Team Manager - Children's Social Work - Assessment Service
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TEAM MANAGER - CHILDREN'S SOCIAL CARE
ASSESSMENT SERVICE
£59,129 to £62,201pa (includes £5k market supplement)
Hybrid working – Newham Dockside E16 2QU
Closing date: 05/12/2023 - please apply ASAP as we may interview shortlisted candidates before the closing date
JOB DESCRIPTION
We Are Newham.
We’re a vibrant, dynamic, culturally rich London Borough with a young population and bags of potential. We’re a challenging yet rewarding place to practise social work, with the networks in place to enable you to be the best social worker you can be and make a real difference to our children and their families. Our social care services were rated to be GOOD overall by Ofsted, with leadership rated as OUTSTANDING, but we have not stopped striving to be better.
We’ve been working tirelessly to establish a Centre of Excellence for Children’s Services through investment, co-production and by continuously developing our 'Circles of Support' practice model; centring on systemic and restorative practice and a specialist support offer for our practitioners.
Ofsted described Newham as having a positive culture of learning and development and we always try to develop talent in-house. We’ve promoted 40 internal social work colleagues during the past two years, and have put 46 practitioners through further education since 2020. We value your development and at Newham career progression is reality for many.
We understand that social work can be a challenging yet ultimately very rewarding profession that makes demands of you personally and professionally. In Newham we value your wellbeing and ensure that you have the support needed for a better work/life balance through a remote working offer when you are not visiting your children and families, a pleasant, modern office space for when you are in the office, a flexible working policy where all requests are considered, and a clinical offer to support you to do your best work.
Apply now, and be part of our success.
ABOUT THE JOB
Team Managers play a key role in our Circles of Support by ensuring that our social workers feel supported and that high quality practice is delivered to children and families. Team Managers are expected to show strong but compassionate leadership and create a secure team environment of open discussion/challenge whilst allowing systemic practice to flourish.
Reporting to a Service Manager, Team Managers in Assessment lead teams of 6-7 social workers and are supported by an Assistant Team Manager and are on duty only 1 in 6 weeks. Our managers are only expected on site at Newham Dockside 1-2 days per week and when on duty.
In the Assessment service you will provide holistic support for your team, understanding the importance of supported learning, development and ambition, as well as staff wellbeing. With this in mind, in the Assessment Service we recognise the rewards as well as the challenges that the nature of the work brings. We have a bespoke offer through our very own clinical service and support to social work teams is provided following duty week through our ‘Duty Debrief’ meeting. Our embedded systemic family psychotherapist facilitates group discussion and the processing of the duty week experience, and it is an opportunity to share observations among the team, to identify and address challenges, and support colleagues.
For more information and a full list of duties please download the job description.
ABOUT YOU
You are a qualified social worker, registered with Social Work England and have management experience in an Assessment specialised service.
We're looking for resilient, experienced Team Managers who are passionate about improving children and young people’s lives. You pride yourself on supporting and developing people and practice, approaching management with energy and enthusiasm whilst always finding time to lend a sympathetic ear to the social workers in your team. You are an experienced systemic practitioner who takes a creative but pragmatic approach to practice, encouraging high standards in others for the residents that we serve. You’re happiest assisting and inspiring your team towards achieving their goals, stepping in where needed to achieve positive outcomes for our children and their families. You already embrace our people-focused values and want to be an active part of Newham Circles of Support. You’re not afraid of change. You want a career defining role.
You have experience and an understanding of working within a diverse, urban community; and share our ambition and energy in embracing new ways of working. You have high working standards and are conscious of the importance of professional development for yourself and your team. You are always open to learning and to helping others learn so that children and families can benefit from our best practice.
We’re looking for Managers who have a genuine interest in a restorative, relationship based practice model drawing on systemic thinking to inform your approach to building effective relationships with children, families and communities.
WHY WORK WITH US?
We've been working hard to make Newham a great place to practise.
- We’re a GOOD local authority and have established a centre of excellence for Children’s Services.
- Ofsted reported that we have OUTSTANDING senior leadership.
- Stability: 100% of our Service Managers and 71% of Team Managers are permanent.
- Our firmly established practice model, Circles of Support, was recently nominated for the prestigious MJ Award for Innovation in Children’s Services and allows systemic, restorative practice to flourish.
- We offer genuine flexible working, with only 1 day in the office per week (off duty)
- Career progression; we’ve promoted 40 internal colleagues in the past 2 years.
- Social Care Academy – 47 social workers have studied for systemic higher education with us since 2020.
- A competitive package of up to £SALARY (includes market supplement).
- Oyster card/parking permit for business use.
- Wellbeing service, leisure and discount benefits (Council scheme).
- Travel season ticket loan, cycle scheme, Local Authority pension.
TO APPLY
To apply please submit your CV and a supporting statement (1-2 sides of A4) through our online recruitment portal.
The supporting statement should demonstrate how you meet the relevant requirements listed in the person specification in the job description.
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 and CV.
Closing date: 05/12/2023 at 23:59 – but please apply ASAP as we may interview before this date.
Interviews before the Christmas break
If you have any questions about the recruitment process or want to discuss joining Newham Children’s Services with one of our managers, please contact our Recruitment Team.
Additional Information
We are committed to creating an inclusive, anti-racist environment for all. When you apply for