Job Introduction
Do you have a track record of delivering and sustaining high quality services for vulnerable children, including those in need of help and protection and children in care. If this is you, we have a fantastic opportunity for you to lead our 8 districts to ensure that families who engage with our teams receive the best quality service at the earliest opportunity. We’ve already made significant positive changes and we now want to further embed these making sure the voice of our children and young people is at the heart of all we do!
Main Responsibility
Through your leadership, management, and supervision of the 8 District Leads, you will be accountable for the strategic leadership and quality of practice of Staffordshire’s Children and Families Services. You will do this by promoting innovation and creativity, and having a clear vison for high support and high challenge services.
This is a key role in which you will promote consistency of practice, lead partnership working and lead and encourage a learning culture informed by performance and data and supported by a range of quality assurance functions in each District.
You will be the accountable lead for Staffordshire County Council’s statutory Early Help Offer and you’ll ensure that all the statutory responsibilities for children supported by the districts, are fulfilled and understood by internal and external partners and stakeholders.
This role will work strategically across the children’s services system with partners, the District Leads and the Central functions to improve outcomes for children, young people and families. The relationship with the AD Commissioning & Partnerships will be vital to ensuring a holistic approach is taken to our earliest and Early Help across the system.
Reporting into the Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care you’ll provide insight and evidence on emerging risks, performance issues and quality of practice, ensuring that the service delivery is of high quality and robust.
The Ideal Candidate
Our job description and Person Specification which can be viewed in our advert on our job board at Jobs and careers with Staffordshire County Council shows all the knowledge, skills and experience needed for this post but as a minimum you’ll need to:
- Be a qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England
- Have a relevant professional/management qualification or evidence of substantial management training
- Substantial post qualification experience within children’s social care
- Substantial experience of managing children’s social work services
- Substantial supervisory and management experience and knowledge of relevant HR guidance and procedure relating to people management
- Good working knowledge of Looked After Children and Care Leavers agenda
- Proven leadership qualities and the ability to inspire and motivate
- Strong inter-personal skills with proven ability to develop and sustain effective relationships
- High level analytical, presentational and communication skills
But above all, you’ll be the strategic lead aiming for Staffordshire who will deliver a consistent service in children’s social care across all eight districts in Staffordshire. Driven by a passion for improving the lives of children and families you’ll be focused to achieve excellence in the operational delivery of Children’s Early Help and Safeguarding Services across the county.
Want to find out more?
For more information or an informal chat about this role please contact Nisha Gupta (Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care) at nisha.gupta@staffordshire.gov.uk
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 Silver 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.
