Head of Service (Multi Agency Child Protection Service)

Join Harrow Children’s Services and be part of an ambitious Children’s Social Care service improving outcomes for children and families. The London Borough of Harrow is embarking on an exciting period of change as we deliver a series of ambitious Children’s Reforms Programmes – including Families First, Best Start Family Hubs, Best Start in Life and SEND Reforms. We strive to help every child thrive and through the reforms we are reshaping our future support for children, young people and families across the borough.

As part of the Families First Programme, we are building a practice system where relationships are key, encouraging family led decision making and offering multi-disciplinary help when needed. We are creating a dedicated Multi-Agency Child Protection Service (MACPS) to have the lead role in keeping children and adolescents safe. The MACPS will be a new specialist unit of child protection expertise for the Borough with a direct link to the Local Safeguarding Partnership providing local intelligence to inform strategic planning for safeguarding children and adolescents across Harrow.

The MACPS will comprise several teams working with the most vulnerable children at risk of exploitation, neglect, abuse, violence and criminality. It will include dedicated Child and Adolescent Protection Teams which consist of Lead Child Protection Practitioners, Missing Officers, Police, Education and Health partners. The teams will work in collaboration with the Family Help and Children Looked After Services on a co-allocated basis to lead on Section 47 enquiries, chair strategy meetings, child protection conferences, support impactful protection plans and pre-proceedings, and promote Family Group Decision Making.

This is your opportunity to join us at a pivotal moment, influencing practice at a strategic level and creating the conditions for innovative practice. You will help shape the future of child protection in Harrow. We are recruiting a Head of Service and a Service Manager to establish and manage this new service.

What makes these roles special?

• Be part of a new dedicated service that sits at the heart of Harrow’s safeguarding arrangements, ambitious to strengthen quality and improve consistency.
• Champion the importance of relationships and family led, strengths based practice and systems thinking.
• Work closely with peers across children’s services and Harrow’s partners to foster a collaborative approach and contribute to services that aim to deliver outstanding outcomes for children.
• Be committed to inclusive and culturally competent practice, ensuring anti-discriminatory engagement with children and families.
• Have a key role in quality assurance to drive continuous improvement, modelling reflection and shared responsibility to nurture a culture of critical analysis, learning and innovation.

About You

The successful candidate will have:

• Significant leadership experience within statutory Children’s Social Care services.
• Qualified Social Worker with current Social Work England registration.
• Strong knowledge of child protection legislation, safeguarding frameworks and statutory guidance.
• Experience leading multi-agency services and working effectively with safeguarding partners.
• Proven ability to drive service improvement, quality assurance and performance management.
• Experience managing large teams, budgets and complex operational services.
• Strong strategic leadership, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience preparing services for inspection and delivering positive outcomes for children and families.