Head of Service Integrated Front Door and Emergency Duty Service in Suffolk

Location: Landmark House, Ipswich, with flexible / hybrid working options

Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract: Permanent

Be at the forefront of change. At Suffolk County Council, we are reshaping how we support children and families – with ambition, pace and purpose. This is a pivotal moment for our Children and Young People’s Services, and we are looking for an exceptional leader to take our Integrated Front Door and Emergency Duty Service into its next phase of improvement.

We have strengthened management oversight, increased our investment in quality assurance and worked hard to nurture a culture of learning and professional curiosity. A recent focused visit acknowledged stronger leadership, improved grip and a stable workforce with positive morale. It also identified areas where we must continue to build consistency – including timeliness of responses, the application of thresholds, the quality of assessments, and ensuring our multi‑agency arrangements operate as cohesively and effectively as they can.

We are clear about what still needs to improve, and we are determined to address it at pace to ensure children and families receive the right help at the right time. We are implementing an integrated Front Door model, aligned to the Families First agenda, backed by significant investment and the addition of 20 FTE roles. This is change on top of change. It requires resilience, clarity of vision and a relentless focus on children.

As Head of Service Integrated Front Door and Emergency Duty Service, you will lead our multi‑agency safeguarding hub and be the driving force behind a safe, responsive and child‑centred front door. You will ensure timely and robust decision‑making, consistent application of thresholds and strong management oversight. You will play a central role in landing the new model, embedding cultural change and providing assurance that children receive the right help at the right time.

Partnership is at the heart of this role. You will work closely with our wider partnership, holding each other to account while building respectful, effective relationships. You will help strengthen an increasingly confident safeguarding partnership, ensuring shared ownership of challenges and solutions. Internally, you will inspire and support managers and practitioners – to embrace a relational, strengths‑based approach and continuous improvement.

This is a strategic leadership role, but it demands operational credibility. You will need to be visible, present and ready to roll up your sleeves and lead by example – modelling high standards, strengthening recruitment and selection, and shaping a culture where innovation and professional curiosity thrive. You will lead through scrutiny, financial challenge and the wider context of local government reform, maintaining focus on what matters most: children’s safety and wellbeing.

We are looking for a qualified social worker with a proven track record, who is ready to lead at pace. You will be resilient and confident in complex systems. Most importantly, you will be child‑centred in every decision you make. In return, you will join a passionate and determined senior leadership team committed to getting this right.

Suffolk is a warm and ambitious county with strong corporate and political support for children’s services, significant investment in our integrated front door, and a genuine appetite for reform. This is a career-defining opportunity to lead meaningful change – and to see the domino effect of getting the front door right ripple across the whole system. If you are ready for a challenge that will stretch and inspire you in equal measure, we would love to hear from you. Come and help us build a front door that Suffolk’s children and families deserve.

To find out more please contact our retained recruitment consultants at Tile Hill: Chris Barrow on 07437 839048 or Anita Denton on 07725 554802, or visit https://www.careers.suffolk.gov.uk/leadership.