Policy Manager
Location: Sheffield/Hybrid working
Salary: £44,866 per year, rising to £47,293 per year after successful completion of a 6-month probationary period.
Vacancy Type: Permanent, Full Time
Closing date: 12/04/2026
The Role
Social Work England is 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 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.
Working to the senior policy manager for regulation, you will support the policy priorities around our regulatory functions. In collaboration with colleagues from other teams, you will engage with key sector stakeholders to gather intelligence to make evidence-based recommendations. You will also liaise with relevant internal colleagues to arrive at reasoned and well-evidenced regulatory positions and provide specialist advice and guidance to senior members of the organisation, and often the executive leadership, and policy committee.
What you will do
- Play a leading role in the organisation's approach to regulatory policy, working across directorates to improve our collective thinking, problem-solve, and share best practice from our work to protect the public.
- Understand regulation systems designed for public protection, particularly in health and social care, update and advise the organisation on developments in regulation and any regulatory reforms proposed by Government.
- Work well in collaborative project teams, bringing in-depth knowledge of social work, social care and regulation to ensure that policy is led by engagement, evidence, and research, and flexing to business need.
- Work closely with colleagues in the regulation directorate, data and insight and research teams to develop policy responses in relation to our regulatory functions including registration, fitness to practise and continuing professional development.
- Stay up to date with the work of the professional standards authority, other regulators and the wider policy and legislative arena, analysing and communicating developments across the organisation.
- Prepare and present policy papers to update and advise key deliberation and decision-making forums in the organisation, including project groups, the executive leadership team, policy committee and the board.
- Work effectively in and leading project and matrix groups across the organisation aimed at advancing and improving our regulatory functions, bringing a delivery-focused approach to outputs and timelines.
- Present work to internal and external audiences and represent the policy team at a variety of meetings, working groups and conferences, at times deputising for the senior policy manager.
- Reflect on matters relating to equality, diversity and inclusion, considering the potential for bias in our thinking or any unintended impact of our work and take active measures to address this.
- Stand ready to speak to the role of policy, acting as an ambassador and advocate for our professional skills with stakeholders.
Your skills, knowledge and experience
- Experience of policy development and implementation, knowledge of regulation, social work or social care would be a distinct advantage.
- Ability to identify, understand and clearly explain policy and legislative developments that impact an organisation's function.
- Track record of researching issues, analysing policy and legislation, reaching conclusions and making policy recommendations to colleagues.
- Ability to establish credibility, build positive working relationships and exert influence with senior colleagues and external stakeholders.
- Excellent organisation and time management skills and the ability to manage multiple tasks while maintaining a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail.
- Excellent drafting skills with the ability to present information on complex issues clearly and succinctly to a range of different audiences.
- Ability to present arguments orally in a fluent, persuasive manner to a variety of audiences.
- A demonstrable commitment to inclusion, equality and diversity, working collaboratively across teams to assess the fairness of our work and advance our EDI commitments.
- Strong IT skills with good working knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel.
The Benefits
- A contributory NEST pension scheme, with employer contribution of up to 10%.
- Life insurance, an employee recognition scheme and cycle to work scheme.
- Hybrid working, with a minimum of two days per week in the office.
- 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.
To Apply
If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for Social Work England, please click apply to be redirected to our website to complete your application.
