Details
Lawyer
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.
Lawyers on the regulatory side of the team support Social Work England in relation to lawfully carrying out its regulatory functions.
These include:
- supporting our fitness to practise and registration teams, to ensure that our regulatory processes are compliant with any legal restrictions regarding the use of information which relates to private court proceedings (or is otherwise subject to restrictions), such as Family Court proceedings and Court of Protection proceedings;
- supporting colleagues to apply for disclosure of information from the Family Court and Court of Protection for use in fitness to practise proceedings;
- providing advice in response to requests for reviews of case examiner decisions and applying criteria set out in our Fitness to Practise Rules;
- providing advice on internal policies, procedures and processes to ensure legal compliance; and
- preparing responses (under supervision) to pre-action correspondence and managing progression of potential and active litigation.
A substantial portion of the team’s work involves advising the fitness to practise teams and other areas of the organisation about the use and disclosure of Family Court and Court of Protection information and knowledge of how this affects the organisation will be required in every role. There are restrictions on the handling of information and documents from Family Court proceedings and Court of Protection proceedings. These types of information are regularly shared with the organisation and/or the organisation is required to seek disclosure of such information for the purposes of our regulatory functions.
While the role will primarily focus on the areas listed above, there will also be opportunities to become involved in other projects relating to our regulatory functions and to participate in the work of the wider legal team.
We are recruiting for 3 Lawyers. Whilst Lawyers will work across all areas of the regulatory team’s work, it is envisaged that the three Lawyers will each have a particular focus on one of the following areas:
- Family Court and Court of Protection information;
- Civil litigation; or
- Review of case examiner decisions.
If you have a strong preference for any of the above areas, please make this clear in your application.
What you will do
Family Court and Court of Protection information focus:
- Provide advice regarding obtaining, using and further communicating Family Court and Court of Protection information within our regulatory processes.
- Make applications to, and conduct litigation within, the Family Court and the Court of Protection where appropriate, allowing us to obtain, use and further communicate this information within our regulatory processes.
- Improve and maintain our internal processes for the handling of Family Court and Court of Protection information.
Civil litigation focus:
- Support the Senior Lawyers and Head of Legal with civil litigation matters including statutory appeals and s29 appeals of our regulatory decisions.
- Support the Senior Lawyers and Head of Legal to respond effectively to judicial reviews of our regulatory decisions.
- Provide advice to the organisation and draft responses to pre-action correspondence.
Review of case examiner decisions focus:
- Provide advice about whether requests for reviews of case examiner decisions meet the criteria set out in our Fitness to Practise Rules and make a recommendation about whether case examiners decisions should be reviewed.
- Conduct reviews of case examiner decisions against legal criteria to make a recommendation about whether a fresh decision is necessary.
General to all three Lawyer roles:
- Instruct and liaise with external lawyers as required, managing costs effectively.
- Participate in the fitness to practise decision-making group for triage decisions.
- Ensure that the organisation’s regulatory decisions are legally robust by identifying legal risks early and working with other teams to ensure that those risks are managed appropriately.
- Provide regulatory and other legal advice to our regulatory teams, particularly the fitness to practise and registration teams.
- Provide advice on internal policies, procedures and processes to ensure legal compliance and participate in project teams and working groups as necessary.
- Develop strong relationships throughout the organisation (and particularly with our fitness to practise teams), using your legal expertise and knowledge to provide solutions-focused support.
- Support the legal team to deliver the organisation’s business plan (which will be reflected in each lawyer’s objectives), including the delivery of training and legal awareness.
- Be open to developing your supervisory and line management skills as you progress in the role.
Your skills, knowledge and experience
- Appropriate qualifications and experience as a solicitor, barrister or Legal Executive. You must be registered with (or be eligible to immediately join) a legal professional register.
- Rights to conduct civil litigation and/or Rights to conduct litigation and advocacy in the Family Court; or a willingness to acquire these Rights.
- Knowledge and experience of at least one of the following areas of law: family law; civil litigation, including pre-action correspondence; the law relating to professional regulation; and the law relating to the Court of Protection.
- Strong legal analytical skills and judgement, with the ability to analyse complex issues and present legally sound and focused advice.
- Excellent written communication skills, ability to draft clear and comprehensive advice and to present information on complex issues clearly and succinctly for a range of different audiences.
- The ability to work across the organisation, working well with others and responding positively, creatively and supportively to a variety of colleagues while maintaining high and consistent standards.
- The ability to work to tight deadlines, be calm under pressure and flexibly manage competing priorities.
- A track record of respectful, open, and honest behaviour including a demonstrable commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
Benefits
In addition to your salary, we also offer:
- Hybrid working
- 25 days annual leave, rising with service to 30 days per annum, plus bank holidays.
- The option to purchase up to an additional 5 days of annual leave per annum.
- A TIDE award winning inclusive culture, made up of staff networks, social events and forums.
- A pension scheme, life insurance, an employee recognition scheme and cycle to work scheme.
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.
About us
Our behaviours and values - Social Work England
What our people say - Social Work England
Pre-Employment Checks
If you are successful at interview, we will carry out a series of routine pre-employment checks. These include verifying your references, confirming your right to work in the UK, and completing a Basic DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check.
These checks are conducted in partnership with our third-party provider, Amiqus, who will guide you through the process.
Please note that all offers of employment are subject to the satisfactory completion of these checks. If you have any questions or concerns please contact our recruitment team via recruitment@socialworkengland.org.uk and our team will be happy to help.
Contact
If you have any queries about the recruitment process, or would like to discuss the role, please contact recruitment@socialworkengland.org.uk.
How to apply
To apply, complete the application form by the closing date.
Interview
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 pre-employment checks.
