Deputy Principal Social Worker

Are you a passionate and experienced social work leader ready to be a part of shaping the future of children’s services in Somerset?

Somerset Council is seeking a dynamic Deputy Principal Social Worker (DPSW) to lead in high-quality social work practice across Children’s Services. This is a pivotal role during a period of transformation whereby the Principal Social Worker is leading on the Children Social Care reform; you will work closely with the PSW during the secondment. This role offers the opportunity to influence service-wide development, workforce strategy, and multi-agency collaboration. lead professional standards, workforce development, and practice improvement across Children’s Social Care. Would you like to influence policy, drive innovation, and champion the voice of children, families, and practitioners, then this is a role to consider.

• 33 days annual leave, plus bank holidays
• Flexible working in line with Somerset Council’s Dynamic Working Strategy.
• County-wide travel required.
• Initial 6-month secondment.

This is a secondment opportunity. Interested applicants must obtain agreement from their current line manager before applying.

This secondment offers a unique opportunity to shape and strengthen the working environment for social work practitioners—supporting a culture of learning, wellbeing, and professional growth across Somerset’s Children’s Services, promoting positive outcomes for children in Somerset.

We’re working to improve the lives of people in Somerset – and you’ll be a key part of that.

As the Deputy Principal Social Worker you will:

• Provide professional leadership across the children’s social care workforce.
• Lead recruitment and retention strategies, including coordination with universities and central government.
• Oversee the delivery of the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) programme.
• Develop and maintain the Children’s Social Work Academy.
• Manage the learning and development budget and team.
• Represent the voice of social workers in strategic forums and service planning.
• Deputise for the Principal Social Worker within internal and external meetings.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive continuous improvement in practice and policy.
• Work closely with the Service Improvement Team on quality assurance activities including audits and thematic reviews.
• Coordinate workforce development from student placements to senior leadership.
• Work closely with the Consultant Social Workers.
• Promote trauma-informed, systemic, and anti-discriminatory practice.
• Build strong relationships with internal teams, academic institutions, and partner agencies.

We offer ongoing support, training and guidance to help you be the best you can be.

What You’ll Bring

Essential:

• Social Work degree
• Extensive experience in children’s social care.
• Strong knowledge of legislation, best practice, and adult learning principles.
• Excellent communication, analytical, and project management skills.
• Registration with Social Work England.

Desirable:

• PEPS 1 & 2.
• Leadership in training, development, and workforce strategy.
• Experience in coordinating external training providers and reporting on training impact.

We’re proud to be here for the people of Somerset. And that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich our team. You can always contact the hiring manager for a chat if there’s anything you want to talk about before you apply.

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, working as part of a team who are passionate about the work they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

• We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.
• Generous annual leave allowance, with the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Staff discounts in gyms.
• Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee wellbeing services.
• Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
• A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle for work and health screenings.
• My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more.

The salary for this role is £49,282 per annum.

For further information or an informal discussion about this exciting opportunity, please contact Sam Mannion, Service Manager-Principal Social Worker on 01749 822754 or email sam.mannion@somerset.gov.uk.

Interviews will be held on 23rd or 24th October 2025

When completing your application/CV please provide your full employment history and ensure that any gaps in employment are explained. Please start with your current or most recent employment.

If you have all the information you need, just hit the apply button - we can’t wait to hear from you.

This post requires a criminal background check via the Disclosure procedure.