Recruitment Pack
Introduction – from Sherry as Vice Chair
“The Social Worker of the Year awards are highly valued by recipients, positively impact personal career opportunities, boost team morale, and raise the profile of good social work practice.”
This quote from the University of Birmingham’s partnership with us encapsulates the purpose of the Awards and highlights our impact.
The Awards are now looking for its next Chair to further its charitable purpose, and we are delighted that you are interested in this role. This pack will provide you with information about us and help you decide whether to apply to be our next chair.
You’ll bring your style, energy and ideas about the landscape in which the Awards work and their impact. If you’re excited by this opportunity, we’d be delighted to receive your application!
A word from our Founder and departing chair…
Beverley Williams, an independent social work practitioner, started the Social Worker of the Year Awards in 2006. This stemmed from her determination to ensure greater recognition of the impact made by exceptional social workers.
“When I started the Awards in 2006, my hope was to lift morale, challenge negative perceptions, and give social workers the recognition they deserve. Over the years, I’ve seen how much it means for people to feel proud of their profession. The next Chair will play a vital role in continuing that journey, inspiring pride, and helping us celebrate the incredible difference social workers make every day.”
Our outgoing chair, Peter Hay, says:
“It has been a privilege, a challenge, and fun to have served as the chair of the awards. The excitement of awards night is a real highlight based upon the impact that great social work makes to people’s lives”
The Board
The Social Worker of the Year Awards is a registered charity (No. 1144458) with a small team which manages and steers the development of the awards. The aims of the charity are to:
- Give recognition to the challenging work of qualified social workers
- Promote best practice in the profession and celebrate success
- Improve understanding of the range of work which social workers undertake
- Celebrate and promote diversity and equal opportunities in social care.
The charity is managed by a Board of Trustees, all of whom give their time voluntarily to support the development of the awards.
You can find the profile of the members of the Board here. This link will also introduce you to our website, which is worth a look around.
The role of the chair: some key tasks
The pack includes a detailed role description, within which some of the immediate issues facing the chair and the board are:
- The Awards are driven by their purpose, making it essential to establish a shared value base around the culture of reward and recognition, highlighting best practices and communicating that process to individuals involved in social work.
- The board has an annual planning process that enables it to adjust its approach for the coming year based on experience. Underneath this remains a constant challenge of securing sponsorship
- Social workers want the Awards to adhere to a high ethical standard in our sponsorship and financial support, and working with this in a tight financial position is challenging.
- As part of our package of measures to address this challenge, we are reprofiling the financial structure with new headline and commercial sponsors, a revised look for the 2025 Awards, and holding our awards night in Manchester for the first time.
- You will work with an established board and a great team at PLMR, https://plmr.co.uk/, which supports the charity’s work. Whilst most of your time is scheduled around meetings and events, there is some maintenance of the charity to be done between meetings, most of which can be handled by email and occasional online catchups.
The Awards in numbers
- 9.2m + people reached through regional and national media coverage
- 330,000 + people reached on social media
- 83,000 + people reached through targeted digital ads
- 40,000 + LinkedIn video views
- 9,000 + followers on X (formerly Twitter)
- 3,000 + highly engaged newsletter subscribers
- 390 + inspiring award nominations
- 99% of guests rated the Awards good/very good/excellent
The Awards in numbers
The Awards in £
You can find our last annual report and account here – https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/5019094/accounts-and-annual-returns?_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_organisationNumber=5019094
The Process
To apply for the role of Chair please send a covering letter and a CV to awards@socialworkawards.com by Monday 8th September. Your covering letter should be no more than two sides of A4 and should outline why you want to be a chair, as well as the skills and qualities you would bring to the role.
Members of the Board will shortlist applicants and interviews will be held w/b 15th September.
Download the job description