend meetings as required to provide SME input on professional matters with internal and external agencies MOD Specialist Welfare Delivery Group, MOD Safeguarding Adults and Children, DPHC National and Overseas Safeguarding Forum, PREVENT etc.
• Ensuring confidentiality and acceptable standard of patient information and case notes, following Caldicott principles and in line with Defence Primary Healthcare policy.
• Attend Cadre meetings, including C1 Management and bi-annual professional meetings.

Selection Process

At application stage you will be assessed against the following:

• Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history and previous skills and experience. The selection at sift stage will be based on your CV.
• Please provide information of how you meet the criteria set out in the Job Description. You may wish to further include examples of how you have tackled similar tasks or demonstrated the skills outlined in the job advert.
• When choosing your Behaviour examples, please make sure you use real life scenarios that relate to your own experiences. Whilst technology may help to enhance your written submission, presenting the ideas of others or those generated by technology, could result in your application being rejected.

At interview you will be assessed against the following Behaviours:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together
• You will also be required to provide a presentation or vignette - details to be provided to successful candidates at sift.

Qualifications

• Degree in Social Work or equivalent diploma in Social Work (DipSW) / Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW)
• Be registered with Social Work England (SWE), Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), the Care Council for Wales (CCW) or Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC).
• Have an understanding and working knowledge of all relevant social care legislation – Mental Health Act (MHA 83), Mental Capacity Act (MCA 05), Inc Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS), Care Act 2014, European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR 98) Adult and Children Safeguarding Policies.
• Have a significant post qualification experience, which must be within a hospital setting and DOLS/Best Interest Assessor (BIA), or willing to train as BIA.
• The candidate must have caseload management experience in a multi professional setting.
• Have proven strategic experience, including the ability to develop and implement long term plans to align with organisational goals.
• Have experience in policy development, cross department collaboration and data driven decision making.
• Please provide your registration number.

Registration & Membership

• Please provide your registration number.

Provide a CV

• Please copy and paste your full CV as your response to this question – you will not be able to upload your CV as an attachment.
• Please ensure to refer to the essential criteria where applicable as your application may be rejected should insufficient information be included.
• Please use double spacing where possible.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£46,040 a year PLUS Market Skills Allowance £5000 (pro rata for part time)