This is an exciting opportunity to join the friendly, dynamic, multi-disciplinary team at the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse as a Practice Improvement Adviser (PIA) for Social Work. This is a high-level practice improvement role leading on the development, management and delivery of programmes, strategies and training initiatives to improve the identification of and response to child sexual abuse across England and Wales.

About this role:

The Practice Improvement Advisor (Social Work) is responsible for developing and embedding evidence-informed practice improvement initiatives in the field of child sexual abuse across children's social work in England and Wales. You will lead the formulation, development and implementation of transformational change in the social work response to child sexual abuse, by developing, managing and delivering strategies, plans and training initiatives, and managing partner relationships at a high level across a range of single and multi-agency settings.

Working within our team of multi-agency practitioners, researchers and policy advisors, and in liaison with those with lived experience of sexual abuse, you will be supporting the CSA Centre to deliver an ambitious work plan rooted in our commitment to improving the knowledge, skills and confidence of professionals in identifying and responding to child sexual abuse. You will also play a key role in developing and delivering the CSA Centre's practice improvement plans for social work over the immediate and longer term, helping us to ensure that our evidence, learning and resources have the widest possible reach into policy and practice at both local and national level.

The role will include:

Working with a range of stakeholders to develop a national, strategic approach (across England and Wales) to improving the identification and response to sexual abuse in social work settings;
Engaging with key stakeholders to raise the profile of the CSA Centre across single and multi-agency settings in England and Wales;
Developing the CSA Centre's approach to influencing training for professionals working with children and young people across the children's social work sector, including designing and delivering training where appropriate;
Developing proposals for new resources to support the response to child sexual abuse across social work, drawing on your own understanding of current gaps and opportunities to improve practice in this area;
Leading on the dissemination of existing CSA Centre resources and research, to social work settings across England and Wales;
Providing practice expertise to a range of ongoing CSA Centre initiatives across our ambitious workplan, including the implementation of our child sexual abuse response pathway and related practice resources; (http://www.csacentre.org.uk/knowledge-in-practice/practice-improvement/).
Improve understanding of and responses to specific aspects of child sexual abuse, (such as in online settings, within family law and for black, Asian and minority ethnic children and families), through partnership work with other sector experts.

CSA Centre roles are currently funded until 31 March 2027, in line with our current grant funding arrangements. This will be reviewed in late 2026, as future funding for the CSA Centre from 2027/28 onwards is confirmed.

About us

We are the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (the CSA Centre). Our aim is to create a future where children are free from the threat and harm of sexual abuse by radically improving how we prevent and respond to the issue through really understanding its causes, scope, scale and impact.

Funded by the Home Office and hosted by Barnardo's, we are an independent organisation and will challenge any barriers, assumptions, taboos and ways of working that prevent us from increasing our understanding and improving our approach to tackling child sexual abuse.

We bring about change by:

Collating and analysing existing research, policy, practice and the real experiences of those affected, and filling the gaps we identify with new research, insights and analysis;
Using that evidence and insight to challenge and improve existing policy and practice, develop new approaches and increase everyone's knowledge and confidence to more effectively tackle the issue.

This role is home based with occasional travel required, usually to London.

Permanent contract, grant funded until 31 March 2027.

Applications for full and part time working will be considered.

Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements. We also welcome applications from those who wish to apply for this post as a secondment from their current role.

The CSA Centre is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce. We actively encourage applications from disabled candidates and from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, as they are currently under-represented in the CSA Centre's staff team. We also welcome applications from those who have lived experience of child sexual abuse.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

Barnardo's require colleagues to be UK residents, based in the UK and to complete their roles from within the UK (with the exception of colleagues providing Barnardo's services in Jersey and colleagues who live in the Republic of Ireland providing services in Northern Ireland)

Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our Buy Your Leave scheme
A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
Service related sick pay from day 1
Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
Cycle2work scheme
Interest free season ticket loans
Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
20% discount at Barnardo's stores
Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

Reference number:23267
Job Title:Practice Improvement Adviser
Location:Workplace offer: Hybrid working, Barnardo's hub/office or home address
Contract type:Permanent (Fixed term funded post)
End date:31 March 2027
Hours:36.25
Salary:£52,265.13 (FTE) plus £312 Office at Home Allowance
Closing Date:28 June 2026
Interview Date:1st July 2026

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