Director of Operations, Children's Social Care & Safeguarding
£104,253 - £120,576 pa | Permanent | Full-time | Newham Dockside | Closing date - 17.09.21
About us
Our ambition is for Newham to be a place where every child and young person enjoys the best possible opportunities in life – through outstanding education; first-rate youth services; exceptional family support, and social care services that ensure no child is left behind.
Newham is a unique place. The youngest and most diverse borough in London – with almost a quarter of residents aged under-18 and more than 100 languages spoken – it is an exciting and challenging place to work with children. Despite its extraordinary potential, this is a borough that experiences huge socio-economic challenges, deprivation and unemployment; with more than half of children living in poverty. To work to improve outcomes for children and young people in Newham is to be an agent of change.
About the role
This is key leadership role reporting to the Director of Children's Services with strategic responsibility for the delivery of a portfolio of activities and provision within the Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding service, including: corporate parenting responsibility; support for vulnerable and disabled children and young people and safeguarding.
You will help advance the service improvement plans as part of our journey towards delivering further improvements in Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding whilst also having leadership oversight of all our statutory safeguarding activities. With a strong focus on driving high quality consistent practice standards, you will lead the service to deliver even better outcomes for children and young people and to be the best they can be. In addition, a detailed understanding and awareness of the government agendas in respect of children's social care and safeguarding services, and the ability to translate them into local solutions is essential.
About you
Our expectations of the ideal candidate is that you will be an experienced leader of transformational change, with a track record of leading and developing Children’s Safeguarding services, together with a desire to make us an employer of choice where social work can flourish. We want our social workers to be able to work imaginatively whilst also continuing to grow, adapt and innovate – as well as maintaining our commitment to quality assurance. To do that we are seeking someone who can inspire confidence and has the interpersonal and networking style that pushes boundaries in our pursuit of excellence.
If you are interested in this role and would like an informal discussion with our Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services please contact Tim Aldridge on 077205 29016 or via email tim.aldridge@newham.gov.uk
Recruitment Timeline
- Closing Date: Friday 17th September 2021
- Technical interview date: Thursday 30th September 2021
- Stakeholder dates: Wednesday 13th October 2021 and Thursday 14th October 2021
- Final Member panel date: Wednesday 20th October 2021
Please note that these dates cannot be changed due to panel availability.