Deputy Service Director - Practice Standards and Principal Social Worker
Job description
Do you want to shape the future of social work practice within one of the fastest-improving services in the country?
Will you be the leader who inspires excellence, drives improvement and helps our workforce and our children truly thrive?
Be the difference, make the change to #TeamNEL
North East Lincolnshire Council Children’s Services is at a pivotal point in our journey—and there has never been a more exciting time to join us.
We are transforming lives every day. Recognised as Good by Ofsted and one of the fastest-improving children’s services in the country, we are proud of the progress we’ve made—and even more ambitious about where we’re going.
What truly sets us apart is our strong sense of community. Children, young people and families are at the heart of everything we do, and we recognise that our workforce is our greatest strength.
By joining us, you’ll become part of a driven and supportive leadership team with a relentless focus on improvement—passionate about delivering meaningful, lasting change for the communities we serve.
About the role
The Deputy Service Director - Practice, Standards and Principal Social Worker will provide strong, effective, creative and positive leadership, and will hold the Principal Social Worker statutory responsibilities on behalf of North East Lincolnshire Council. The role will also responsibility for statutory independent review for our children, and the Local Authority Designated Officer functions.
The role is crucial to creating and sustaining the conditions for our workforce, and for our children, to flourish and thrive. It is at the heart of our transformation agenda, has responsibilities for family group decision making, and will contribute to the improvement plan, Council Plan and partnership outcomes.
What will your day look like?
The days are fast paced, varied and rewarding. You will have oversight, development and assurance of best practice across the partnership, with a range of stakeholders, and you will lead on social work recruitment, and the training and development of a skilled, effective permanent children’s workforce.
Who we are looking for?
We are looking for a proven system leader across the children and families system, who wants to join an ambitious, forward thinking service, who are continuing on our journey for Our Children Our Future, and so our children, young people and families can flourish and thrive.
Why join us?
North East Lincolnshire Council Children’s Services has a learning culture, we are relational in our approach, and we have developed a family first, family feel culture where we value our workforce as our greatest asset, and as change makers in improving outcomes for our children.
Key Dates
Application deadline 1 June.
We aim to interview candidates w/c 15 June .
For more information, please refer to the attached guidance, role profile and role brief. If you would like an informal discussion, please contact:
Julie Poole- Assistant Director Children’s Assurance Evaluation and Partnerships
We reserve the right to close our adverts early if we have received a significant volume of suitable applications.
We love AI and think it plays a great role in the world of work. However, for your application, we want to hear from YOU! As such, we will be testing applications to determine the use of AI, and applications that have heavily utilised the function will be scrutinised for suitability.
As part of your RewardNEL package, you will have a generous leave entitlement (including bank holidays) and enrolment into a local government pension.
You will also have access to our exclusive RewardNEL platform.