Specialist Advisor - Drug and Alcohol Services

Specialist Advisor (SpA) – Drug and Alcohol Services

Daily Rate: £300 per day (£268 day rate plus holiday pay)

Location: National

Contract Type: Casual Worker

Working Pattern: Ad hoc, as and when required

Closing Date: Sunday 4th October 2026 at 11.59pm

Are you committed to helping us regulate drug and alcohol services in England?

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is looking for experienced clinical professionals to work with us as Specialist Advisors (SpAs) and support our assessment teams through their expert knowledge and experience of drug and alcohol services.

We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage services to improve. We are looking for people who demonstrate integrity, professional credibility and a commitment to excellence to join us and help make a positive difference to people who access drug and alcohol services.

As a Specialist Advisor, you will work alongside CQC inspectors and experts by experience, contributing specialist expertise to our regulatory work and helping us reach fair, balanced and evidence-based judgements.

Why this could be a great role for you

This is an opportunity to contribute directly to the assessment and improvement of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services across England.

You will

• Support CQC inspection activity through your specialist expertise.
• Gain valuable insight into a wide range of services and models of care.
• Share your professional knowledge and experience with multidisciplinary assessment teams.
• Observe examples of outstanding practice and innovation across the sector.
• Help ensure people accessing services receive safe, effective, responsive and person-centred care.
• Contribute to the reduction of health inequalities experienced by people affected by substance use.

How the role works

This role is flexible and designed to complement your existing professional commitments.

As a Specialist Advisor, you will be invited to support specific assessments and inspections on an ad hoc basis. Assignments are typically linked to individual assessment activities and may involve single days or short periods of work throughout the year, depending on service need and your availability.

Applicants must be actively working within drug and alcohol services and able to demonstrate current, hands-on clinical experience. We are seeking professionals who understand the realities of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery service delivery today and can bring contemporary clinical expertise and insight to CQC assessment activity. This is an essential requirement of the role.

Although this is a national role, we recognise that applicants may wish to limit travel or avoid working in areas where there may be conflicts of interest. We will discuss your geographical preferences and availability as part of the recruitment process.

Travel to provider locations will sometimes be required, and occasional overnight stays may be necessary.

About the role

Specialist Advisors support CQC by providing expert advice and professional judgement throughout assessment, inspection and regulatory activity.

Activities may include

• Participating in assessment and inspection visits.
• Reviewing evidence and documentation.
• Observing care delivery and clinical practice.
• Speaking with staff, leaders and people using services.
• Identifying examples of good practice and areas for improvement.
• Contributing specialist insight to assessment findings.
• Providing verbal and written feedback to CQC colleagues.
• Supporting evidence-based judgements regarding the quality and safety of care.

Who we are looking for

We are seeking highly experienced clinical professionals with extensive expertise in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services.

Applicants should have current clinical experience and be recognised as knowledgeable and credible practitioners within the field.

We are particularly interested in applications from

• Consultant Psychiatrists specialising in Addiction Psychiatry
• Consultant Nurses
• Advanced Clinical Practitioners
• Non-Medical Prescribers
• Specialist Substance Misuse Nurses
• Consultant Clinical Psychologists
• Senior Social Workers
• Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs)
• Specialist Pharmacists working within drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services
• Senior clinicians with expertise in detoxification, opioid substitution treatment, prescribing governance and medicines management
• Clinicians with expertise in co-occurring mental health and substance use conditions

Essential criteria

You will be able to demonstrate

• Extensive clinical experience within drug and alcohol services.
• Current practice within drug and alcohol treatment services.
• Expert knowledge of evidence-based interventions for substance use disorders.
• A thorough understanding of the care, treatment and support needs of people accessing drug and alcohol services.
• Knowledge of safeguarding, risk assessment and risk management.
• Understanding of relevant legislation, national guidance and policy relating to services.
• Experience of working with people with complex needs, including co-occurring mental health conditions.
• The ability to analyse evidence and provide objective, balanced and professional judgement.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• The ability to work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary assessment team.
• Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and reducing health inequalities.

What you'll bring

We are looking for individuals who

• Act with integrity and professionalism.
• Are able to provide constructive challenge.
• Can make evidence-based professional judgements.
• Have a strong commitment to improving outcomes for people who use services.
• Are passionate about high-quality, safe and effective care.
• Can work collaboratively and respectfully with colleagues and providers.

Being a Specialist Advisor

This role can be undertaken as either a Casual Worker, paid directly to a personal bank account by the CQC for attending in your own time (non-working days, annual leave) or as a seconded position if your service is registered with the CQC and agrees to the secondment. Seconded SpAs' organisations agree in principle that their employees can attend CQC assessments and the seconded SpA seeks their line manager's permission to take leave to attend individual inspections, which can last from one to three days. The seconded SpA's organisation then invoices the CQC for the time the SpA spent away from their substantive role. Please note this is invoiced at the SpA day rate.

You will be offered opportunities to support assessments with 6 weeks’ notice whenever possible, however, you will also be contacted for more short notice support on occasions. You are under no obligation to accept an assessment should it be offered and it not be convenient for you. We are not able to guarantee you a set number of assessment opportunities in a one-year period. You may be offered one a month or one in the whole year depending on the focus of the assessment programme.

If successful at interview we aim to conclude your pre-engagement checks within a 6-8 week window, please complete all forms and take actions to assist the team in achieving this. You will be provided with a dedicated onboarding peer who will support you in completing pre-engagement checks and will be on hand to answer any questions you have.

Please note this role is subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

You will be required to have a current DBS certificate under 3 years old, and we require references going back three years. If you've been with the same employer for three years’ then we'll only require one reference.

Expected time commitment for formal assessments...

• Must be able to commit to at least 2 full assessments within a 12-month period.
• Preparation and planning calls prior to assessment activity.
• Fieldwork activity, typically lasting between 1-3 days on site per assessment.
• Ad hoc advice and input relating to documentation and interviews as required.
• Input into quality assurance activities, typically 6 to 8 hours per assessment.

For an informal discussion or further information about this role, please contact Emma Whittingham-Berry via email at Emma.Whittingham-Berry@cqc.org.uk.

Eligibility to work

If you are successful at interview, CQC will need to verify your right to work in the UK using digital identity verification.

Details of how to complete the right to work check will be provided as part of the conditional offer of employment. If we are unable to verify your right to work digitally, we are required to complete this face to face at one of our CQC Offices.

Please be aware that we are unable to progress any offer of employment until right to work in the UK is confirmed.

We will require all successful applicants to be active in Professional Practice.

To access the full Job Description, please click the link below:

Specialist Advisor Job Description.

Individual Adjustments…

We are committed to being open and transparent around our processes and we endeavour to offer every candidate the opportunity to perform at their best throughout the recruitment process.

We seek to support candidates to identify potential challenges and work with them to identify and facilitate individual adjustments as appropriate.

Should you require assistance and/or would like to request an adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please contact a member of the team via email: temprecruitment@cqc.org.uk.