Lead Social Worker
St Catherine’s Hospice
Preston, PR5 5XUView on map(opens Google Maps in a new tab)
Salary
£42,791
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Not specified
Closing date
6 November 2026
16 days leftJob description
At St Catherines Hospice, we help people to have quality of life to the end of life, alongside supporting their families before, during and after bere...
St Catherine's Hospice is committed to achieving its vision
of supporting people to have quality of life to the end of life and supporting
families before, during and after bereavement. The Lead Social Worker will
provide professional, clinical and operational management across Social Work,
Counselling, Bereavement and Remembrance Services.
The post holder will lead the delivery of high-quality,
person-centred psychosocial care, ensuring patients, families and carers
receive compassionate, timely and effective support throughout their hospice
journey. They will maintain professional oversight of safeguarding,
counselling, bereavement support and remembrance services whilst fostering a
culture of innovation, continuous improvement and excellence.
The role combines operational leadership, professional
supervision, support of service development and direct clinical practice,
maintaining a specialist caseload of patients and families with complex
psychosocial needs.
Enjoy 36 days holiday (including bank holidays), an extra
wellbeing day for your birthday, up to 8% employer pension contributions, Blue
Light Card discounts, discounted on-site meals, career development
opportunities, life insurance, cycle to work scheme, employee assistance
programme and great free parking within our fabulous grounds.
If youre ready to combine specialist social work practice
with compassionate leadership and service development, wed love to hear from
you. Come and help us ensure people and families receive outstanding
psychosocial support when it matters most.
Key Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Communicates sensitive information clearly and compassionately.
- Organises workloads, priorities and day-to-day team activity effectively.
- Provides approachable and consistent support to staff and volunteers.
- Maintains accurate records and responds calmly to changing needs.
- Ability to produce clear, accurate reports and presentations for varied audiences.
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree level qualification recognised by Social Work England.
- Current Social Work England registration.
- Evidence of postgraduate professional development.
- Supervisory or team management training, or equivalent experience.
Desirable: - Practice Educator qualification.; - Counselling, bereavement or safeguarding qualification.; - Leadership or postgraduate qualification.
Experience
Essential
- Significant post-registration social work experience.
- Experience of working with people affected by life-limiting illness.
- Experience of supervising staff and coordinating day-to-day workloads.
- Experience of safeguarding adults.
- Experience of managing complex caseloads.
- Experience of multidisciplinary team working.
- Experience of providing supervision and day-to-day team support.
- Experience of maintaining safe and effective working practices.
Desirable: - Hospice or specialist palliative care experience.; - Experience of managing counselling or bereavement services.; - Experience of volunteer management.
Knowledge
Essential
- Knowledge of relevant legislation, statutory guidance and professional standards relating to social care, safeguarding, mental capacity and human rights.
- Knowledge of end-of-life care priorities and bereavement theory and practice.
- Knowledge of counselling governance and ethical practice.
- Knowledge of clinical governance, quality improvement and relevant regulatory standards.
Other
Essential
- Compassionate, professional and values-led approach.
- Flexible and proactive working style.
- Calm and approachable manner under pressure.
- Commitment to personal and professional development.
- Understanding of and demonstrable commitment to the Hospices values as a framework for decisions, actions and behaviours.
How to apply
Applications are handled entirely by the employer on the original advert. We do not collect CVs, supporting statements or application data.
Provenance
Source
NHS Jobs
First seen
20 October 2026
Last checked
21 October 2026
Salary, closing date and description are taken from the employer's advert. The original advert always takes precedence.
About the employer
NHS organisation
This listing was structured from NHS Jobs. Vacancy details and the application process remain the responsibility of the original source.
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