Search for more NHS jobs in Oxford
Job overview
Do you have previous operational management experience in a mental health setting?
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust are seeking a full time strategic Social Work leader to head the Oxfordshire and BSW Mental Health Directorate Social Work and social care services.
This role offers the chance to lead transformational change in a Trust known for innovation, collaboration, and compassionate care.
The Heads of Social Work / Social Care will contribute to shaping the future of mental health services by leading change, empowering teams, influencing strategy, and driving service development aligned with local and national Social Work / Social Care priorities. You will work across the Directorate’s pathways (all age, community and inpatient), uphold Trust values, and manage governance across quality, safety, finance, HR, and performance. Collaboration with other service and professional leads and support teams is essential to meet strategic goals.
You will be an experienced operational leader, with previous substantial experience in mental health, seeking growth. Key qualities include adaptability, strong partnership skills, and a commitment to improving mental health outcomes across health, social care, and VCSE sectors. You will be an expert Social Worker with enhanced levels of applied knowledge and legal literacy, able to work with highly complex individual and system level scenarios.
Main duties of the job
The key responsibilities of the role can be summarised as strategy, policy, and delivery in the following domains:
- Quality
- Workforce
- Finance
- Performance
- Strategic change
- Stakeholder engagement/partnership
The Head of Service will own these domains within reporting service(s) as well as being expected to contribute significantly to the Directorate-wide approach across them.
The Head of Service will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that reporting service(s) comply with the five CQC domains:
- Safe: people are protected from abuse and avoidable harm
- Effective: people’s care, treatment and support achieve good outcomes, promotes a good quality of life, and is based on the best available evidence Caring: the service(s) involves and treats people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect Responsive: service(s) meet people’s needs
- Well led: leadership, management and governance assure the delivery of high-quality and person-centred care, supports learning and innovation, and promotes an open and fair culture.
Full details can be found at the CQC website by clicking on the link below:
Key lines of enquiry for healthcare services - Care Quality Commission
Please refer to the job description attached for a comprehensive list of duties
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.
The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview, and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to Master’s degree level or equivalent professional experience
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable
- Participation in a relevant NHS Senior Management Development Programme
Additional Experience
Essential
- In depth understanding of the NHS and/or public services and the likely changes over the next few years
- Recognises the value and need to work collaboratively across the local health and social care economy
- Good level of knowledge of commissioning – the split between CCG and other commissioning roles.
- Good level of knowledge of Business Intelligence and how & when it should be used in everyday service delivery - how it should be developed as part of transformation
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Occupational Experience
Essential
- Substantial experience managing health and social care staff. To include a range of knowledge base and experience of how to maximise peoples skills.
- Extensive experience of the development of good relationships across a range of key stakeholders
- Substantial experience of directly leading substantial change
- Extensive experience working in mental health
- Previous operational management experience in a mental health setting
WhatsApp job alerts
Get instant WhatsApp alerts for Band 8 Dietetic Assistant roles in Oxford
Create your Job Clerk account first. We'll collect your alert preferences during onboarding and help you turn on WhatsApp notifications for matching healthcare roles.
Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Head of Social Work and Social Care with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust in Oxford, South East, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Healthcare support worker role. The advertised salary is £79,504 - £91,609 per annum. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 28 Jul 2026.
Before you apply, compare the job description with the person specification and mirror the employer's essential criteria in your supporting information. Use the vacancy title, employer, location, salary, contract type, closing date and posted date (14 Jul 2026) to decide whether this role fits your current NHS job search. If the employer can close applications early, prepare the application before the stated deadline rather than waiting for the final day.
For more context, review related Job Clerk pages for the same profession, band or location where they exist, then use the application-support guides to tailor your statement and prepare for interview.