Job overview
Are you an experienced Social Worker seeking promotion?
Are you looking to develop into leadership & take your social care skills in the field of Adult Mental Health further?
Do you want to be part of an energetic & dynamic team in the heart of the south east Hertfordshire community, working for an award-winning, outstanding Trust?
We are looking for a Band 7 Senior Social Worker to join the Adult Community Mental Health Service in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire.
You must hold a full valid driving license and have access to a car to use regularly for business purposes is essential (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will:
- promote and lead the social care agenda, acting in accordance with the principles of personalisation, working to promote wellbeing, and enabling individual’s rights to choice and control
- carry out complex assessments of need, plan and deliver services and review outcomes with the individual, their personal support networks and support providers
- ensure practice within the team is responsive, inclusive and community based with a clear focus on outcomes and bring your professional expertise to your work with complex cases
- supervise the social care staff within the team and support the wider team with social care
- manage the provision of assessments under the Care Act 2014 and the reviews of packages of care
- work collaboratively with community partners to ensure individuals and families are supported and their needs are met
- act as a champion and leader of social care within the locality/quadrant
- be professionally registered.
In return, we can offer you:
- leadership and management training opportunities
- 5% on top of basic salary high cost allowance supplement (subject to a minimum and a maximum payment pro rata)
- 27 days holiday rising to 33 days (depending on NHS Trust service) plus bank holidays (pro rata where applicable)
- One of the UK's best pension schemes
- Comprehensive health and wellbeing services
- Special leave for family and personal reasons
- NHS Car Lease Scheme
- Employee Assistance Programme
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Job Summary: Senior Social Workers are a key part of the senior management team and the focus of the role is to promote, lead and act in accordance with the principles of personalisation, ensuring the team are working to promote wellbeing, and enabling individual’s rights to choice and control. In doing so they will carry out complex assessments of need, plan and deliver services and review outcomes with the individual, their personal support networks and support providers.
Senior Social Workers will lead the Team's social care agenda and will supervise the social care staff within the Team. As a Senior Social Worker you will act as a champion and leader of social care within a locality/quadrant to ensure a focus on outcome based interventions. You will be expected to give robust, consistent expert social care practice advice in partnership with other specialist senior social care colleagues. You will reinforce the need to deliver high quality, cost effective social care services to service users and their carers focused on the principles of choice, control and independence, as well as ensuring their safety. You will have a small caseload of the most complex cases and you will manage the provision of assessments and reviews of social care intervention.
Partnership working is a key component of this post both within and outside the Trust and you will need to be innovative in ensuring that there is a range of appropriate services locally to support individual recovery journeys. You will work with community partners to address complex social issues and will be encouraged to think innovatively about how to address local concerns with our community partners.
You will be expected to work in partnership with service users and carers so that they can be empowered, and services can be improved as a result of feedback of their experiences.
All Senior Social Workers must be registered with Social Work England.
For a more detailed description, please see attached Job Description and Personal Specification.
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Person specification
GENERAL
Essential
- Experience of working in an integrated health and social care environment
DIVERSITY
Essential
- Demonstrable ability to working sensitively with diverse needs and environments
- Commitment to anti-discriminatory practice
MENTAL EFFORT
Essential
- Flexibility and ability to respond to a variety of tasks, and to prioritise own workload
- Ability to manage others and convey information which may be contentious sensitively so that it achieves required improvements and outcomes
PHYSICAL EFFORT
Essential
- Ability to meet timescales and respond to crises and appropriate
PHYSICAL SKILLS
Essential
- Ability to visit and attend meetings at a variety of locations and environments Experience of using computer - PC
- literate to ECDL standard
- Able to travel between bases and offices, as required, using suitable mode of transport.
EMOTIONAL EFFORT
Essential
- Ability to deal with distressing and sometimes aggressive behaviour of service users, carers and colleagues
ANALYTICAL SKILLS
Essential
- Ability to analyse service user and carer information.
- Experience of undertaking small scale audits and surveys.
Desirable
- Understanding of basic research methods
AREAS OF EXPERIENCE
Essential
- Stong post qualification experience with demonstrable evidence of excellent practice at a high level
- Extensive knowledge of legislation, statutory guidance, theory and policy in relation to relevant adult and children’s social care.
- Experience of undertaking assessments,focused as personalisation, choice and control, and care planning Understanding and experience of personal budgets and direct payments
- Experience of supervising and mentoring staff
- Experience of multidisciplinary working and evidence of collaborative work
- Experience of partnership working with service users and carers, demonstrating dignity and respect particularly in very challenging situations
- Experience of work as Approved Mental Health Professional.
Desirable
- Experience of work as a Best Interests assessor
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Essential
- Excellent ability to communicate with a wide range of stakeholders including service users and carers, other professional colleagues, members of other organisations and local communities, verbally and in writing.
- Evidence of successful management of difficult meetings.
- Ability to manage highly sensitive information
- Experience of using electronic recording systems and ability to produce accurate, appropriate and timely reports
KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE
Essential
- An appropriate professional social work qualification
- Registration with General Social Care Council
- Education to degree level
- Masters Degree or equivalent training
- Approved Mental Health Professional training and qualification (or prepared to undertake training within a year of appointment)
- Relevant post-qualifying training for social workers
Desirable
- Other post-qualifying training e.g. CBT, family therapy
- Best Interests Assessment training
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Senior Social Worker with Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust in Oxford House. It is listed as a Band 7 role. The advertised salary is £51,657 - £58,785 per annum, pro rata (inclusive of 5% HCAS). The contract type is Fixed term: 12 months (End date 30 November 2027 or sooner if current post holder returns early from Maternity Leave). The application deadline is 03 Sep 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 (21 Aug 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.
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