Team Manager - Multi-Agency Child Protection Team

Team Manager - Multi-Agency Child Protection Team

Lambeth Children's Services is seeking an experienced Team Manager to join the Multi-Agency Child Protection Team (MACPT) and play a central role in strengthening statutory child protection practice across Children's Services. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of an ambitious service that is improving outcomes for children and families across the borough.

The London Borough of Lambeth is embarking on an exciting period of change, delivering a series of ambitious Children's Reforms Programmes — including Families First, Best Start Family Hubs, Best Start in Life, and SEND Reforms. As part of the Families First Programme, Lambeth is building a practice system where relationships are key, working alongside children and families, encouraging family-led decision making and offering multi-disciplinary help when it is needed. The MACPT sits at the heart of this, with the lead role in keeping children and adolescents safe.

The Team Manager will provide management oversight and assurances around safeguarding procedures, supporting the team in offering consultations, challenge and guidance to social workers and partner agencies, promoting high-quality analysis, defensible decision-making and child-centred planning. This role requires the majority of time to be spent within the borough, working closely with children, families, social workers, managers, and multi-agency safeguarding partners. Key responsibilities include:

• Leading and coordinating the team of Lead Child Protection Practitioners (LCPPs) to oversee Section 47 child protection enquiries across Children's Services
• Ensuring thresholds and consistency in LCPPs chairing strategy meetings, child protection conferences, and other complex multi-agency safeguarding discussions
• Supporting LCPPs to ensure timely, evidence-informed and defensible decision-making where children may be suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm
• Promoting high standards of recording, analysis, information-sharing, and quality assurance across the child protection pathway
• Modelling relational, strengths-based, trauma-informed, and culturally competent practice with children, families, and professionals

If you are ready to bring expert child protection leadership to a role where your professional judgement, challenge, and partnership working will make a direct difference, Lambeth would welcome your application.

About you

Lambeth is looking for a confident and experienced practitioner who can bring professional authority, sound judgement, and a strong commitment to child-centred safeguarding. The successful candidate will have significant operational experience in statutory child protection and a strong understanding of intra-familial and extra-familial harm, including adolescent exploitation and risk outside the home.

The ideal candidate will:

• Hold a recognised social work qualification and current Social Work England registration
• Have significant management experience in safeguarding
• Demonstrate detailed knowledge of child protection legislation, statutory guidance, the London Child Protection Procedures, and relevant multi-agency safeguarding processes
• Have experience of chairing or leading complex child protection meetings, including strategy discussions, child protection conferences, or risk outside the home meetings
• Demonstrate strong risk analysis, professional curiosity, and the ability to hold complexity, uncertainty, and multiple hypotheses
• Be able to work collaboratively with families and partners while providing clear professional challenge when needed
• Be committed to inclusive and culturally competent practice, ensuring anti-discriminatory engagement with children and families

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, satisfactory health and work record, and the ability to travel for business purposes where required. Lambeth is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

About Lambeth

Located in the heart of South London, Lambeth Borough is a vibrant community. Stretching from the dynamic neighbourhood of Streatham in the South to the iconic landmarks of Waterloo in the North, we are proud to be the 9th largest borough in London. Our diversity is our strength, with more than 130 languages spoken, making Lambeth the home of the Windrush generation, London's largest LGBTQ+ community, and a thriving Portuguese-speaking community.

With exceptional schools, lush green spaces including Brockwell Park, cultural gems like the Black Cultural Archives, and world-renowned institutions such as St Thomas's Hospital, Lambeth offers an enriching and dynamic environment. The Civic Centre is just a short walk from the main underground and train station.

“Lambeth – a borough with social and climate justice at its heart. By harnessing the power and pride of our people and partnerships, we will proactively tackle inequalities so that children and young people can have the best start in life and so everyone can feel safe and thrive in a place of opportunity.”

In Lambeth, we offer our social workers:

• Fantastic, modern working environment in the award-winning Lambeth Town Hall and Civic Centre buildings
• Competitive Salary, often including a generous market supplement (depending on the role)
• Up to 35 days annual leave, dependent upon continuous service
• 5 Minutes from London Underground and excellent transport links into the centre of London
• Cycle to Work Scheme (including City Bike Hire scheme)
• A permanent senior leadership team in QA
• Manageable caseloads that enable connection with families

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