Safeguarding Social Worker

About The Role

At SSAFA, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. As awareness of safeguarding continues to grow, so does the need to provide expert advise and guidance to colleagues and volunteers who work with beneficiaries facing complex and often challenging situations involving safeguarding concerns.

As a Safeguarding Social Worker, you will play a key role in strengthening safeguarding practice across the charity. Working closely with the Principal Safeguarding Officer and wider Safeguarding team, you'll act as part of SSAFA's Safeguarding Single Point of Contact (SPOC) service, helping to lead the organisation's response to safeguarding concerns and providing expert advice and guidance to colleagues across the charity.

You'll also contribute to the continuous development of safeguarding policies, procedures and best practice.

This is a rewarding opportunity for an experienced Social Worker who is passionate about safeguarding, enjoys working collaboratively, and is committed to helping create a culture where safeguarding is understood, prioritised and embedded in everything we do.

You will join SSAFA's Social Care Operations Directorate, reporting to the Principal Safeguarding Officer and working as part of a dedicated team committed to ensuring that serving personnel, veterans and their families receive the support they need. Working closely with colleagues across Social Work Services and other specialist functions, you will play a central role in promoting and embedding safeguarding practices throughout the organisation.

You will bring extensive post-qualification experience, gained within safeguarding, together with a sound understanding of current legislation, guidance and best practice.

You will be confident in managing complex safeguarding concerns, providing professional advice and guidance, and supporting colleagues and volunteers to make informed decisions in challenging situations.

You will have the ability to assess risk, exercise sound professional judgement and work collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders to achieve positive safeguarding outcomes.

Strong communication and interpersonal skills are essential, as you will be building effective relationships across SSAFA and with external agencies, delivering training and supporting colleagues at all levels of the organisation.

You will also be highly organised, with excellent attention to detail and the ability to manage a varied workload while maintaining accurate records.

SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity is a trusted source of support for the Armed Forces community in their time of need. In 2025 our trained teams of volunteers and employees helped more than 53,000 people, including veterans, serving personnel (regulars and reserves) and their families.

SSAFA understands that behind every uniform is a person. And we are here for that person and their family, any time they need us and in any way they need us.

SSAFA exists to support a diverse range of beneficiaries within the armed forces community, and we believe diversity within our teams is key to ensuring we can deliver our services effectively. We thrive on differences and believe it is critical to our success as a worldwide charity. SSAFA is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace that seeks to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills.

We therefore encourage applications from all genders, races, religions, ages and sexual orientations, as well as parents, veterans, people living with disabilities, and any other groups that could bring diverse perspectives to our business.

SSAFA is committed to using the Disclosure & Barring Service to ensure we, as an employer, safeguard those we serve.

Download the full job description here.

Review the benefits that SSAFA has to offer here.

If you have any queries or would like to speak to someone about this role, please contact Heather Hammett on heat for an informal discussion.

Closing date:
Midnight on 31st August 2026. SSAFA reserves the right to close the vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.

Interviews: TBC