Head of Service - Older People & Disability

Newham is a vibrant inner-city borough with excellent transport links to the rest of London and South-East England, including Kent, Essex, Surrey and Middlesex. 72% of the population are from Black, Asian and diversely ethnic communities, contributing to 220 languages being spoken in the area. Proud to be home to one of the youngest and most diverse cultures across the country, Newham is an exciting and challenging borough that is committed to putting people at the heart of everything we do.

The Borough boasts iconic landmarks such as, Green Street, the Olympic Park, Excel centre, Westfield Shopping Centre and the University of East London. Newham is changing rapidly, benefiting from significant investment, creating new jobs, homes and opportunities for all. We expect to see an additional 2,500 jobs created over the next decade, injecting £1.5 billion to the local economy.

As Newham’s economy increases, we want to ensure a high-quality and safe environment for the community around us. Aware of the adverse effects that climate change, pollution and congestion brings, we have outlined key objectives within the corporate plan to provide a safe, clean and sustainable borough, supporting a community where our residents can thrive.

The council is led by directly elected Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, and 60 locally elected councillors who make decisions on how to provide local services on behalf of the local people. The Mayor is responsible for all executive decisions, providing strategic leadership across the borough. The day to day delivery of council services is led by Chief Executive, Althea Loderick.

We have restructured the senior management team within Operations. Most posts have been newly created and this new, strengthened structure was introduced in the Autumn of 2020. The post of Head of Service – Older People and Disability is one of these new posts. It has been occupied by an interim worker who has been doing a sterling job of embedding new models and ways of working. There is still a long way to go and a lot to improve upon, but a strong legacy has been left for you to take up the reigns to drive forward change, improvement and ambition.

We are looking for candidates with a suitable qualification and an impressive track record in the management of adult social care services. You will have proven experience in developing and driving teams to operational excellence, whilst supporting a whole systems approach to performance management, continuous improvement and the changing demands of the Borough’s needs.

If you’re ambitious, have strong leadership skills, can identify innovative solutions by challenging the status quo, and have a solid track record in driving change and improvement, I would encourage you to join us on this exciting journey to make a positive impact on people’s lives.

Read more about our vision in the below documents: 

. To have responsibility for the effective delivery of the statutory responsibilities of the Local Authority to people with social care needs aged 18 and above.

 · To ensure the provision of high quality, person centred, safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services in line with relevant legislation and best practice models.

· To provide strategic and operations management to ensure that the service meets the needs of people who use services and their carers, that the use of 2 these services is maximised, that performance is monitored and managed and value for money is achieved.

 · To manage people, delegated budgets and other resources, utilising them innovatively and creatively to benefit service provision, ensuring expenditure is contained within cash limited budgets and risk and need are balanced, to deliver Council objectives and the best possible outcomes for people who use services and carers.

 · To ensure effective partnership working with Health partners, other statutory services, the voluntary sector and other stakeholders to ensure that the service delivers a high quality and efficient service within resources.

 · To ensure services are provided and developed in such a way that promotes independence, choice and social inclusion.

 · To support the Director of Operations in the development and implementation of the national agenda for Adult Social Care whilst making a significant contribution to the national and local priorities of the Department.

Newham Adult Social Care Operations is currently divided into three service areas: Older People and Disabilities, Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Vulnerable Adults and Internal Provider Services.

Each service area is made up of a number of teams and functions as below:

We currently have an interim Senior Management structure in place following some recent changes, please see interim structure chart below:

For more information please click on the job Specification Link:

The closing date for applications is 16th August 2021

Interviews to be held 2nd and 3rd September 2021

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 Newham Redeployees.

The London Borough of Newham is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable groups and expects staff and volunteers to share this commitment. 

Please be aware that a Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS) check will be required for any position with access to these groups under the provision of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

In addition, the Authority reserves the right  to request employees undertake a basic disclosure check (Disclosure Scotland) where required for the role this includes  anyone who has access to (or information obtained directly from) a government database, or has a GCSX account. These posts will be required to have a Basic Disclosure Scotland check as per the requirements of BPSS (Baseline Personnel Security Standards).