Interim Head of Service – Children in Our Care, Care Leavers & Disabled Children and Young People’s Services
Contract: Interim assignment
Duration: 4 months, with potential to extend
Driving Licence: Required
The Opportunity
We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Interim Head of Service – Children in Our Care, Care Leavers & Disabled Children and Young People’s Services to provide strategic leadership, stability and direction during a period of transition.
Reporting to the Director of Children’s Services, you will lead services across Children in Care, Leaving Care, Corporate Parenting and Disabled Children’s Services, ensuring high-quality practice, strong safeguarding arrangements and positive outcomes for children, young people and their families.
You will play a key role in supporting the ongoing Families First, reunification and service improvement agendas, maintaining service performance and providing consistent leadership while permanent recruitment is underway.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide strategic leadership and oversight across Children in Care, Care Leavers, Corporate Parenting and Disabled Children’s Services.
- Maintain high standards of safeguarding, permanence planning and service delivery.
- Drive improvements in outcomes for children and young people, promoting stability, resilience and independence.
- Support the delivery of Families First and reunification initiatives.
- Strengthen partnership working with health, education and other key stakeholders.
- Oversee complex placement sufficiency challenges, ensuring appropriate and effective care arrangements.
- Navigate SEND-related complexities, funding pressures and resource challenges.
- Maintain performance, manage risks and identify opportunities for service improvement.
- Provide clear leadership, professional challenge and support to operational teams and senior colleagues.
- Contribute to the wider transformation and improvement of Children’s Services.
About You
You will be a credible, values-led senior leader with substantial experience in children's social care and a strong track record of leading complex services.
You will bring:
- Significant senior leadership experience across Children in Care, safeguarding, permanence and care leaver services.
- A strong understanding of corporate parenting responsibilities and the needs of care-experienced children and young people.
- Experience leading disabled children's services or working across complex SEND and additional-needs provision.
- Excellent partnership and relationship-building skills, particularly with health colleagues and multi-agency partners.
- The ability to navigate complex placement sufficiency, commissioning, funding and resource challenges.
- A proven ability to maintain performance, manage competing priorities and deliver service improvements.
- Strong strategic thinking, sound professional judgement and confident decision‑making.
- The resilience and adaptability to make an immediate impact in a high‑profile interim leadership role.
- A full driving licence.
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Interim Head of Service - Children in Our Care, Care Leavers and Disabled Children & Young People's Team employer: We Do Social Work
We Do Social Work is an exceptional employer that prioritises the well-being and development of its staff, offering a supportive work culture where collaboration and innovation thrive. As a Social Work Assistant in the Children & Families team, you will benefit from ongoing training and professional growth opportunities, all while making a meaningful impact in the community. Located in a vibrant area, our organisation values flexibility and encourages a healthy work-life balance, making it an ideal place for those passionate about social work.
