Service Manager – Fostering in Aylesbury

Buckinghamshire Council is looking for an experienced and motivated Service Manager for Fostering to lead a vital service that directly transforms children's lives. This senior leadership role has both strategic and operational impact, shaping the fostering offer across the county and ensuring children receive safe, nurturing and high-quality care. You will guide a large and dedicated workforce, champion best practice, and play a key part in delivering our Sufficiency Strategy, Residential Transformation Programme, and long-term financial planning. If you’re passionate about improving outcomes for children and want to lead a service that makes a tangible difference every day, this is an exceptional opportunity.

As Service Manager, you will take responsibility for the full range of fostering functions—including recruitment, assessment, approval, supervision, training and retention of foster carers and connected carers. You will ensure the service continues to meet all statutory requirements, including the Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011, the National Minimum Standards and Ofsted expectations. A key part of the role will involve strengthening our recruitment pathways, increasing carer retention, and ensuring we have the right placements available at the right time. You will oversee quality assurance and performance monitoring systems, ensuring the service uses data effectively to improve outcomes and support strategic planning. You will work closely with colleagues across placements, commissioning and residential services, building strong partnerships internally and regionally to deliver a consistent, trauma-informed and child-centred approach.

The role involves leading and developing up to five Team Managers and a wider workforce of up to 50 staff. You will set high standards, develop talent, and foster a culture of reflection, accountability and continuous improvement. You will also represent the Council in regional and national forums and provide professional advice to senior leaders and elected Members. In addition, you’ll support budget monitoring, contribute to the Medium-Term Financial Plan and produce key reports such as the annual fostering report and Ofsted self-assessment. Above all, you’ll ensure that the voices of children and foster carers are at the heart of service development, and that the principles of safeguarding, inclusion and equality remain central to everything we do.

You will be a qualified Social Worker (SWE registered) with substantial leadership experience in fostering or regulated children’s services. Your knowledge of fostering legislation, inspection frameworks and statutory processes will be comprehensive, and you will be comfortable operating within a complex local authority environment. Strong political awareness, confident communication skills and the ability to build productive relationships with senior leaders, regulators, partners and carers will be essential. You will bring proven experience of leading teams through change, developing a skilled and motivated workforce, and managing service performance effectively. You will have strong financial insight and be able to align services with strategic priorities and sufficiency needs. Your approach will be values-led, rooted in professionalism, integrity and a commitment to improving outcomes for children. We are looking for someone who embodies Buckinghamshire Council’s values of being Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy. You will have the resilience, energy and determination to drive improvement and maintain high standards, even in challenging circumstances, while promoting diversity, inclusion and anti-discriminatory practice.

If you would like to find out more about this role, please contact Dunya Alnawab at [email protected] Closing date: Midnight on Sunday 22nd February. We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).

Our values and culture: We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy. By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation. From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments. We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

We recognise and reward you: Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.