Policy Manager in Sheffield

Social Work England is the specialist body that regulates social workers in their vital role. Every day, social workers support millions of people to improve their chances in life. We believe in the power of collaboration and share a common goal with those we regulate – to protect the public, enable positive change, and ultimately improve people's lives.

Working to the senior policy manager for reform, you will support the policy priorities around key reform agendas. In collaboration with colleagues from other teams, you will engage with key sector stakeholders to gather intelligence to make evidence-based recommendations. You will also liaise with relevant internal colleagues to arrive at reasoned and well-evidenced regulatory positions and provide specialist advice and guidance to senior members of the organisation, and often the executive leadership, and policy committee.

What you will do:

• Play a leading role in the organisation's approach to proposals associated with the national social care reform agenda, working with colleagues to improve our collective thinking, problem-solve, and share best practice from our work to protect the public.
• Understand regulation systems designed for public protection, particularly in health and social care, update and advise the organisation on developments associated with the national social care reform agenda.
• Work well in a collaborative project team, bringing in-depth knowledge of social work, social care and regulation to ensure that policy is led by engagement, evidence, and research, and flexing to business need.
• Advance our policy around the different areas of the national social care reform agenda, maintaining an acute awareness of interdependencies with wider policy proposals and reform.
• Present work to outside audiences through formal and informal presentations and represent the policy team at a variety of external meetings, working groups and conferences, at times deputising for the senior policy manager.
• Prepare and present policy papers for a variety of forums, systematically updating, or advising key deliberation and decision-making forums in the organisation, including project groups, the executive leadership team, policy committee and the board.
• Work effectively in and leading project and matrix groups aimed at advancing our thinking around reform proposals, bringing a delivery-focused approach to outputs and timelines.
• Reflect on matters relating to EDI, considering the potential for bias in our thinking or any unintended impact of our work and take active measures to address this.
• Stand ready to speak to the role of policy, acting as an ambassador and advocate for our professional skills with stakeholders.

Your Skills, Knowledge And Experience:

• Experience of policy development and implementation, knowledge of regulation, social work or social care would be a distinct advantage.
• Ability to identify, understand and clearly explain policy and legislation developments that impact an organisation's function.
• Track record of researching issues, analysing policy and legislation, reaching conclusions and making strategic recommendations to colleagues.
• Ability to establish credibility, build positive working relationships and exert influence with senior colleagues and external stakeholders.
• Excellent organisation and time management skills and the ability to manage multiple tasks while maintaining a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Excellent drafting skills with the ability to present information on complex issues clearly and succinctly to a range of different audiences.
• Ability to present arguments orally in a fluent, persuasive manner to a variety of audiences.
• A demonstrable commitment to inclusion, equality and diversity, working collaboratively across teams to assess the fairness of our work and advance our EDI commitments.
• Strong IT skills with good working knowledge of Microsoft Outlook and Word.

Details:

• Job type: Fixed-term contract until 31st March 2026
• Working pattern: Full-time. We offer flexible working subject to business need.
• Salary: £43,391 per year, rising to £45,738 per year after successful completion of a 6-month probationary period.
• Benefits: flexible working, contributory pension, life insurance and benefits portal.

Application:

During the application process, you'll be asked to provide answers to three questions from the job description. These answers will be what your application is scored on, please answer in as much detail as possible using examples where necessary.

If you have any queries about the appointment process, please contact recruitment@socialworkengland.org.uk.

To apply, complete the application form by the closing date.

At interview we will seek to further understand your skills, knowledge, experience and motivation and test the key competencies of the role. If you are successful, we will undertake routine security checks.

If you would like to discuss the role or have any other questions, please contact our recruitment team: recruitment@socialworkengland.org.uk.