Job Introduction
Are you ready to take that next step in your social work management career? We have a great opportunity for Head of Service to join our fantastic team over in Tamworth!
Within Staffordshire we have 8 district boroughs which are each led and coordinated by a District Lead. The equivalent of this role in other Local Authority Children's Services is often known as a Head of Service.
You will provide leadership and coordination, within the Tamworth district, of a range of functions and services to support families using a strength-based model. These services all focus upon building relationships through high support and high challenge with the overall aim of keeping families safely together.
Main Responsibility
You'll be:
- looking after the leadership, management, supervision, and performance across the whole system covering all spectrums of need.
- ensuring that robust arrangements are in place to make best use of the available resources and ensuring high quality support for children and families.
- one of eight other District Leads and so you'll work alongside those colleagues, promoting an ethos of a ‘whole system’ approach, sharing best practice and supporting each other as peers.
- supported by a Deputy District Lead who works across two districts, Tamworth and East Staffordshire.
- Additionally, you'll also take the lead for critical business functions across the county, for example Legal Gateway meetings.
You'll report to the Head of District Strategy and Delivery (Strategic Lead), and within this role you'll form part of a wider leadership team, working in partnership with key central functions to ensure appropriate solutions are identified for our children and families.
Your direct reports will cover the following cohorts:
Early Help, Child in Need and Children in need of protection, Children within our Care and children with disabilities, Care Leavers, and the coordination of EHC Plans for SEND across a defined geographical area.
For more information about how we work in Children and Families please visit our careers website: Children & Families - Careers at Staffordshire
The Ideal Candidate
You will :
- be social work qualified with Social Work England registration
- committed to ensuring children remain at the centre of everything we do
- ensure we have the child in the right part of the system at the right time
- have substantial post qualifying experience of working in statutory social work services for children and families
- have substantial experience of managing social work services for children
- a proven track record in effective and professional management of Children's services
- a clear and demonstrable knowledge and understanding of the Early Help, SEND, children with disabilities and Care Leavers agenda
- have a proven leadership qualities and the ability to inspire and motivate
- have a strong inter-personal skills with proven ability to develop and sustain effective relationships.
There will be a mix of office and remote working, with a couple of days office based per week and as and when meetings arise.
Interview Date: within 2 weeks of closing date
For more information, please get in touch with Bev Davis at beverley.davis@staffordshire.gov.uk please note Bev will be away until 5 August but will respond to any questions as soon as she returns.
About Staffordshire County Council
We are no ordinary county council:
Our Values:
The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.
Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:
We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.
We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.
Our benefits:
We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.
In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire
Our recruitment process:
As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities
As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.
As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.
