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Principal social worker

• Summary: Support social work teams, provide quality assurance and contribute to strategic leadership

What you'll do

As a principal social worker you’ll:

• provide leadership to social workers and practitioners and represent their views to senior managers 
• support social work teams to ensure positive outcomes for children and families 
• provide quality assurance to help social workers navigate complex decisions 
• use different models of practice and learning to guide decision-making
• monitor cases to ensure professional standards are met 
• work with team managers to manage resources and performance 
• contribute to the development of policies, procedures and practice models
• provide training to social workers to support professional development 
• develop and maintain effective working relationships with multi-agency partners

Skills and knowledge

You'll need:

• leadership skills to lead and motivate teams of social workers 
• in-depth knowledge of child development, family dynamics and safeguarding 
• critical thinking skills to analyse complex situations and make informed decisions 
• strategic thinking to develop long-term plans, achieve organisational goals and deliver for children and families 
• communication skills to navigate dynamics between social workers and senior managers 
• the ability to prioritise tasks and delegate responsibilities
• an awareness of national policy and how it affects social work teams 

How to become one

To become a principal social worker you must:

• have completed a degree, apprenticeship or graduate training scheme in social work 
• be registered with Social Work England
• ideally have at least 5 years’ experience as a qualified child and family social worker
• have leadership and management experience in a social work setting
• have experience collaborating with external partners and influencing practice outside your organisation

If you’re an experienced service manager or head of service, the Pathway 4: practice leaders programme can help prepare you to progress to a principal social worker role.

Career paths and progression

With experience you could:

• progress into an advanced leadership role such as head of service, assistant director or director of children's services
• move into a training and consultancy role and deliver training programmes to social workers
• become an expert in your specialist area of social work practice

The upon: aspirant directors programme can help prepare you to progress to a director of children’s services role.

Current opportunities

The Find a job service can help you with your search for jobs and send alerts when new jobs become available.