Every day, we work to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens across the nation. This is both a privilege and a responsibility. The dedicated staff across the NHS and the civil service have achieved remarkable things in recent years – from the extraordinary response to COVID-19, to record numbers of general practice appointments, to cancer survival in England being at an all-time high – demonstrating incredible resilience, expertise and commitment.
We are now building a Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for the future – an organisation better equipped to provide publicly accountable leadership across health and care that truly serves our communities better.
This new Department of Health and Social Care will incorporate the role of NHS England to create a new accountable and agile centre. This will be a new model of leadership for the health and care system and it will require compassionate, determined and focused leadership.
The Opportunity
Given this task, now is a particularly exciting time to join DHSC as a senior leader. The Government has just published its 10 Year Health Plan and you will play a pivotal role in delivering national policy, stewarding system-wide reform, and delivering outcomes that matter to our patients and our citizens.
Reporting to the Permanent Secretary and the NHS Chief Executive, and with a role on the Department’s Executive Committee, The Director General, Adult Social Care is responsible for leading on the transformation of adult social care, including adult social care policy and strategy, turning that policy into delivery, securing funding and supporting workforce development. As the Ministers’ most senior advisor on adult social care, you will be expected to work closely with colleagues from across the health and care sector in taking forward the delivery of the Government’s priorities in relation to adult social care, including the Casey Review and Neighbourhood Health.
You will provide strong, visible leadership for the adult social care system across central and local government. More broadly, alongside the Director General for Public Health, you will also be a leader for the Department on wider local government issues, working with Mayors, Combined Authorities and Local Authorities on how to support local health and care systems. You will bring insights from local government to the Executive Committee that span beyond adult social care to consider how we drive health improvement in the round to deliver improved outcomes for our communities.
We are looking for individuals who can bring strategic insight, collaborative leadership, and a commitment to public service to help us deliver on our mission to provide the highest quality, most compassionate health and care system in the world.
If you share our passion, have the capabilities set out below, thrive at delivering large-scale change and believe in the future we will build for our citizens and our communities, then we look forward to receiving your application.
Diversity is vital to the success of these roles, and to the Civil Service as a whole. We actively welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds, with different experiences and perspectives - and we are committed to ensuring that we work in an inclusive way that means everyone in the Civil Service can perform at their best.
For more information, including details of how to apply, please see the link below:
https://odgers-berndtson.foleon.com/dhsc/dhsc-candidate-brief/
The closing date for applications is 23:55 on Thursday 14 August 2025.
Berwick Partners