NELFT NHS Foundation Trust
Social Work Lead
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Highly Specialist CAMHS Social Work Lead Band 8a
Are you an experienced and passionate Social Worker ready to take the next step into a senior professional leadership role within CAMHS?
We have an exciting opportunity for a Highly Specialist CAMHS Social Work Lead, Band 8a, to join our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services at North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT).
This is a key leadership role within our CAMHS Crisis and Inpatient Pathway, with a particular focus on Brookside inpatient unit and professional and operational leadership across Brookside, YPHTT and Interact.
We are looking for an experienced and confident Social Worker who can provide high-quality specialist social work practice while championing the distinct contribution of social work within multidisciplinary mental health services.
About The Role
As the Highly Specialist CAMHS Social Work Lead, you will:
- Provide specialist social work assessment, intervention and leadership for children, young people and their families experiencing complex mental health and social care needs.
- Provide professional supervision, support and development to other Social Workers, promoting high-quality, reflective and evidence-based social work practice.
- Ensure effective clinical supervision, appraisal and professional development are embedded within social work practice.
- Provide operational and professional leadership to Social Workers across the CAMHS acute pathway.
- Act as a visible and accessible source of professional social work expertise within multidisciplinary teams.
- Lead on complex social care, safeguarding, risk and discharge planning.
- Work closely with Local Authority Children’s Social Care services across North East London and with other partner agencies.
- Support effective application of relevant legislation, including the Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act, Children Act and Care Act.
- Represent the social care perspective within multidisciplinary decision-making and Mental Health Tribunals where appropriate.
- Support students, newly qualified and developing Social Workers and contribute to the continued development of the social work profession within CAMHS.
- Contribute to service development, transformation, quality improvement and the development of contemporary evidence-based social work practice.
You will work collaboratively with children and young people, families, carers, health colleagues, Local Authorities and wider partners to ensure that social care remains central to assessment, care planning, safeguarding and recovery.
About You
You will be a Social Work England registered Social Worker with significant post-qualifying experience and a strong understanding of statutory social work practice.
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We Are Particularly Interested In Applicants Who Can Demonstrate
- Extensive experience of working within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
- Experience at Band 7 or equivalent level and above within an acute mental health environment.
- Strong knowledge of safeguarding children and relevant health and social care legislation.
- Experience of complex risk assessment, care planning and discharge planning.
- Experience of providing professional or clinical supervision to Social Workers.
- Strong leadership skills and the ability to develop, support and influence professional practice.
- Experience of partnership working with Local Authorities and other statutory and voluntary sector organisations.
- Evidence of contributing to service development or transformation within complex environments.
- Excellent communication, relationship-building and decision-making skills.
- A commitment to reflective practice, continuous professional development and high professional standards.
At NELFT, our values are that we are kind, we are respectful, and we work together with our communities, and we are looking for someone who will bring these values to their professional leadership every day.
This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced CAMHS Social Worker who wants to combine advanced practice with professional leadership and help strengthen the identity, visibility, and impact of social work across our CAMHS acute services.
Interviews for shortlisted applicants are scheduled to take place on 29 September 2026.
We warmly welcome applications from experienced Social Workers who are passionate about improving outcomes for children, young people and families and about developing excellent social work practice within mental health services.
Working for Us
Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.
The Trust has award-winning equality and diversity initiatives, along with staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been recognised in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and hold a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Through our staff networks and training opportunities, we strive to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT.
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Our Values 2025 - 2030
Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.
They Are
- We are kind.
- We are respectful.
- We work together with our communities.
These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.
Starting with NELFT
NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers, and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our Head Office in Goodmayes Hospital.
Probationary Period
This post will be subject to a probationary period.
High Cost Area Supplement Outer London
This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,714 to a maximum of £5,941 p.a. pro rata for part time).
Certificates of Sponsorship
Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.
Use of AI
We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate’s own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content in applications.
Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience.
We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.
We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Please apply as soon as possible as some posts close early to limit the number of applications.
Name: Emma Berry
Job title: Brookside & CYP Service Manager
Contact Number: 0300 555 1201 ext 56166
Email: Emma.Berry@nhs.net
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