We continue to innovate children’s and adults’ social care practice in Hampshire. We work together to ensure we are a healthy, resilient organisation and through continuous improvement together with creativity, we are building a sustainable future for Hampshire.
The transformation of our services for children has led to us being one of just a few children’s services authorities in the country to be rated outstanding across all areas by Ofsted in 2024 for the second consecutive time.
Our adults’ practitioners continue to make a difference in people’s lives by treating those in our care with integrity and respect, taking a person-centred approach to care and promoting independence.
Children's Senior Leadership
Adults' Senior Leadership
Stuart is the Director of Children’s Services. He is a qualified social worker and registered with Social Work England.
Stuart has been a senior manager in Hampshire Children’s Services for over 15 years and has a proven track record in delivering the highest quality services to the most vulnerable children and families.
As part of his Hampshire role, he has overseen the sector-led improvement service, funded by the DfE, working with a large number of local authority children’s services across England, supporting their improvement, from whole scale system change to bespoke packages of intervention. He passionately believes in continuous improvement and innovation, driving services to be the very best they can.
Steph How came to Hampshire in 2003 as an Assistant Team Manager and is now the Deputy Director of Children’s Services.
As a Senior Practitioner, she spent 18 months seconded to the Isle of Wight in the initial stages of Hampshire’s partnership with them in 2013.
During her five years as an Area Director, Steph also had the privilege of being the Strategic and Operational Lead for our Care to Change, Transforming Social Care and Modernising Placements programmes.
Sarah has worked in Hampshire since 2009, joining the council initially as a team manager.
Prior to joining Hampshire, much of her experience was in long-term child protection and court work.
Jess is Director for Adults’ Health and Care for Hampshire County Council.
She was appointed in September 2024 having previously been an Assistant Director for Younger Adults and principal social worker at Hampshire County Council.
She started out working as a volunteer for a young woman with physical disabilities and then supported people to move out of long-stay hospitals.
She qualified as a social worker in 1998, working with people with learning disabilities, and has remained in Hampshire County Council in a range of management and leadership roles since then, having reached 25 years’ service this year.
Paul is in his 8th year as Adults’, Health and Care Deputy Director having taken on the role at the beginning of 2017.
Paul is responsible for HCC Care, the Directorate’s in-house Residential and Nursing Care service.
He recently led the work that culminated in Cabinet and Executive Member approval for a major £173m (December 2022 price point) investment programme that will see the delivery, over five years, of three brand new care homes, three major refurbishments and expansions to existing homes and seven closures.
Paul also leads for the Directorate on the Hospital Discharge service commissioning and financial arrangements with the NHS and currently chairs the Hampshire PLACE Board.
Currently, Jason is the Assistant Director and Principal Social Worker for Adults’ Health and Care, Hampshire County Council, co-chair of the national ADASS specialist mental health forum and Justice of the Peace.
Jason has been a registered social worker since 1998 having worked in a variety of social care and advocacy roles, primarily with younger adults in need of care and support for their mental health, learning disability and physical disability across health, local authority and the voluntary sector.
Jason has provided senior professional leadership and management within integrated health and social care service arrangements with technical expertise in mental health legislation. More recently, he was seconded into the mental health social work lead role within the Office of the Chief Social Worker, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) which concluded in May 2024.
Helen is Assistant Director for Older Adults and that includes Hospitals, Reablement and Hampshire Equipment Services and Community Social Work for those over the age of 65.
Helen graduated in 1986 with a degree in Social Policy and Social Work and went on to join the national graduate trainee manager scheme at Surrey County Council studying for two professional Chartered Institutes and working in social services at Surrey.
Helen has a wide leadership background specialising in health and social care – having worked in the Central Government’s (DHSC) Deputy Prime Minister’s Office on new models for joint care commissioning and procurement.
More recently, she has led turnaround for failing social care teams as part of the LGA’s national care and health team prior to joining Hampshire in 2019. Helen has managed and led a number of services in a Local and Central Government career of more than 30 years.
Children's Teams
Adults' Teams
Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) provides triage and multi-agency assessment of safeguarding concerns. It brings together professionals from a range of agencies into an integrated multi-disciplinary team. This dedicated team protects the most vulnerable children from harm, neglect and abuse by providing unique services, such as:
- A faster, more consistent response to safeguarding concerns, with clear guidance and support
- An improved journey for the child or adult concerned
- An emphasis on early intervention and ensuring better informed services are provided at the right time
- Close partnership and multi-disciplinary working, with clear accountability and improved multi-agency communications
- A reduction in the number of inappropriate referrals and re-referrals.
The Family Help team works with families with a need for a Child and Family Assessment, after information is gathered by the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH).
They will conduct a relevant assessment, and work to enable the families to build their resilience and wherever possible, remain together.
The Family Help team undertakes court work, to achieve permanency for those children who need to live outside of their home environment. The Family Help team also supports those families who require targeted intervention following a multi-agency discussion at the Early Help Hub, as well as providing support for single issue concerns including provision of parenting courses or SOS sessions with families to offer appropriate guidance and signposting.
A case is transferred to the Children in Care team for long-term social care intervention, once a child’s permanent foster care plan has been identified and agreed. The CiC team also supports unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, who transfer directly to CiC from point of referral.
The Disabled Children’s Team works with children who have a complex disability. They also work with each child’s family where required, providing support and assistance to meet the needs of their child and his or her disability.
The Contact, Resolution and Assessment Team (CART) team, made up of senior case workers and case workers, is the first point of contact for someone requiring advice and support from Adults’ Health and Care.
Our team works closely with other social/health care professionals managing incoming enquiries by telephone, online forms and webchat. Our team members assess residents’ needs and provide them with support and guidance to maximise their wellbeing. Whilst our team don’t meet service users face-to-face, we do provide direct customer service and act as the ‘front door’ to our Adults’ Health and Care services.
The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) Team works closely with the Council’s partner agencies, including Hampshire Constabulary and Hampshire Fire and Rescue as well as our Contact, Resolution and Assessment Team (CART). Skilled practitioners, including Social Workers, Approved Mental Health Professionals, Senior Case Workers and Case Workers, manage incoming telephone and online safeguarding referrals. Our team receive safeguarding referrals from across the county and work with adults across four care groups: Older Adults, Learning Disabilities, Physical Disabilities and Mental Health.
As a society we’re living longer and as a result, an increasing number of people require the support of the health and social care system. Our Older Adults community teams work with adults over the age of 65, and are based in ten locations across Hampshire.
Our professional and highly committed teams are made up of Social Workers, Senior Case Workers, Case Workers and business support and we offer a supportive space for colleagues to grow and develop. In Havant we also have our Older Adults Intake Team, who undertake telephone triage, wellbeing checks, Care Act Assessments and referrals to internal and external agencies.
We have high aspirations for people with a learning disability and/or autism and work with them to achieve their best outcome. This includes supporting them to access accommodation, friendships, work and to develop life skills.
Each team is made up of Social Workers, Senior Case Workers and Case Workers. In addition, the Independent Futures team works across the whole county and supports young people with disabilities who are in transition from Children’s to Adults’ services.
Where mental health issues are acute or raise a safeguarding concern, there is a need for specialist intervention. Our role, alongside the NHS and our volunteer and charity partners, is to support and guide those in the community affected by mental health concerns. Social Workers in our mental health teams are supported to undertake their AMHP training. Our community teams are based across Hampshire.
Our Intermediate Care Team, based in Winchester, work countywide, alongside the Community Mental Health and Substance Misuse Social Care Teams and the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) service. The team, includes AMHPs and Best Interest Assessors (BIAs) who provide a unique breadth of expertise, enabling us to support with diverse and complex needs.
We have a centralised Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHP) Hub based in Eastleigh. Our AMHPs work with other social and health care professionals to complete assessments under the Mental Health Act. Using their expertise and knowledge of both the Mental Health Act and Code of Practice, they provide advice on the legal aspects of AMHP work.
Our teams provide specialist services for people with physical disabilities including cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, arthritis, stroke, multiple sclerosis, sight impairment, epilepsy, respiratory difficulties and disabilities resulting from accidents.
Our Deaf Services team, based in Romsey, includes specialist Social Workers supporting people with a hearing impairment over the age of 18 who use British Sign Language (BSL). They also work with BSL users with learning or physical disabilities, mental health conditions and Deafblind people who use Hands On Signing to communicate.
We have teams based at four major hospitals in Hampshire: Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, Southampton General Hospital, Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital and Frimley Park Hospital, based on the Hampshire/Surrey border in Frimley near Farnborough/Camberley. Each team has a social work discharge team.
Our teams work in a multi-disciplinary environment with the hospitals, community-based health organisations and our Short Term Services in the community. The teams facilitate the safe discharge of patients from hospital and focus on supporting the recovery and rehabilitation of individuals, identifying long term needs, safeguarding and maximising independence.
Our team is made up of Social Workers, Senior Case Workers, Registered Nurses and business support. We work in a multi-disciplinary environment, working closely with our colleagues in health, social care, voluntary sectors and providers. We assess all client groups including younger and older adults with physical disabilities, learning and mental health disabilities.
Our team supports individuals with their onward care journey following a Discharge to Assess period from hospital; undertaking assessments under the Care Act 2014 and supporting in assessments for NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS CHC). Our professional and highly committed team can offer a supportive space for colleagues to grow and learn and offer a range of experience and skills, including clinical knowledge.
Social Work in Hampshire
CHILDREN’S
ADULTS’
What is innovation when it comes to social work practice? We speak to an academic, a team manager and a social worker to explore the concept. Click here to listen.
Hampshire County Council is applying its strengths-based practice model to improve the lives of children in residential care and is looking for staff with the creativity, values and resilience to help it do so.
Despite some of the complexities that come with supporting young people through transition into adulthood, two social care practitioners at Hampshire County Council credit the career opportunities, management support and access to specialist expertise as key reasons why they value working in the Independent Futures Team (IFT). Click here for more.
Practitioners show how embedding strengths-based practice is transforming engagement with adults. Read more.
Working in Hampshire
Workforce development is one of the top priorities of the department. Managers make the development of staff one of their highest priorities.
All qualified social workers are entitled to five days of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in addition to any internal or mandatory training.
In Children’s Services, our tailored Graduate Entry Training scheme (GETs) provides the equivalent support for our newly qualified social workers.
Social work apprenticeships for children’s services
Following on from our successful Social Work degree apprenticeship for existing employees in 2024, we launched our apprenticeship programme to individuals who have recent experience of working with children/young people, and families.
The apprenticeship is a full-time role and will take between one and three years (dependent on your level of recent experience). It is a mixture of learning undertaken within a Family Practitioner role and learning in partnership at the University of Winchester; ranked in the top 15 for Social Work in The Guardian’s best UK universities, 2022.
Social work apprenticeship scheme for adults’ health and care
Joining us as a case worker can lead to a fantastic career in Adults’ Health and Care. Our experienced case workers can be considered for our social work apprenticeship scheme, which is currently run by the University of Winchester, leading to a career as a qualified social worker.
If you are interested in a career at Hampshire County Council, visit us here to find out more.
Children’s services
The Hampshire Approach is designed to provide clarity, structure and evidence to guide practitioners in their interactions with families, and in doing so increase the resilience and wellbeing of the families we work with.
The Approach is centred around a shared mindset and is supported by our practice and skills. Working in this new way is only possible within an organisation and culture that supports the approach, and leadership which models the mindset every day.
We believe:
- developing positive relationships with families is at the heart of what we do
- everyone has strengths and we get the best from each other when we recognise and
build on those strengths
- in listening, respecting and working together with the child, their family and those that have a responsibility to them
- that working to support the whole family will achieve the best outcomes for the child in the long-term
- that working in this way enables us to identify, respond to and manage risk safely
These beliefs inform the way we work with families and the way we work with each other. Working in this strengths-based way as part of the Hampshire Approach is one of just many things that Ofsted credited us for in our outstanding inspection report, June 2019:
“The ‘Hampshire Approach’, permeates the work with children and families, building
confidence and resilience and leading to positive outcomes for children.”
Adults’ services
Our adults’ social care practitioners use strengths-based practice, focusing on what a person can do, whilst finding innovative, alternative community resources to meet their needs. A strengths-based approach works with people’s strengths, resourcefulness and ability to develop the best strategies for them to face life’s challenges.
Hampshire County Council is a high-performing authority with talented staff who are motivated to make the difference for our communities. We believe in rewarding our staff for their commitment to delivering essential public services with an extensive range of benefits. We want to help you strive to be the best you can be, and to enjoy serving Hampshire with purpose and pride. Find out more about our benefits package here.
Working and Living in Hampshire
Working and living in Hampshire
Hampshire is the third-largest shire county in England, with a population of over 1.3 million. Hampshire’s unique rural beauty is showcased within the county’s two national parks, ample country parks, urban town centres and picturesque villages.
With excellent transport links to London, Bath, Oxford and Brighton, the diversity of landscapes, amenities and communities make Hampshire one of the best places to live and work in the UK.
Set within Hampshire’s backdrop are the cities of Winchester, Southampton and Portsmouth. These, as well as our many towns and villages, offer fascinating history and culture with historic buildings, thriving theatres, award-winning museums and state-of-the-art shopping centres.
Hampshire is a truly unique place to live and work, offering diversity unrivalled by any of its neighbouring counties.
A morning spent enjoying the exhilaration of indoor skydiving in Basingstoke can be followed by a tranquil afternoon by the waterfront in Gosport – a diverse landscape across the county which is represented not only by our people, but the communities with whom we work.
Whether you already live in Hampshire or have plans to move here, there is a pace of life to suit everyone, with wonderful places and spaces to inspire a career in social work.
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