Health and Adult Services senior leaders - Heads of Service

We are recruiting for the permanent roles of Head of Adults, Head of Intermediate Care and Head of Practice/Principal Social Worker.

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HAS team at County Hall.

As the Corporate Director of Health and Adult Services, I believe this is an unrivalled career opportunity for ambitious and experienced leaders at a pivotal point in our history. In April 2023 the eight councils that served North Yorkshire unified to create geographically the largest council and third largest unitary within the country, and earlier this year the new York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority was created.

North Yorkshire is unique - internationally valued for its quality of place, but with a scale, heritage and industry that make it integral to the North of England. The county’s landscapes, culture and local businesses already make the region a fantastic place to visit, live, work and do business, and with the new investment and powers unlocked by the Devolution Deal there are even more opportunities for North Yorkshire to achieve more for its residents and business alike.

I have worked in North Yorkshire as Director for over ten years and my family roots here go back over centuries, so for me it’s personal.

It’s also one of the most beautiful parts of England, including two National Parks and a stunning coastline, great places to eat and drink and relax, good schools and easy access to big cities, culture and sport. It’s a great place in which to work as well as to live, which is why we are looking for great people to join our team. Our team is genuinely Team North Yorkshire, stretching across the council, the wider public services and throughout communities.

Yes, we have challenges, like any other part of England. However, we also have a wealth of opportunities. As a new council, building on our predecessor organisations, we have strong political and officer leadership and a willingness to invest, learn and innovate.

Over the past decade, we have focused on prevention, developing our Stronger Communities programme and our Living Well service and doubling our extra care housing provision - which has celebrated 20 years and now comprises over 1500 apartments and bungalows to buy or rent - as well as our wider Public Health services. We have improved our joint working with the NHS, with other councils and, crucially, with people who use our services. And we are on a journey to make our social care practice both more confident and more consistent. At the same time, we have managed our resources carefully and done our best to shape new career pathways and become more diverse and inclusive in every sense.

We want to build on these strengths, and also on what we have learned from the pandemic, as we strengthen our unitary North Yorkshire Council and prepare for the next steps of national adult social care reform, including CQC Assurance. Over the last 12 months, we have been working hard to prepare for inspection, seeing it as an opportunity for an in-depth review of our strengths and areas for improvement. Alongside a series of service developments and workforce measures, we are giving our all to addressing the challenges that social care faces nationally and locally. 

This is where you come in, we are investing in strengthened leadership with the creation of three new roles that joins us at the start of our next transform journey, enabling People living longer, healthier, independent lives in this great county.

Looking back at the last 2 years, notable areas of work include beginning to tap into the new opportunities afforded by the first year of the new unitary council; responding to challenges for the social care sector, and the new national assurance framework for local authorities’ adult social care duties. We have made a great start on exploring the opportunities for working with other services to improve outcomes for local people. In particular, we see joint working with housing, leisure services, cultural services and libraries, regeneration and community/locality teams as central to achieving our ambitions for improving health and wellbeing.

Looking now at our challenges, the social care sector nationally and in North Yorkshire continues to face unprecedented challenges. A changing and competitive labour market, leading to major workforce challenges across different sectors, the continuing high numbers of hospital discharges, increased demand for services, and inflationary and cost of living impacts are all impacting adversely on the sustainability of the sector. In North Yorkshire, these challenges are increased by the size and rurality of the county, which adds extra cost pressures. Together, these issues have informed the creation of our 3 Public Health big tickets and 7 Adult Social Care improvement priorities.

So, if you are creative and talented, care about people and places and you have a track record of can-do delivery, we want to hear from you. We want people who are team-minded, willing to stretch beyond their comfort zones and who are able to step forward and motivate others to make a change. You can make your mark here.

In return for what you can offer to the people of North Yorkshire and to the council, we will welcome you with a real sense of teamwork, informal support, and personal development. You will find that we are a stable and well-managed authority, committed to getting things done. This means that the council will make difficult decisions when necessary and will invest courageously, whilst at the same time ensuring that talented individuals have the ability to progress and have an impact both internally and externally.

If you are interested in being part of our team and in making your mark in North Yorkshire, then we look forward to your application. Whilst the Health and Adult Services directorate - which comprises Adult Social Care and Public Health - is reasonably diverse in terms of sex, sexuality, age and disability, we are keen to encourage applications from all parts of the community and, in particular, from people from a broader range of ethnic minority backgrounds. We would welcome applications from people with social care or NHS experience and an interest or background in mental health would be well received.

Richard Webb, Corporate Director, Health and Adult Services

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Richard Webb on the left. Elderly man on the right.

About the service

North Yorkshire is home to over 615,000 people. Nearly 80 percent of us are adults and 25 percent of us are over 65. Life expectancy is at, or above, the England average, although there is a 20-year gap in healthy years lived between different parts of the county.

Our ambition is that every adult has a longer, healthier and independent life. We want people to be able to live their best lives and for our communities to flourish. Living our best lives includes being more proactive about talking about and promoting greater diversity and inclusion - across North Yorkshire and within our own services.

We believe that prevention is better than cure and that is why we have invested for many years in universal and targeted prevention programmes and in extra care housing.

We are striving to ensure that our practice starts with the strengths that each and every one of us have as human beings and that we make commissioning and investment decisions that, wherever possible, build upon the strengths within our towns and villages and countryside. As part of these aims, we want to work more sustainably to make our contribution to addressing climate change.

We want our care provider colleagues, in the independent and voluntary sectors, and in the council, to provide high-quality care and support and diversify their services to meet the choices and requirements that people will have in the future.

And we want North Yorkshire’s health and social care system to work as one, wherever possible, so that people have the right care and support, in the right place and at the right time.

Our health and adult services plan

Our Health and Adult Services directorate has just published its plan for the next three years which sets out three goals:

1) Opportunities for everyone, everywhere.

This means:

  • reducing inequalities across North Yorkshire
  • staying well and healthy
  • protect the health of North Yorkshire’s residents
  • improving mental health and wellbeing

2) My time and experiences are valued.

This means:

  • respecting people’s time
  • listening to people’s experiences
  • embracing technology together
  • a life outside of caring

3) My home, my community, my choice.

This includes:

  • opportunities within my community
  • outstanding services

Our total gross expenditure for 2024.25 in adult social care is £394m with a further £24million invested in Public Health. We employ nearly 2,000 people within the council and 20,000 across the care sector to deliver vital prevention and care services.

Most of us live and work in the county. Colleagues really know our many and varied communities and what makes them tick. There is a very strong ethos of Team North Yorkshire.

Like every other community and council, North Yorkshire faces challenges around social care. In the past year, fierce labour market competition has seen a contraction in the care workforce across the 500 provider organisations working within the county. However, we are probably as well-placed as most councils post Covid-19 to tackle the challenges ahead and to be able to build on what works well. Leading and working in social care is like painting the Forth Bridge: you have to keep working at it. That is why we have:

  • invested in supporting the care sector, both before and during the pandemic
  • expanded our hands-on quality improvement team to help care providers when they have a problem - we now make this service a pilot across the council and the NHS
  • agreed on a cost of care exercise for residential and nursing care and started a similar exercise for home care

We have a good partnership with the Independent Care Group, which represents most care providers in the county and we have a weekly care connected webinar for communications, training and shared learning across the sector.

We have developed our practice and professional leadership alongside frontline teams and continued our longstanding commitment to confident and consistent practice, including through learning and audit. At the same time, Members have supported a multi-million-pound investment package in frontline roles and regional TV, radio and social media advertising campaign for care workers and called for a national review of their pay and status.

We have recruited recently to new Social Worker posts, supporting our frontline teams and are welcoming 23 Social Workers who have joined us from South Africa and Zimbabwe as part of their career development. Our practice framework has been published recently and we hold an annual Festival of Practice as well as practice support meetings and continuous professional development events throughout the year. 

These measures, and more, build on our track record over the last decade and longer, in investing in extra care and supported housing and in prevention services. We now have 28 extra care housing schemes, providing over 1400 apartments to rent or buy, in towns and villages across the county. Some of these schemes provide specialist dementia care and NHS step-up/step-down services and some include other local services such as libraries, post offices and cafes. Our Stronger Communities programme - funded primarily through Public Health Grant - supports universal prevention and community infrastructure and our Living Well programme employs over 40 coordinators working to prevent, reduce and delay the need for people to use long-term social care or NHS services. More recently, a partnership with Scarborough Borough Council and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust has created an innovative new housing project, REACH, working with people with complex life circumstances around homelessness, mental health and drug and alcohol use. 

We are working hard to strengthen how we work in a co-produced way with our residents as a whole and, in particular, with people who use services. There are some great examples of work led by people with lived experience. During the pandemic, the Keeping In Touch working group, which was created following concerns raised by a young disabled man living in a care home, shaped our safer visiting and trips out approach. Self-advocates provided support and advice to people who were shielding. All of this work has built on a network of well-established forums and voice networks and we are looking to support representation and lived experience leadership further in the coming years. 

The North Yorkshire Safeguarding Adults Board, Healthwatch North Yorkshire and our mutually proactive relationship with the Care Quality Commission play a significant contribution in prioritising quality, safety and lived experience. 

Our work with the NHS, embraces two Integrated Care Systems, seven main NHS Foundation Trusts and 16 Primary Care Networks comprising more than 70 GP practices and, during the pandemic in particular, we have forged stronger and closer relationships. Our re-designed hospital discharge pathway was up and running within ten days during March 2020 and is now the cornerstone of work we are undertaking to develop an intermediate care model for the county. Joint working with the NHS enabled us to get Covid test kits when they were hard to find to achieve high vaccination levels and to keep the system flowing. We created safer discharge beds ahead of the national Designated Beds scheme. We have created an integrated community health and social care service in the Harrogate area - Harrogate and Rural Alliance - which brings together more than 200 staff and £50m of direct spend, with plans to develop further. Some of our extra care schemes provide NHS step-down services. And our Living Well service is the social prescriber for a third of primary care networks. Whilst the whole system faces real pressures, there is a collective will to work together to solve problems and plan for the future.

Likewise, we have developed some very positive working relationships with our colleagues in the seven former boroughs and districts. The new unitary council for North Yorkshire was formed in April 2023 and in 2024 we saw the creation of York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority headed up by an elected mayor. Even in advance of local government reorganisation, we have been working together closely. The 28 extra care schemes and other housing initiatives are tantamount to that. 

Public Health is a cornerstone of our Health and Adult Services directorate. Our new Director of Public Health was previously the council’s Assistant Director for Health and Integration and we very much see ourselves as a health and wellbeing directorate, with both universal and targeted responsibilities, in line with both Public Health policy and legislation and the Care Act. The Prevention and Service Development Team spans both Adult Social Care and Public Health and includes colleagues who play a leading role in both services. Likewise, the comprehensive approach to care settings support during the pandemic is being developed further, cementing a multi-disciplinary approach between Public Health specialists, Adult Social Care, the NHS and care providers. 

And within the wider council, we are conscious that Adult Social Care, as nearly 34 per cent  of the organisation’s budget, is a high-cost, high volume and, potentially, high-risk service and so our entire approach is about working corporately to manage both the opportunities and the risk. Our central Finance, Human Resources / Workforce Development and Technology colleagues are integral to what we do and, in return, the directorate endeavours to contribute more broadly to the whole council agenda. In recent years, we have also made good progress in working with Children and Young People’s Services colleagues on transition issues and shared approaches to practice and to working with the NHS. If you are part of the team, you will be able – and expected - to contribute within the service, throughout the directorate and across the council and the wider community and system.

In particular, we see joint working with housing, leisure services, cultural services and libraries, regeneration and community/locality teams as central to achieving our ambitions for improving health and wellbeing.
The council’s 90 Members and Chief Executive have a keen interest in older and disabled people, mental health and informal carers. And they provide robust challenge and accountability to the directorate, as being willing to invest in, and support, adult social care.

Beyond North Yorkshire, we play an active role in regional and national networks including the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the Association of Director of Public Health and the councils network.

All of these qualities, stand us in good stead as we work to address the challenges which social care faces - and as we prepare for major reforms to the social care system in England.

Please visit our social care for adult’s pages for more information about adult social care in North Yorkshire.

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HAS worker and resident sat outside having a conversation.

About the roles

These high-profile roles across the Health and Adult Services directorate, as well as within the wider council and our partnerships with other organisations and with local communities. We are looking for creative, numerate, team-minded people with a strong track record of getting things done and a real passion for the potential that North Yorkshire offers.

We are looking for someone who is innovative and practical, emotionally intelligent, budget-savvy, and a real change agent. We want you to demonstrate strong personal and professional values and put those into practice.

We expect you to:

  • be an accomplished team-player who will encourage innovation
  • be grounded and ensure we deliver practical changes that make a difference and ensure value for taxpayers' money
  • be a clear and decisive leader, with a robust grip on financial and performance management and service delivery
  • promote and deliver strength-based, evidence-informed practice, practice that makes every contact count and permeates the whole system ad whole place
  • relate well to people so that together we realise the potential of county and make the best use of the North Yorkshire Pound

An entrepreneurial mind would be an advantage and a willingness to embrace digital technology a huge plus.

These roles are county wide roles and require strategic leadership collaboration and visibility throughout the county with attendance to various offices and in-person working at least 3 days per week. Key strategic leadership meetings and collaboration takes place in Northallerton.

Please note that these posts are subject to DBS disclosure and are politically restricted posts as defined by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

Head of Adults

Salary: from £75,599 to £84,117 plus relocation support
Location: North Yorkshire / hybrid

As part of the new Senior Management structure across Health and Adult Services, we are excited to be able to offer the role of Head of Adults.

This role will have a countywide portfolio for adult social care services for the under 75’s. Working closely with the Head of Older Adults and the Head of Mental Health and Specialist Services, you will be responsible for the delivery of excellent social care services to people with a learning disability, physical disability, acquired brain injury and sensory impairment, alongside preparing for adulthood support.

The role requires strong budget management, a vision for transformation and the ability to understand the wide diversity of the county alongside delivering personalised care at a very local level.

The post holder will be expected to take advantage of the opportunities brought to the council through local government review and have the ability to develop strong relationships with wider partners to drive forward a clear strategic vision for this service area.

The post holder will shape the next phase of our transformation to design the services and structures across the portfolio of services.

We are seeking a leader with the vision and drive to take us forward with a strong track record in adult social care.

For further information on the role and responsibilities, please see the  job description and person specification (pdf / 302 KB).

This is a career advancing opportunity, owing to our scale, complexity and strength this career opportunity is not afford elsewhere.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact katherine.brioude@northyorks.gov.uk in the first instance, following which a conversation with Karen Siennicki, Assistant Director Adult Social Care can be arranged.

Head of Intermediate Care

Salary: from £75,599 to £84,117 plus relocation support
Location: North Yorkshire / hybrid

The post holder will be fundamental in shaping the strategic direction of intermediate care in the health and social care landscape in North Yorkshire, working in partnership with the Integrated Care Board’s, provider collaboratives, social care providers and NHS providers to deliver improved outcomes for adults across North Yorkshire.

The role requires strong budget management, a vision for transformation and the ability to understand the wide diversity of the county alongside delivering personalised care at a very local level.

Fundamentality we are seeking a transformational leader to improve the impact of our avoidance of admission, discharge and reablement services. A whole system and whole place leader with the influence to drive collaboration and improve outcomes enabling people to live longer, healthier, independent lives.

The post holder will be expected to take advantage of the opportunities brought to the council through local government review and have the ability to develop strong relationships with wider partners to drive forward a clear strategic vision for this service area.

For further information on the role and responsibilities, please see the  job description and person specification (pdf / 300 KB).

This is a career advancing opportunity, owing to our scale, complexity and strength this career opportunity is not afford elsewhere.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact katherine.brioude@northyorks.gov.uk in the first instance, following which a conversation with Rachel Bowes, Assistant Director Adult Social Care can be arranged.

Head of Practice/ Principal Social Worker

Salary: from £67,081 to £75,599 plus relocation support
Location: North Yorkshire / hybrid

As part of the new Senior Management structure across Health and Adult Services, we are excited to be able to offer the role of Head of Practice/Principal Social Worker.

This role is a statutory role and will be responsible for the assurance of the delivery of our statutory duties under The Care Act as well as other key Legislative functions. The Head of Practice/Principal Social Worker will need to be able to combine the skills of driving excellent adult social care practice and legal literacy alongside the delivery of transformation, budget savings and the assurance framework. The post holder will need to be passionate, driven, and able to respond delivering change in an ever-changing landscape.

Working closely with the Chief Social Care Practitioner, you will be responsible for the oversight of the 7 Key Improvement Areas, Co-Chair of the Confident and Consistent Practice Board and the lead for the largest CQC Domain of Working with People. You will also work closely with the Principal Nurse and Principal Occupational Therapist and the Director of Adult Social Care to ensure statutory duties are robustly executed.

This is a highly visible role, your pursuit of strengthening practice with permeate across Health and Social care settings. You will work beyond setting the practice framework; you will personally and resolutely ensure the embedding and constant develop of practice ensuring that the desired outcomes are realised.

You will lead transformation, targeted practice development and improvement programmes. You will be well networked internally and externally, enhancing the reputation and influence of social care as our principal social worker.

For further information on the role and responsibilities, please see the  job description and person specification (pdf / 341 KB).

This is a career advancing opportunity, owing to our scale, complexity and strength this career opportunity is not afford elsewhere. This Head of Service role, adds to what is a more typical principal social worker role and elevating the strength of practice in everything we do.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact katherine.brioude@northyorks.gov.uk in the first instance, following which a conversation with Karen Siennicki, Assistant Director Adult Social Care can be arranged.

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HAS worker and elderly man sat on the sofa having the conversation.

Living in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a thriving county that adapts to a changing world and remains a special place to live and work.

North Yorkshire's natural beauty is captured in its three areas of Outstanding Natural Parks, National Nature Reserves, stunning coastlines, scenic rural villages, vibrant cities and market towns. North Yorkshire really is a beautiful, thriving and special place to live and work, rich in heritage and culture.

North Yorkshire features significantly in the ten best places to live in the UK and highlighted as the safest place in England with extremely low crime rates.

In addition, the county benefits from excellent road and rail links, with easy access via the east coast mainline, the A1(M) and A19. Leeds, York, Newcastle, Durham and Teesside are all easily commutable, and London and Edinburgh are just two hours away by train.

From its lively cities to pretty villages, rolling countryside and grand coastline, Yorkshire has so much to offer including great employment opportunities for your family members, along with a higher proportion of schools which are good or outstanding compared to national figures.

As a whole North Yorkshire offers a high standard of living working in a stunning location.
You can find out more about what North Yorkshire has to offer on the No place like North Yorkshire website and by watching our North Yorkshire video on YouTube.

Looking to relocate? We welcome applications from those looking to relocate to North Yorkshire, with a relocation allowance available. For more information, please see our relocation policy.

Why work for us

We are a strong performing authority, with supportive political leadership and talented teams providing the platform to have a fulfilling, challenging and successful career in a truly stunning place.

A recent peer challenge found that the council is a good place to work, with strong leadership and a loyal and committed workforce who have access to well-regarded training and development.

We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice, offering a range of training and development opportunities and career progression allowing you to manage your own development journey and empowering you to control your career. Your career can change with your life here in North Yorkshire.

We positively encourage flexible working and we provide you with the technology you need to work from a wide variety of locations.

We believe in the importance of inclusion, which is why we are always working towards being a more diverse, equitable and inclusive employer. Find out more about our equality, diversity and inclusion work on our working for us page. You can bring your whole self to work, and we will support you to be the best that you can be.

Our values, behaviours and ambitions underpin everything we do.

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of great benefits to help you financially make life a bit easier. These include:

  • a local government, career average employer contribution pension scheme
  • family friendly leave
  • salary sacrifice schemes
  • modern flexible working practices
  • learning and development packages
  • career advancement opportunities
  • employee discount benefits including shopping and gym discounts
  • green car and cycle schemes
  • travel loans

You can find more information on the range of benefits we offer on our total rewards page.

Watch this video to find out about our employee networks.

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Three HAS workers

Key dates

Closing date: Midnight Sunday 24 November
Shortlisting date: week commencing 25 November

Interview dates: 5 December and 6 December 

  • Head of Adults
  • Head of Intermediate Care
  • Head of Practice/Principal Social Worker

Contact us

For an informal confidential discussion about these opportunities, please contact:

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HAS worker and member of the public in a garden

Apply now

Please submit one Microsoft Word document that details a comprehensive CV and a supporting statement outlining your suitability for the role. Please do not submit PDFs. It is important that your written application fully addresses the experience criteria. Applications should be emailed to Executive.ResourcingSolutions@northyorks.gov.uk. In the subject of your email, please clearly identify the role or roles you wish to apply for.

It is important that your CV includes: your full contact details (telephone, email, address), full employment history (name of employer, job titles, dates of employment and salary), full education history (qualification, grade, dates and place of study), explanation of any gaps in employment and the contact details of at least two referees including your current / most recent employer indicating whether you consent to us contacting each referee prior to interview. Please also provide details of your current salary and notice period.

We believe in the importance of inclusion, which is why we are always working towards being a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive employer. You can find out more about our equality, diversity and inclusion work on our working for us page. 

These are politically restricted posts and subject to a disclosure and barring criminal record check.

We are committed to directly recruiting staff and will not accept applications nor services from agency suppliers in respect of our vacancies.

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