Service Manager Children in Care
Service Manager – Children in Care
£56,997 - £70,677
Permanent – Full time, flexible hours
Newham Dockside, E16 2QU
Deadline for applications: 22:00 on the 22/11/2020
ABOUT US
Newham Together – The best place for children and young people.
Children's social care at Newham is on a journey of transformation that will put people at the heart of everything we do and create opportunities for everyone. Our improvement journey is well underway and we are looking for an exceptional leader to contribute and make a real difference to the lives of our children in care. We're big on career development, learning, and training; and our positive organisational change offers a fantastic career development opportunity for leaders of practice to flourish.
We want to be a centre of excellence for Children’s social care by 2023, and the foundations of the clearly articulated ‘Newham Together’ model (based on Co-Production, Curiosity, Compassion, Confidence, Clarity and Community) along with a Practice Learning Framework and a Social Care Academy are now in place to help us get there. We are committed to improving life chances for our children in care, and investment in developing practice is key to this. We want to ensure that our children in care have the best life chances, that they are listened to, and that our practice is always improving with their welfare and safety at heart.
Apply now, and be the driving force behind a service that transforms young peoples’ lives.
ABOUT THE JOB
Reporting to the Head of Children in Care and Leaving Care, you will be expected to provide strong and visible leadership for the Children in Care service.
The Service Manager for Children in Care plays a critical role in driving high quality practice for children in Newham’s care. The role involves helping managers and practitioners to be the best they can be and creating the best practice environment for staff. In Newham we model and lead with high expectations and exceptional support – and the Service Manager will exemplify this culture. You’ll also be responsible for ensuring high standards of corporate parenting with the Local Authority and wider partnership.
As a leader in Newham you will be focused on embedding relationship based work in your service, and will be involved in escalated decisions, acting on behalf of the local authority as a corporate parent. Newham is on an improvement journey so in this role it’s vital to engage daily in conversations about what we can do better, in order to have a purposeful impact on the lives of Newham’s most vulnerable looked after children.
This service has 4 teams with responsibility for looked after children ranging from 0 to 18. Within the role you will support managers and staff in respect of young people who we are helping to prepare to leave our care, or move into our dedicated Leaving Care Service. Securing permanence for children is central to the work of the service, you will be responsible for overseeing that appropriate steps are taken with this aim in mind.
This is a fantastic opportunity to shape a service and drive improvements. Your work will really make a huge difference in these young people’s lives. This could be a career defining role.
For more details and a full list of duties please refer to the job description.
ABOUT YOU
‘People at the heart of everything we do’
You will be an inspiring leader who will work constructively and creatively with the managers reporting to you and the social workers responsible for directly working with children and young people. You will be a confident decision maker and able to instil confidence with children, staff, peers, and partners. You will be committed to Newham’s practice model of a Restorative approach with Systemic Practice across all services.
We're looking for an experienced service manager or highly experienced team manager who is passionate about improving children’s lives. You are full of energy and enthusiasm, taking a creative but pragmatic approach to supporting your teams to achieve positive outcomes for our children and young people. You already embrace our people focused values and want to be an active part of our collective ‘Newham Together’ journey. You want to make a difference. You like to shape services to ensure practice leaders and social workers provide high quality social work to our children and families.
We need you to be deeply interested in the conditions that make for the best social care practice and leadership. You will believe firmly in keeping our children in care at the centre of the decisions we make. You will need to believe in the value of meaningful, purposeful practice, and priorities for improvement. You will be kind, creative and supportive to others around you. You will have an excellent track record of delivering successful outcomes for young people within a diverse urban community. You have high working standards and are conscious of your own professional development, actively seeking avenues of learning and improvement for yourself and others.
For an informal discussion about the role please contact Carlos Galaz, Head of Children in Care and Leaving Care: carlos.galaz@newham.gov.uk
OUR OFFER
We've been working hard to make Newham a great place to practise social work.
We will offer you:
• A fantastic opportunity to shape a service and create a lasting legacy.
• A competitive salary of up to £70,677pa.
• Flexible working arrangements and the opportunity to work from home.
• Smarter Working with new modern technology.
• New Social Work Academy and training in systemic practice.
• 'Newham Together' - a positive, nurturing and collaborative work environment built on trust.
• Systemic and restorative practice will be helped and encouraged to flourish.
• Oyster card/parking permit for business use.
• Excellent transport links to the rest of the capital.
• Permanent and stable senior leadership with a consistent vision.
• Wellbeing service, leisure and discount benefits (Council scheme).
• We will be a ‘social work centre of excellence’ by 2023.
TO APPLY
You will need to submit a CV and provide a supporting statement. The supporting statement should demonstrate how you meet the relevant requirements listed in the person specification.
Shortlisting decisions will be based on candidates' relevant experience and on candidates' suitability for the role in line with the person specification, as described in their supporting statement.
Closing date: 22/11/2020.
Assessment and Interviews: 02/12/2020
Whilst affected by COVID-19, interviews will be facilitated by video, using Skype or Zoom.
Please view Service Manager jd
Additional Information
The London Borough of Newham is a Disability Confident employer. Candidates who declare that they have a disability in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and meet the essential criteria as specified in the Job Profile will be guaranteed an interview.
Priority consideration on all advertised roles will be given to London Borough of Newh