# Head of Social Work and Social Care > NHS job listing from Job Clerk for Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. ## Canonical URLs - **HTML:** https://www.jobclerk.com/job/head-of-social-work-and-social-care/dcc74556-65b8-4c54-a8a3-e5d34969a6b2 - **Markdown:** https://www.jobclerk.com/job/head-of-social-work-and-social-care/dcc74556-65b8-4c54-a8a3-e5d34969a6b2.md ## Summary - **Status:** Live - **Employer:** Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust - **Town:** Oxford - **Region:** South East - **Country:** England - **Profession:** Healthcare support worker - **Grade:** Band 8 - **Salary:** £79,504 - £91,609 per annum - **Contract type:** Permanent - **Employment type:** Full time - 37.5 hours per week - **Closing date:** 2026-07-28T23:59:00.000Z - **Posted:** 2026-07-14T10:42:31.807Z - **Source information URL:** https://www.healthjobsuk.com/job/UK/Oxfordshire/Oxford/Oxford_Health_NHS_Foundation_Trust/Community_Health_Services/Community_Health_Services-v8103502 - **Application URL:** https://apps.trac.jobs/job-advert/8103502?ShowJobAdvert=&feedid=9002 - **Employer website:** https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk ## Job Content ### 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 ## Documents - [jd&ps (pdf, 832.3kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?vdoc=10397915) - [guidance notes for candidates applying for a job at ohft (pdf, 424.6kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?ddoc=2228) ## Agent Notes - This Markdown page is generated from the same Job Clerk job record as the HTML job detail page. - Use the canonical HTML URL for user-facing references. - Use the application URL when the user wants to apply on the source NHS site.