Practice assurance & development lead

Grade and Contract

Grade: K scp 39 £ 50,269 to scp 43 £ 54,495 – plus essential car user allowance. Contract: Permanent 37 hours per week.

Role Requirements

Must have a Social Work Qualification, be registered with Social Work England, hold a full UK driving licence.

The Role

We are looking for a Practice Assurance and Development Lead to join our Adult Social Care Practice Team, working directly to the Principal Social Worker. This role sits at the heart of our three-pillar model for practice excellence: Practice Assurance, Practice Development, and Workforce Development.

Key responsibilities include:

• Contributing across all three pillars to understand, strengthen and support practice across Adult Social Care.
• Hosting qualitative assurance activities, translating learning, and delivering learning tools.
• Developing practice tools, guidance and workshops to support and grow the workforce.
• Shaping how we support, induct and grow staff, ensuring an outcomes‑focused workforce.
• Building relationships with practitioners and managers across multiple teams and locations.

Primary location: Castle Hill, with visibility required across the service.

About the Team

Bolton Adult Social Care has recently been rated ‘Good’ by the CQC, reflecting the dedication of our workforce and commitment to continuous improvement. Our Practice Team supports and improves practice across the service through three connected pillars.

Practice Assurance

We develop and deliver qualitative assurance activity: audits, thematic reviews, lived experience insight and reflective learning. We identify strengths, risks and opportunities for improvement and feed directly into leadership discussions and service development.

Practice Development

We translate what we learn into practical, accessible improvements: practice tools, guidance, workshops, learning circles, reflective sessions and targeted development activity. The aim is to help practitioners feel confident, supported and able to deliver consistently good outcomes.

Workforce Development

We support the whole workforce journey, from induction and capability building, to progression, ASYE, continuous professional development and future career pathways. We ensure learning aligns with the Practice Framework and recording expectations, providing staff with the skills and confidence they need to thrive.

About You

We are looking for someone who is:

• Creative, dynamic and a systems thinker, able to see patterns and connections across practice, workforce and outcomes.
• Passionate about supporting staff, enabling them to provide high quality, strengths based support to adults and carers.
• Skilled in working with qualitative insight, lived experience feedback and assurance findings to identify themes and improvement opportunities.
• Capable of building strong, trusting relationships, influencing respectfully and providing constructive challenge.
• Confident in designing and delivering practice learning, from reflective spaces to facilitated workshops.
• Deeply committed to strengths based practice, inclusion, co‑production and continual improvement.
• Comfortable working independently, balancing competing priorities while using professional judgement.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys working with people, shaping culture, and supporting improvement across a whole system.

Working Arrangements

Location: Castle Hill with expectation to work across multiple team locations.

Hybrid work: up to two non‑consecutive days from home per week.

Flexible hours are available, but the role requires strong engagement and collaboration with practitioners.

Legal and Safeguarding

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable adults and young people, and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

DBS Clearance: This post is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (amended in 2013). Employment offers are conditional upon satisfactory DBS clearance. The presence of a criminal record will not necessarily bar an individual from working with us and will depend on the nature of the position and circumstances.