JOB SUMMARY

Are you passionate about ensuring the people of Scotland can count on social work services being provided by a trusted, skilled and confident workforce?
We are looking for a passionate and strategic communicator to join the Office of the Chief Social Work Adviser (OCSWA) as Participation and Engagement Manager, working at the centre of the Scottish Government’s efforts to establish the National Social Work Agency (NSWA). The OCSWA provides expert advice on all aspects of social work policy and practice across children’s, adult, and justice services.
The NSWA aims to provide national leadership, direction and support for the social work profession – from education and workforce development to improving practice and raising the status of the profession. Your role will be key to ensuring the workforce and sector partners are fully engaged and involved in this work.
As Participation and Engagement Manager, you will lead the design and delivery of a coordinated communications and engagement strategy focused on social workers and key stakeholders across the sector. Your main objective will be to ensure that the social work workforce has a meaningful voice in shaping the NSWA – creating a shared sense of ownership, trust and ambition in its development.

JOB DESCRIPTION

• Lead the development of a participation and engagement strategy to ensure the involvement of the social work profession in the NSWA design stage.
• Support OCSWA colleagues with planning and developing engagement and co-design activity across all areas of work to ensure that that all activity in the business plan is underpinned and informed by stakeholder participation and the voice of the sector.
• Support colleagues across OCSWA to ensure that the key outcomes in each workstream within the NSWA are informed by high levels of social worker participation and engagement.
• Engage with our programme management support to ensure that our key deliverables and workstreams are informed by engagement and co-design with the sector.
• Work closely with the NSWA Programme Manager to ensure appropriate governance structures are developed for the NSWA with strong links to social work leadership and stakeholder groups to ensure social work values are at the forefront of the Agency’s objectives and vision.
• Align comms work with the NSWA Programme Manager ensuring that our comms and engagement work supports the Programme Plan for the NSWA, fits with the timescales for the establishment of the NSWA, ongoing policy and analytical activity and the establishment of governance structures for the NSW.

EXPERIENCE:

• Understanding and experience of working either within local government or a Health and Social Care Partnership with strong understanding of the issues affecting the social work profession.
• Organisational skills with the ability to ensure plans and activities reflect wider strategic priorities of the NSWA.
• Experience in bringing together diverse stakeholder views and needs to gain a broader understanding of the issues surrounding policies and activities within social work including the effective delivery of outcomes.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

Other