RQ1774753 – Service Manager – Children’s Social Care

Job Details

Work Pattern: Minimum of 3 days in the office, 37 hours per week, (9am till 5:30pm)

PAYE Pay Rate: £500 per day

Main Purpose of the Role

To lead and manage a high-quality children’s social work service, ensuring children and families receive timely, effective and safe support in line with statutory requirements. The role will provide strong leadership, manage complex safeguarding risks, oversee performance and practice, and drive continuous service improvement.

Typical Day

A typical day may involve managing and supporting social work teams, reviewing complex cases, making safeguarding decisions, monitoring performance and workloads, attending multi-agency meetings, working with schools, health and police partners, managing resources and budgets, and providing professional advice to practitioners and senior managers.

Key Responsibilities

  • Lead, manage and develop social work teams to deliver high-quality outcomes for children and families.
  • Provide professional advice and make decisions on complex safeguarding cases.
  • Act as the Lead Designated Child Protection Officer for the district.
  • Manage risk and ensure appropriate safeguarding processes are followed.
  • Monitor workloads, case progression, performance and service standards.
  • Lead practice development, quality assurance, audits and continuous improvement.
  • Work closely with Early Help, CAMHS, schools, health, police and voluntary-sector partners.
  • Support strategic planning and implementation of service improvements.
  • Analyse performance information and use data to improve service delivery.
  • Manage budgets, resources and commissioning activity effectively.
  • Support and implement changes to policies, procedures and statutory guidance.
  • Represent the service at meetings and court hearings where required.
  • Ensure confidentiality, information governance and professional standards are maintained.

Key Skills

  • Strong leadership and people-management skills.
  • Excellent safeguarding and risk-management expertise.
  • Strong knowledge of children’s social care legislation and statutory guidance.
  • Ability to manage complex cases and make sound professional decisions.
  • Strong analytical, performance-management and quality-assurance skills.
  • Excellent communication, influencing and negotiation skills.
  • Ability to manage competing priorities in a complex environment.
  • Strong partnership-working and stakeholder-management skills.
  • Strategic thinking with the ability to drive service improvement.
  • Resilient, proactive and able to work autonomously.
  • Strong budget and resource-management skills.

Essential Qualifications & Requirements

  • Recognised Social Work qualification.
  • Current Social Work England registration.
  • Significant experience leading, managing and developing social work teams.
  • Extensive experience managing complex safeguarding cases and risk.
  • Strong knowledge of relevant children’s social care legislation, policy and statutory guidance.
  • Experience of performance management, quality assurance and service improvement.
  • Experience managing change and delivering service improvements.
  • Experience managing resources and/or budgets.
  • Proven partnership-working experience with agencies such as schools, health, police and other professionals.
  • Ability to work effectively in a complex and demanding environment.
  • Enhanced DBS with Children’s Barred List check required.

Desirable

  • Higher degree, Master’s degree or equivalent postgraduate qualification.
  • Experience of project management and delivering service-change projects.
  • Knowledge of systemic interventions and social learning theory.
  • Experience within a Family Safeguarding model.