Senior Social Worker in Northampton

About the role

At West Northamptonshire Council, we're looking for an experienced Social Worker who is passionate about professional practice, continuous improvement and making a lasting impact. This is a unique opportunity to join our Practice Development Team and help shape the future of Adult Social Care across West Northamptonshire.

This is one of only two Senior Social Worker Quality Assurance positions within West Northamptonshire Council, offering a unique opportunity to influence practice, support workforce development and drive improvement across Adult Social Care. This role offers a unique career pathway for experienced Social Workers looking to broaden their impact beyond frontline practice. You'll have the opportunity to influence how services develop, support workforce learning, contribute to strategic improvement work and help shape the future direction of Adult Social Care.

Working as part of the Practice Development Team, you'll play a key role in ensuring high standards of practice across Adult Social Care. Unlike traditional senior practitioner roles, this position doesn't involve carrying a caseload or managing staff. Instead, you'll use your experience, professional judgement and knowledge of Adult Social Care to influence practice, identify learning opportunities and drive service improvement across the organisation.

As one of two Senior Social Workers in this specialist area, you'll work closely with the Principal Social Worker, operational teams and partner agencies to strengthen quality assurance processes, support workforce development and help ensure services are responsive, effective and aligned with statutory and regulatory requirements. You'll be responsible for helping the organisation understand what's working well, where improvements can be made and how learning can be effectively embedded into day-to-day practice. Through audits, thematic reviews, reflective practice, training and improvement activity, you'll help create a culture where high-quality social work can thrive.

Working pattern: 9am to 5pm with flexible and part time options available. Hybrid working.

What will you be doing?

• Leading and delivering quality assurance activity, including audits, thematic reviews and service deep dives.
• Analysing practice, performance information and feedback to identify strengths, risks, patterns and opportunities for improvement.
• Identifying learning from audits, safeguarding activity, reviews and wider quality assurance work, translating this into meaningful improvement activity.
• Developing guidance, learning resources, practice tools and briefings that support high-quality and consistent social work practice.
• Delivering presentations, learning events and training sessions for Adult Social Care staff and partner agencies.
• Facilitating reflective practice sessions, learning forums and quality assurance discussions across services.
• Supporting services to respond to Care Quality Commission expectations, legislation and professional standards.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues, partners and Experts by Experience to ensure improvement activity is informed by lived experience.
• Providing constructive challenge, professional support and evidence-based recommendations that help strengthen practice and improve outcomes.

This is a role where curiosity, analysis and influence are just as important as social work expertise. You'll be trusted to identify areas for improvement, ask the right questions and help shape solutions that make a real difference across the service.

About you

You'll be a qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England and bring significant experience within Adult Social Care. You'll be an independent and confident practitioner who is passionate about high-quality social work and improving services for adults. You may already have experience of audit, quality assurance, workforce development or service improvement activity, or you may be an experienced practitioner ready to use your skills in a broader, organisation-wide role.

We're looking for someone who:

• Has strong knowledge of Adult Social Care legislation, safeguarding responsibilities and professional standards.
• Can analyse complex information, identify themes and translate learning into practical improvements.
• Doesn't wait to be told what needs improving. You're naturally inquisitive, enjoy exploring issues in greater depth and can identify themes, risks and opportunities that others may not immediately see.
• Communicates effectively and can influence others through constructive challenge and professional credibility.
• Is confident delivering presentations, facilitating discussions and sharing knowledge with others.
• Enjoys working autonomously, taking initiative and driving work forward independently.
• Has strong analytical, organisational and problem-solving skills.
• Is committed to continuous learning, practice development and achieving the best possible outcomes for adults.
• Can build positive relationships with colleagues, partners and stakeholders at all levels.

This role would suit someone who enjoys seeing the bigger picture, influencing change and helping others develop. If you're looking for an opportunity to move beyond frontline case management and make a lasting impact across Adult Social Care, we'd love to hear from you.

Our benefits

You can also see our full list of employee benefits on our careers site.

About us

At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.

Our vision is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services. We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential.

If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email careers@westnorthants.gov.uk for support.