Team Manager in Bury St Edmunds

At Suffolk County Council, collaboration is at the heart of what we do. As a Team Manager (Social Work Qualified) in our Family Help Service, you'll lead social work practice that helps children and families achieve lasting and meaningful change. You'll join a service committed to delivering the right support at the right time, bringing together safeguarding, child protection, targeted early help and multi-agency working to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people across Suffolk. The role requires strong leadership, sound decision-making and a passion for developing high-quality practice.

Your role and responsibilities

• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team, providing professional oversight, support and challenge to ensure children and families receive effective, timely and relationship-based interventions.
• Create a positive learning culture where social workers and practitioners feel supported to deliver their best work, while maintaining high standards of safeguarding practice and effective risk management.
• Play a key role in supporting service improvement and strengthening partnership working across the wider system.
• Lead, manage and develop a team of social workers and practitioners.
• Provide reflective supervision, professional guidance and performance management.
• Oversee complex child protection, safeguarding and family support work.
• Support effective decision-making and risk management across the team.
• Drive high-quality, strengths-based practice using Suffolk Signs of Safety and Wellbeing principles.
• Monitor service performance, case quality and statutory compliance.
• Lead on quality assurance activity, including audits and practice improvement.
• Support safe and effective transitions for children and families between services.
• Develop and maintain strong partnerships with professionals across education, health, police and other agencies.
• Contribute to workforce planning, recruitment, retention and staff development.
• Lead change, innovation and continuous improvement within the service.

You will need

• A recognised Social Work qualification and current Social Work England registration.
• Significant frontline experience in children's social care, including safeguarding and child protection.
• Experience of leading, managing and developing staff.
• Strong knowledge of relevant legislation, statutory guidance and national policy.
• Experience of complex decision-making, risk management and service delivery.
• The ability to build effective partnerships across professional disciplines.
• Excellent communication, organisational and performance management skills.
• The ability to use performance information to drive service improvement.
• Experience of leading service improvements or organisational change.
• Knowledge of Signs of Safety and solution-focused approaches.
• Understanding of evidence-informed interventions.
• Experience of working alongside a range of partner agencies.
• An awareness of the wider operational and strategic environment within children's services.

Due to the travel requirements of the role, you will need a driving licence and access to personal transport. If you can meet these requirements through other suitable means, please contact the Hiring Manager to discuss.

If you believe you can succeed in this role, we encourage you to apply, even if you don't meet every requirement.

The team

We aspire for every child in Suffolk to live their best life. Our Family Help teams bring together social workers and practitioners to provide coordinated support, early intervention, safeguarding and child protection services for children and families. We are committed to delivering relationship-based and strengths-focused practice that creates sustainable change and helps families build on their own strengths. You will be joining a supportive and collaborative service where learning, development and continuous improvement are actively encouraged.

For more information

Please contact Charnine De'Ath for a casual conversation. You can reach them by calling 01728652379 or emailing Charnine.De'Ath@suffolk.gov.uk.

How to apply

• Step 1 - Read the Job and Person Profile (Word).
• Step 2 - Click ‘Apply Now’ to start your online application.
• Step 3 - Upload a supporting statement answering the following questions below (no more than 400 words per question). You should use the Supporting Statement template (Word).

Please tell us about your experience of leading social workers and practitioners within children's services. How have you supported high-quality practice, professional development and positive outcomes for children and families? And how have you used data and management information to support this?

Provide an example of a time when you worked with a range of partner agencies to improve outcomes for a child or family. What challenges did you face and how did your leadership contribute to a positive outcome?

Tell us about a service improvement, practice development or change initiative that you have led. What was your approach and what impact did it have on children, families, staff or service performance?

Please note: Without a supporting statement, your interest will not be progressed. Any supporting documents must be in either PDF or MS Word format.

For guidance on completing your application, please see our How to Apply page.

Planning to use Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Please ensure your application still reflects your own skills, experience and ideas. If used inappropriately, your application may not be processed. Please read our guidance for using AI to understand what’s acceptable.

Do you need any reasonable adjustments to help you to apply? If you are disabled and/or have additional support needs, you can request reasonable adjustments. You can do this by contacting our Recruitment Team at recruitment@suffolk.gov.uk or 03456 014412.

You can find examples of possible adjustments on our Reasonable Adjustment pages.

Closing date: 11.30pm, 30 September 2026

Interview date: 12 October 2026

This authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks or police vetting will be required for relevant posts.