Children’s Team Manager - Family Support and Protection

Role: Team Manager - Family Support and Protection

Salary: Grade L - £55,158- £58,197 plus retention allowance of £4971 per annum and zones 2&3 travel card

Contract: Perm

Location: LBTH Town Hall, 106 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1BJ

About Us

We believe that the best place for children is to be raised within their own families, immediate or wider, wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so.​

In Tower Hamlets we are committed to building relationships and strengthening families by working with people in a compassionate and understanding way. ​

We are ambitious for Tower Hamlets children and families and endeavour for every child and young person to be healthy, safe and successful.

Tower Hamlets is a progressive, ambitious and diverse place to work. We place children and families at the heart of everything that we do and are relentless in our pursuit of positive outcomes for all.

Our Better Together Practice Framework is based on the ideas and concepts which underpin Restorative Practice and draws from other strength-based approaches, such as Systemic and Trauma Informed Practice

Our C-Change approach: Connect, Curious, Community, Co-Produce, Collaborate, Check,  sets out “6 Cs ” for our work with children, young people their parents and carers, and each other.

Team Managers are integral to our offer. They empower, provide high support and challenge along with motivating our social workers so we can collectively achieve best outcomes for children, young people and their families in Borough.

The role

We are recruiting Team Managers post in Family Support and Protection Service in the Supporting Families Division. The Team Manager posts will be based at LBTH Town Hall, in Whitechapel and work with children and young people.

Our Family Support and Protection Service consists of 10 social work teams, and as the Team Manager you will be responsible for leading Social Workers and Advanced Practitioners in your teams specialising in either Child in Need, Child Protection or Children in Care cases. You will ensure that the team is supported and all interventions being undertaken are planned, purposeful and focussed. Fundamentally making sure that risk is managed well and intervention is only undertaken when it is in the child’s best interests.

About the role

• Provide leadership and management of the Team ensuring there is a clear focus on purpose and outcomes
• Ensure the Team(s) achieve the required outcomes, including a strong focus on children and families, to include the ongoing identification of the needs of the client group.
• Achieve positive outcomes for children within the social care system, ensuring that children are safeguarded through effective decision making and practice
• Ensure social work intervention in the lives of children and families is of a consistently high standard and meets the needs of Tower Hamlets diverse communities.
• To ensure equality of access to social work services

 About you

• Have a good knowledge and understanding of child protection practices
• Provide direct line management and supervision to practitioners including ASYEs who work with children and young people under statutory obligations
• Manage and lead staff to achieve high performance and effective operational delivery, including developing and improving staff capability
• Be responsible for and report upon the teams budgetary position, ensuring affective use of resources
• Establish and maintain positive relationships with key partner agencies in order to develop and support children and families who are in need
• Support children to achieve permanency when children become looked after
• Commitment to your own personal development and professional growth

 Requirements

• Working knowledge of the legislative framework within which Social Care operates, inclusive of regulation, national guidance and procedures specific to this post.
• Thorough understanding of quality assurance an ability to integrate this understanding into practice
• A nationally recognised or other social work England recognised social work qualification
• social work experience and experience of supervising/mentoring others
• A commitment to working transparently; in partnership with children, young people, families, and partner agencies

 See JD for full details

 Our offer

We've been working hard to make Tower Hamlets a great place to practice social work. We are committed to developing excellent managers and practitioners and making Tower Hamlets an employer of choice. 

 If you choose to work with us you will benefit from:

 A competitive salary - £55,158 - £58,197 plus retention allowance of £4,971 per annum and zones 2&3 travel card

• Up to 31 days annual leave rising to 32 days with 5 years continual service and 8 bank holidays
• Zone 2-3 travel card, season ticket loan
• Opportunities to develop your practice, with a clear framework for career development/leadership programme
• Good quality, regular, reflective supervision
• Manageable caseloads for your team
• Enhanced sick pay scheme, maternity/adoption leave pay and maternity support leave
• Opportunities for agile/flexible working 
• Cycle to work scheme/ Rent deposit scheme/Access to free eye tests
• Discounted gym/Costco membership & You at Work discounts and many others

We have fantastic transport links –Tower Hamlets Town Hall is directly opposite Whitechapel Station, which is a minute away. Whitechapel is an interchange station which serves Hammersmith & City, District, Overground, with quick access to central line DLR and Jubilee lines. We also have the Crossrail Elizabeth line with links to Canary Wharf, Shenfield/Abbey Wood/Heathrow and Stratford, which is the best-connected hub in London.

How to Apply:

Please complete the application form on our online application system and upload your CV.

Closing date: 29^th February 2024

Shortlisting - week commencing 4th March 2024

Interviews: 12th March 2024 (please hold this date)

If you would like any further information about the role, please contact Jaishree Bisht at Jaishree.Bisht@towerhamlets.gov.uk or Priti Soni at Priti.Soni@towerhamlets.gov.uk

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Tower Hamlets vision for our borough is that: people are aspirational, independent and have equal access to opportunities; we are a borough that our residents are proud of and love to live in; and we are a dynamic, outcomes-based council using digital innovation and partnership working to respond to the changing needs of our borough. We want people who aspire to our TOWER values: Together; Open; Willing; Excellent; Respect.

Tower Hamlets has a zero-tolerance approach to, and works to eradicate, all forms of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital status, status as a civil partner, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and maternity and looks to employ a diverse workforce representative of those groups. We recognise that people can also be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class.

We welcome applicants interested in flexible working arrangements and also applicants who live in the borough. 

We are a Disability Confident Employer, which means applicants who declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the post are guaranteed an interview. Care experience has also been adopted by the Council as an additional protected characteristic.