Lead Social Worker
Closing date: 08 May 2026.
Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust (BDCFT) is looking for experienced, motivated and values‑driven Advanced Practitioner Lead Social Workers to help shape and strengthen social work practice across our mental health services.
This is a fantastic opportunity to take on a visible leadership role, supporting social workers at every stage of their career. You will champion high‑quality, compassionate practice, create positive learning environments and promote strong inter‑professional working across community and inpatient settings.
Working closely with the Principal Social Worker and external partners, you will influence quality, standards and future development across services.
Requirements:
* Registered with Social Work England.
* Hold Practice Educator qualifications (PEPS Level 2).
* Substantial post‑qualifying experience within mental health services.
Main duties of the job
* Act as lead social worker from point of inpatient admission through to transfer back to the community, working in partnership with the Care Coordinator from the identified CMHT.
* Hold responsibility for all new inpatient admissions, maintaining an active caseload, ensuring continuity of social care throughout the admission pathway.
* Operate at a senior level, providing support to inpatient teams & operationally managing & providing clinical oversight to Band 6 Inpatient Social Workers.
* Undertake Care Act assessments & Section 117 aftercare assessments from admission, ensuring timely, proportionate & person‑centred planning.
* Assess, manage & escape risk, including safeguarding concerns, in line with statutory duties and Trust policy.
* Provide specialist mental health social work advice & guidance to staff, patients, carers & partner agencies.
* Offer expert legal literacy & application in relation to relevant legislation, including the Mental Health Act (Section 117), Mental Capacity Act, Care Act, safeguarding legislation & housing legislation.
* Contribute to a consistent & integrated approach to inpatient care planning, with the aim of improving outcomes, reducing length of stay & enabling socially safe and timely discharge.
* Act as the link social worker between inpatient services and community teams, providing regular progress reports to CMHT leadership to support safe & effective discharge planning.
About us
Everything we do is underpinned by our core values:
* We Care – We act with respect and empathy, and always value difference.
* We Listen – We understand people's views and respond to their individual needs.
* We Deliver – We develop and provide excellent services and support our partners.
We will consider a variety of flexible working arrangements to enable staff to balance their work and home lives and support staff through a range of benefits:
* Increase mileage rates for >4500.
* A wide range of health and wellbeing support packages.
* A range of internal and external development and learning opportunities.
Person Specification
Qualification
* Social Work Qualification and Professional Registration with Social Work England.
* Post Graduate Certificate in Practice Education Stages 1 & 2.
* Best Interest Assessor Approved Mental Health Professional.
* Post Graduate qualification relevant to the role.
Experience
* Post qualifying Social Work experience within a multi‑disciplinary team in mental health pathways.
* Extensive knowledge and experience of completing detailed and comprehensive assessments of complex health and social care needs through the practices of Care Coordination / Care Management.
* Expertise in the creative use of personalisation in partnership with patient & carers.
* Role modelling and developing best practice with individual mental health practitioners and Community Teams.
* Experience and knowledge of working in partnership with Housing, Homelessness, and Residential providers.
* Experience of Practice Educator/Supervising Social Workers and other healthcare staff.
* Experience of quality improvement/service development.
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