Fitness to Practise Advocacy Team Manager (Legally Qualified)

The Role

Social Work England are the specialist regulator for social work in England, focused on enabling positive change in social work. Every day, social workers support millions of people to improve their chances in life. We are taking a new approach to regulating social workers in their vital roles. 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.

This is a new role created to develop a new in-house advocacy service and manage a team of 4 case presenters and 1 business support officer. This is a unique opportunity to build and develop the team from the beginning and to play a key role in shaping a quality advocacy service.

The role will lead on the set up of the service, working closely with internal and external colleagues to develop relevant processes. They will lead on training and managing the in- house advocacy team, with support from the Senior Fitness to Practise Lawyer. They will also ensure the delivery of high-quality work, within deadlines and statutory requirements, including oral and written submissions, hearing bundles and notices for hearings and reviews.

What you will do

• Develop, manage and supervise the in-house advocacy service including allocation of work, quality assuring position statements, oral advocacy, written submissions, hearing bundles and notices for hearings and reviews. Deputise for the Senior Fitness to Practise Lawyer, within the remit of the advocacy service

• Create and maintain internal processes and procedures for the allocation and completion of advocacy work to a high standard and in line with the statutory requirements.

• Lead on the initial and ongoing training of Case Presenters, working to develop and deliver a comprehensive training programme and assessment process as part of the 6-month probation period

• Support the delivery of key development projects by proactively contributing ideas and supporting the development of processes, policy and guidance documents

• Support your own continuous improvement and that of the team by sharing knowledge, learning and feedback, and ensuring knowledge of and compliance with law, policies and guidance. Provide training to the wider organisation as required

• Lead on reporting on the performance of the in-house advocacy team to senior stakeholders

• Provide legal advice to the case review team in relation to early interim and substantive order reviews

• Identify complex advocacy work ahead of time and if required engage with an external legal provider to undertake this work

• Review case outcomes and share learning and best practice with colleagues

• Assist in providing advice and direction to the investigation team (as required) to support their case management, including investigation planning, evidence gathering, case progression and assessment of risk

• Ensure effective stakeholder engagement with colleagues at all levels across the business and with our external lawyers and contacts

• Liaise with the adjudications team to ensure cases are scheduled efficiently and cases are hearing/meeting ready

Your skills, knowledge and experience

• Legally qualified as a Solicitor, Barrister or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. Must be registered with or be eligible to join: the SRA, BSB or CILEX Authorised Practitioners’ Directory

• Experience of practising within professional regulation or other regulatory environment, providing advice to others. Experience of working within a fitness to practise environment is desirable

• Experience of line management, in particular of managing a team delivering work within specific and often tight timeframes with competing priorities

• Experience of coaching and training colleagues

• Clear understanding of the rules of evidence

• Strong organisational and time management skills, able to work effectively to manage competing priorities

• Strong legal analytical skills, with the ability to analyse complex issues and present risk-based and practical legal advice and options to senior stakeholders

• Experience of being an advocate or a willingness to undertake training to become an advocate

• Experience of working independently to deliver to deadlines whilst maintaining a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail

• Strong analytical skills and ability to proactively identify and resolve problems

• Ability to build good relationships and work constructively with relevant internal and external stakeholders

• A demonstrable commitment to inclusion and diversity

Details

• Job type: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week. We offer flexible working subject to business need.
• Salary: £53,426 per year, rising to £55,749 per year after successful completion of a 6-month probationary period.
• Location: Sheffield/hybrid.
• Benefits: flexible working, contributory pension, life insurance and benefits portal.
• Interviews: Tuesday 25 March 2025.

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.