**INTERNAL APPLICATIONS ONLY** Specialist Advisor - Continuing Healthcare Lead in Walthamstow

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO8 - £59,511-£62,766

Contract Type: Full-time/Fixed term contract (12 months)

Working hours per week: 36 hours per week

Application Deadline: 24th May 2026 at 11.59pm

Proposed Interview Date(s): From w/k 1st June 2026

Reference: 2132

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

About the role:

The Specialist Advisor Continuing Healthcare Lead will provide strategic leadership, professional expertise and system oversight for NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), joint funding arrangements and Section 117 responsibilities across Adult Social Care. The role will ensure that the Council meets its statutory duties through clear interpretation of the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and related legislation, and will embed consistent, evidence‑led practice across operational teams. The postholder will act as the Council’s principal advisor on CHC, shaping policy, driving practice improvement and ensuring that processes, decisions and governance arrangements are robust, defensible and fully aligned with national requirements.

The role will strengthen collaborative working with NHS partners by supporting effective eligibility decision‑making, ensuring equitable funding responsibilities and facilitating timely, efficient resolution of disputes. A core purpose of the role will be to support the financial sustainability of the Council by ensuring that CHC, joint funding and Section 117 pathways are rigorously applied, that statutory health responsibilities are consistently upheld, and that all appropriate health‑related costs are recovered. Through this, the role will make a significant contribution to delivering the Council’s Medium‑Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and ensuring that Adult Social Care resources are used in a transparent and financially responsible way.

The postholder will play a core role in strengthening workforce capability across Adult Social Care by improving the quality and consistency of CHC practice, supporting practitioners to develop confidence in applying the framework, and leading on innovative approaches to professional development, including initiatives such as a CHC community of practice. The role will also provide assurance to senior leadership by maintaining high standards of professional practice, offering expert case oversight on complex situations, and driving continuous improvement in systems, training, data quality and decision‑making across the CHC and joint funding landscape.

Key Responsibilities:

• This role will provide strategic leadership and expert oversight of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), joint funding, and Section 117 responsibilities within Adult Social Care.
• The postholder will ensure statutory duties are fully understood and met, drawing on in-depth knowledge of the National Framework, Care Act, Mental Health Act, and Mental Capacity Act.
• They will lead complex decision-making, advise on eligibility, and strengthen practice quality by supporting staff to apply robust, evidence-based approaches, particularly when challenging decisions and managing disputes.
• Acting as the organisation’s lead specialist, the postholder will shape policy, influence strategic direction, and represent the Council at key multi-agency forums, while maintaining strong and effective relationships with NHS partners and wider stakeholders.
• The role will also drive service improvement, system coordination, and workforce development across the CHC pathway.
• The postholder will lead collaborative approaches to commissioning, service delivery, and performance management, ensuring resources are effectively utilised and services remain compliant and high quality.
• With responsibility for change management, training programmes, and the development of tools and systems, they will build organisational capability and practitioner confidence.
• By fostering a transparent, inclusive, and high-performing culture, and providing data-informed insight to senior leaders, the postholder will play a critical role in improving outcomes for residents while protecting the Council’s reputation and ensuring excellence in joint working.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Social work qualification or equivalent professional experience, with substantial practice knowledge across adult social care.
• Demonstrable experience of applying the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), NHS‑funded Nursing Care, joint funding arrangements and Section 117 aftercare.
• Excellent understanding of the legal, regulatory and policy frameworks that govern CHC, the Care Act, Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act and wider health and social care reform requirements, including 2025 Social Care Reform.
• Strong understanding of CHC and joint funding financial mechanisms, cost‑recovery processes and the interface between local authority and NHS funding responsibilities.
• Experience developing and sustaining effective partnerships with NHS trusts, Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), commissioning bodies, independent providers and other local authorities.
• Proven ability to lead complex dispute resolution, negotiate effectively with NHS partners, and provide professional challenge in contentious multi‑agency environments.
• Ability to lead the organisation and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, with experience using data to identify trends, inform decision‑making etc.
• Experience in leading the design, development and implementation of continuous improvement activity, the introduction of new systems or processes; ability to drive innovation in professional practice e.g. introducing a CHC community of practice.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce high‑quality reports, formal challenge documents / appeals, and evidence submissions.
• Significant experience of working with and meeting needs of diverse communities; a good understanding of what drives inequality within communities at a local level.
• Strong understanding of multi‑agency governance and corporate assurance requirements.
• Knowledge of safeguarding responsibilities, quality assurance principles and risk management processes within adult social care.

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;
• As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives:

• Promoting equality of opportunity
• Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage
• Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels.
• Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all.

Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit here.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Alex Chidgey, Corporate Director of Adult Social Care Operations at alex.chidgey@walthamforest.gov.uk. If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk. The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

Fraud Awareness Notice:

The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic). We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process. If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information. If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to: fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk.