At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and improve Corporate Parenting services for children in care and their families.
- Company: Local Authority dedicated to enhancing the lives of children and young people.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, meaningful work, and the chance to make a real difference.
- Other info: Join a supportive team focused on continuous improvement and impactful outcomes.
- Why this job: Shape the future for vulnerable children and young people while driving positive change.
- Qualifications: Social Work qualification and significant leadership experience in children's services.
The predicted salary is between 37035 - 45265 £ per year.
- 8 Month Contract With A local Authority
- Job Purpose
To provide strategic and operational leadership for Corporate Parenting services, ensuring children in care, care experienced young people, foster carers, kinship carers, and families receive high-quality, effective, and relationship-based support.
The postholder will lead services across children in care, fostering, kinship care, permanence, and preparation for adulthood, ensuring children and young people experience stable placements, strong relationships, effective care planning, and timely pathways to permanence.
As a senior leader within Childrenâ s Services, the postholder will provide visible, restorative, and child-centred leadership, driving continuous improvement in practice, performance, quality, and outcomes.
They will ensure the Council fulfils its corporate parenting responsibilities and that the voices, wishes, and lived experiences of children and young people are central to service development and decision making.
The postholder will work collaboratively with senior leaders, elected members, practitioners, carers, children and young people, and partner agencies to strengthen corporate parenting arrangements and improve outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide strategic and operational leadership for Corporate Parenting services, ensuring high-quality support and positive outcomes for children in care, care experienced young people, families, foster carers, and kinship carers.
- Lead service improvement across children in care, fostering, kinship care, permanence, and preparation for adulthood.
- Develop and implement strategies that deliver measurable improvements in practice, performance, quality, and outcomes.
- Ensure effective oversight of care planning, permanence, placement stability, pathway planning, transitions to adulthood, and the achievement of positive outcomes for children and young people.
- Promote a strong corporate parenting culture across the Council, ensuring all relevant services understand and fulfil their responsibilities towards children in care and care experienced young people.
- Ensure statutory duties and responsibilities relating to Corporate Parenting are met consistently and effectively.
- Use performance data, quality assurance activity, audit findings, inspection outcomes, complaints, feedback, and other intelligence to identify areas for improvement and drive service development.
- Champion restorative, strengths-based, trauma-informed, and relationship-based approaches to practice.
- Promote high professional standards and ensure practice is child-centred, evidence-informed, and focused on achieving positive outcomes.
- Lead workforce development and support the development of a confident, capable, motivated, and reflective workforce.
- Ensure children and young peopleâ s wishes, feelings, voices, and lived experiences meaningfully influence service development, decision making, care planning, and quality assurance.
- Work closely with education, health, housing, employment, voluntary sector, and other partners to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for children in care and care experienced young people.
- Strengthen partnership working with foster carers, kinship carers, families, practitioners, and external agencies.
- Provide effective leadership and oversight of complex safeguarding, placement, performance, quality, workforce, and resource issues.
- Contribute to the wider strategic leadership and development of Childrenâ s Services.
- Fulfil the responsibilities of Agency Decision Maker in accordance with relevant legislation, regulations, and Council procedures.
- Lead significant resource management, ensuring services are delivered effectively, efficiently, and within agreed budgets.
- Provide strong leadership during periods of change, improvement, inspection, and service transformation.
- Ensure effective governance, risk management, quality assurance, and performance management arrangements are in place.
- Work closely with elected members and senior officers to provide assurance on Corporate Parenting performance, risks, priorities, and improvement activity.
- Represent the Council and Childrenâ s Services at relevant strategic partnerships, boards, forums, and external meetings.
- Promote equality, diversity, inclusion, and anti-discriminatory practice across all Corporate Parenting services.
- Undertake other duties appropriate to the level and responsibilities of the role as directed by senior management.
Requirements
Essential
- Recognised Social Work qualification.
- Current registration with Social Work England.
- Significant post-qualifying professional development relevant to statutory children and family social work, safeguarding leadership, Corporate Parenting, and service development.
- Management or leadership qualification, or equivalent demonstrable senior leadership experience.
- Significant senior management experience within statutory childrenâ s social care.
- Extensive knowledge of legislation, statutory guidance, regulations, and policy relating to children in care, care experienced young people, fostering, kinship care, permanence, and preparation for adulthood.
- Significant experience of leading and improving Corporate Parenting services or comparable statutory childrenâ s social care services.
- Strong experience of managing complex safeguarding, placement, performance, quality, workforce, and resource pressures.
- Demonstrable experience of leading service improvement and delivering measurable improvements in practice and outcomes.
- Strong understanding of effective care planning, permanence, placement stability, pathway planning, and transitions to adulthood.
- Experience of using performance data, audit, quality assurance, inspection findings, and feedback to drive service improvement.
- Experience of leading and developing professional teams within a complex statutory environment.
- Strong understanding of corporate parenting responsibilities and the importance of cross-Council ownership.
- Ability to develop effective relationships with children and young people, elected members, senior leaders, practitioners, carers, and partner agencies.
- Excellent strategic leadership, communication, influencing, and decision-making skills.
- Ability to manage significant budgets and resources effectively.
- Strong commitment to relationship-based, restorative, strengths-based, and child-centred practice.
- Ability to operate effectively at a senior level while maintaining a clear focus on frontline practice and outcomes for children and young people.
Desirable
- Experience of acting as or undertaking Agency Decision Maker responsibilities.
- Experience of leading fostering, kinship care, permanence, or leaving care services.
- Experience of working through Ofsted inspection, improvement, or transformation activity.
- Evidence of successful partnership working across education, health, housing, and other agencies.
- Experience of developing and implementing Corporate Parenting strategies and governance arrangements.
- Further leadership, management, or professional qualifications relevant to the role.
- Performance Standards
The postholder will be expected to
- Provide strong, visible, and values-led leadership across Corporate Parenting services.
- Ensure children in care and care experienced young people receive high-quality, consistent, and child-centred support.
- Deliver measurable improvements in service performance, quality, placement stability, permanence, and outcomes.
- Ensure children and young peopleâ s voices and lived experiences are central to decision making and service improvement.
- Maintain high professional standards and a strong culture of accountability, learning, and continuous improvement.
- Ensure statutory duties and Corporate Parenting responsibilities are effectively discharged.
- Build strong relationships across the Council and with external partners and carers.
- Use evidence, performance information, audit, inspection findings, and lived experience to inform strategic decisions.
- Manage risk, resources, and workforce pressures effectively while maintaining a clear focus on outcomes.
- Promote a culture where children and young people are listened to, respected, supported, and enabled to thrive throughout childhood and into adulthood.
- Additional Information
Location
Swindon, SN1
Hours per Week
Bi-Weekly Payments
Salary/wages are paid bi-weekly.
Head of Service - Corporate Parenting in Swindon employer: Civic Recruitment Limited
Civic Recruitment Limited is an excellent employer, offering a dynamic work environment where strategic leadership in the Special Educational Needs service can truly make a difference in children's lives. With a strong focus on collaboration and professional development, employees are encouraged to grow their skills while contributing to meaningful outcomes in the Bromley community. The supportive culture and commitment to high-quality services make this an attractive opportunity for those looking to lead impactful change.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Head of Service - Corporate Parenting in Swindon
✨Get Involved in Local Community Projects
One of the best ways to land a temporary role in social work is to dive headfirst into local community projects. Volunteer your time or skills at local charities or community centres to not only gain experience but also to connect with professionals in the field. They might just have some insider knowledge on temporary positions that pop up!
✨Engage with Social Work Networks
Join online forums and social media groups specifically for social workers. Platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn have dedicated groups where professionals share temporary job opportunities. Being an active member can help you stay in the loop and even get recommendations from those already in the field.
✨Attend Workshops and Seminars
Keep an eye out for workshops, seminars, or conferences related to social work in your area. These events aren't just great for learning; they're also hotbeds for networking! You never know who might be hiring or can point you towards a temporary position while you're soaking up new skills.
✨Apply Directly Through Our Website!
When you spot a role that piques your interest, especially for a temporary position, make sure to apply directly through our website! This not only shows your commitment to Civic Recruitment Limited, but also gives you an edge by putting your application right in front of the hiring team. Let’s get you moving on that path to your next opportunity!
We think you need these skills to ace Head of Service - Corporate Parenting in Swindon
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion for Social Work:In your cover letter, let's highlight why you're passionate about social work and how your values align with those of Civic Recruitment Limited. Share specific experiences where you made a difference, as this field thrives on genuine motivation and connection.
Demonstrate Relevant Experience:When listing your experience, focus on any internships, volunteer roles, or temporary positions you've had in social work or related fields. Those skills are gold! Think about situations where you helped individuals or communities, and don't forget to mention any relevant certifications, like safeguarding or mental health first aid.
Keep It Concise and Relevant:Remember, for a temporary role, hiring managers want to see how you fit in and can hit the ground running. Keep your CV clear and to the point, showcasing only the experience that really matters for the role at Civic Recruitment Limited. We recommend a two-page limit – make every word count!
Emphasise Flexibility and Adaptability:Considering this is a temporary position, it's vital to show you can adapt to new environments quickly. In your application, highlight any past experiences where you had to adjust to different teams or roles smoothly. This shows you understand the nature of temporary work and are ready for the challenge!
How to prepare for a job interview at Civic Recruitment Limited
✨Sharpen Your Empathy Skills
In social work, it's all about understanding and connecting with people from diverse backgrounds. Make sure to prepare some examples from your experience where you've demonstrated empathy and resilience. Practising active listening techniques can help you articulate your approach during the interview with Civic Recruitment Limited.
✨Know Your Frameworks
Familiarise yourself with key social work theories and frameworks, like the ecological systems theory or person-centred approaches. These concepts might pop up during your interview for the temporary Head of Service - Corporate Parenting role at Civic Recruitment Limited, so it's good to have a couple of insights ready to share.
✨Highlight Flexibility and Adaptability
Since this is a temporary position, showcasing your flexibility is key. Be prepared to discuss past experiences where you quickly adapted to new environments or changing client needs, which is crucial in the dynamic world of social work.
✨Prepare for Scenario-Based Questions
Expect some scenario-based questions that test your decision-making skills and ethical judgement. Think about how you would handle specific challenges you might face in the field. Having a clear structure for your answers will show Civic Recruitment Limited that you can think critically and act effectively under pressure.
