Social Work Lead Practitioner

Employer King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Denmark Hill Town London Salary £66,274 - £73,496 per annum, including high cost allowance Salary period Yearly Closing 16/09/2026 23:59

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£2.1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 14,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King’s College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.

We encourage all our staff to have a healthy work/life balance. In doing so, you can apply for flexible working from the beginning of your employment. We offer a range of options which are designed to suit different circumstances and priorities in line with service requirements.

The Vulnerabilities department brings together a number of services within the trust including, Maternity, Children and Adult Safeguarding, Social Work, the KHP Homeless Service, Violence Reduction, specialist MH, Learning Disabilities, Domestic Violence and End of Life Care under one model. This new department is an innovative approach for Kings College Hospital, with the aim of developing a holistic and responsive service to risk and vulnerability within all hospital sites.

The post holder will work collaboratively with the Deputy Head of Social Work, to provide high quality social work service to the division and the wider trust, managing a range of existing social work posts. They will also manage the Kings Health Partners (KHP) Homeless Service, in partnership with GSTT, providing cross-site management support of any posts that fall under the jurisdiction of the homeless service. In addition to the line management of this service they are also expected to lead in the strategic development of homeless services across the KHP Network.

Alongside these core duties, the post holder will be expected to work in partnership with the wider Vulnerabilities service, supporting duty functions in responding and addressing the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable patients across the trust. The candidate will be expected to perform their role across multiple hospital sites, including Guys and St Thomas Trust & Kings College Hospital

Main duties of the job

1. Provision of a high quality social work service to teams identified by the Deputy Head of Social Work, to be the principle link person with system partners for these services and to foster collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders. The post-holder is expected to work with Local Authority Adult Social Care and Housing Departments across London and report into the wider Safeguarding and Vulnerabilities service on emerging themes within the areas of social work and Homelessness. This role will require exclusive oversight of the KHP homeless team.

2. Management, supervision, support and professional accountability for Social Workers as agreed with the Deputy Head and Assistant Director of Social Work. This will include ensuring that Social Workers meet the requirements of Social Work England at all times are acting at the appropriate level descriptors on key Frameworks such as the Professional Standards (SWE) and Professional Capabilities Framework (BASW) for social work.

3. To undertake senior tasks as part of the King's Senior Social Work structure and support good standards of governance across the portfolio

Working for our organisation

The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. Transforming Healthcare is the vision at the heart of the King’s Strategy – 2026 to 2031. Together, we are pursuing six strategic ambitions: delivering high-quality patient care; being a great place to work; leading pioneering research, innovation and education; building strong and successful partnerships; providing timely and efficient care; and ensuring long-term financial sustainability. Achieving these ambitions will require all of us to work as one Team King’s, united by a shared commitment to our values of being caring, collaborative, inclusive and innovative. By living these values every day, we will transform healthcare for our patients, our communities and each other

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached JD

The post holder will be the primary lead for the KHP homeless service. In addition to this department, the post holder will line manager a number of other social work departments based on previous experience.

The post holder will also form part of our senior clinical vulnerabilities service and be part of an MDT working with other social work management and nursing leads for violence & aggression, learning disabilities and mental health.

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

• Degree/Diploma that permits registration with Social Work England`
• To have current registration with Social Work England
• Post-graduate education in Social Work or other relevant area

Knowledge and experience

• Demonstration of experience in line with the professional’s capabilities framework for a Social Worker at an “Advanced Social Worker” level.
• Experience in supervision and/or line managing social workers or MDT teams and project management
• To have good knowledge and track record of applying the functions and theory of social work supervision and governance of social work tasks
• To have experience of assessing the needs of individuals demonstrating care and support needs, risk and/or vulnerabilities.
• To have expert knowledge on homelessness legislation, general housing law and policy and Adult and Child Social Care Pathways, including specialist processes attributed to those whom have no recourse to public funds.
• To have substantial knowledge & experience in managing/overseeing safeguarding cases relating to adults and children

Skills and Competencies

• To have experience of multi-disciplinary working/working within complex networks.
• Literacy and numeracy skills in order to write reports to meet the needs of other agencies and departments to maintain appropriate records and to assist patients with benefit maximisation.
• Ability to engage in professional, caring, helpful and, where appropriate, sustained relationships with clients, recognising the impact of cumulative loss and/or sudden loss
• Interpersonal skills in order to respond appropriately in a variety of situations. Ability to use personality and skill in both a sensitive and assertive manner in a multi-disciplinary setting
• Ability to effectively manage case administration and maintain appropriate records including report writing.
• Experience in organisational committee/working groups and the ability to present complex data/information to a broad range of stakeholders in person and using virtual platforms.

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Annual Reports and Other Corporate Publications King's Health Partners Academic Health Science Centre Website King's College Hospital is part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC), a pioneering collaboration between King's College London, and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

Name Kareena Miller Job title Deputy Head of Social Work Email address kareena.miller@nhs.net Telephone number 0203 299 7145 Additional information

Please contact via e-mail to arrange for discussions regarding the role