Team Manager – Children & Families – DfE (Hybrid)

Job Category: Social Care Non-Qualified

Job location: Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford, Central Bedfordshire, SG17 5TQ

Hours per week: 37

Start date: Immediate start

Salary: £255.92 per hour

About the role:

1 week in 3 office based for duty week, 2 days a week office based on other days or based on need. Families come in all shapes and sizes - and sometimes, they need extra support. As a children's social worker in Central Bedfordshire, you’ll be part of that extended family, offering guidance, care, and stability when it’s needed most. At Central Bedfordshire Council, we work like a family - supporting each other, sharing knowledge, and creating a collaborative environment where you can grow your career and make a lasting impact on the lives of our residents.

As a Team Manager:

• You will be a qualified social worker, who holds a Social Work England registration.
• You will have post qualifying experience in statutory social work in the child protection area.

Responsibilities:

In Central Bedfordshire Children's Services, we put our children and young people first in everything we do. We work as one team close to our communities and partners to make a difference in the lives of children and young people, help keep them safe and inspire them to achieve. As a Team Manager with our Family Help Service, you will support a multi-disciplined team of Social Workers and Family Practitioners delivering assessment care planning and intervention to families being supported under targeted early help, child in need and child protection pathways.

You are expected to attend the office base at least twice weekly and additionally in line with service needs - we encourage the teams to have once weekly in-person contact as a whole team/service. You will have experience of working in a multi-disciplinary environment. You will be confident and competent at making decisions to safeguard and protect young people. You will be able to take a key role in planning, developing, and improving services whilst being empathetic and sensitive to the needs of those reporting to you.

You should know how to measure and monitor practice and performance to ensure individuals and the service as a whole operates to a consistently good standard. Diplomatic, fair and robust enough to deal with complaints and challenges are vital to being successful in this role. You will be an influential negotiator when dealing with potential and actual conflict and will have excellent communication skills and be able to convey complex messages in a straightforward way, both verbally and in writing. It is essential you will not be afraid to think creatively to solve problems.

This role requires excellent management and leadership skills and ability to work effectively in partnership with young people, families, and other professionals. You will have significant experience in working in statutory services, safeguarding services and regulated services.

The Team Manager will report directly to the Service Manager and will be making day to day safeguarding decisions, HR actions and any other tasks as required. As part of this role you will have regular and “at point of need” supervision and support from both the Service Manager or Head of Service. You will work with a dynamic and motivated management team who are passionate about our children and young people being the best versions of themselves and about supporting and promoting the professional development of our colleagues.

Qualifications:

Essential requirement for the role: Social work Degree and Social Work England registration as well as a minimum of 2 years experience as a manager or leader of people.