Workforce Lead - Children's Services

What will you build on top of our award-winning improvement journey? Shape, develop and inspire a workforce that changes lives every day. An exceptional opportunity to shape the future of workforce development in a high‑performing, ambitious and improving Children’s Services.

North East Lincolnshire Children’s Services is seeking an innovative and strategic Workforce Lead to build on the significant progress achieved and take workforce development into the next phase of our journey. Our Children’s Services has seen one of the most significant improvement journeys in children’s social care. We have moved from an Ofsted judgement of Inadequate in 2021 to Good with Outstanding Leadership and Management in 2025, with Ofsted recognising that a "whole‑service transformation has been achieved".

Over the last two years, our service and workforce has undergone a remarkable transition. We have established and embedded a comprehensive Workforce Development Strategy and created strong governance through our Workforce Board. We’ve expanded our workforce infrastructure, strengthened learning and development capacity and developed leadership pathways for our colleagues to grow with us. We have significantly enhanced recruitment and retention activity, developing a core permanent workforce working within a culture centred on relational practice, learning and continuous improvement.

As our Workforce Lead, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the next chapter of this journey. Working closely with senior leaders, managers, practitioners and partners, you will lead the delivery of our workforce vision, ensuring we continue to attract, develop, support and retain a highly skilled, diverse and motivated colleagues that delivers outstanding services for children, young people and families. This is a unique opportunity to inherit strong foundations and build something even greater.

You will have the scope to innovate, influence strategic direction and further develop our outstanding Academy NEL internal learning offer. You will continue to strengthen leadership development pathways, embed inclusive practice, and ensure workforce development remains at the heart of sustainable service excellence.

We are looking for a passionate and forward‑thinking Social Work leader with a strong understanding of workforce development within children’s services or a related field. You must have significant social work practice experience and maintain your registration. You will be able to turn strategic vision into meaningful action, creating the conditions for staff to thrive and driving positive workforce change. With energy, creativity and ambition, you will champion collaboration, build strong relationships and promote a culture of continuous improvement.

If you are excited by the opportunity to build on an award‑winning improvement journey, influence the future of Children’s Services and make a lasting difference for children, young people, families and the workforce that supports them, we would love to hear from you. Join us and help ensure that Our Children, Our Future continues to become a reality for every child in North East Lincolnshire.

Key Dates: We aim to interview candidates 18th August 2026.