Team Manger - Children's - Social Care Qualified in Knowsley

Team Manager – Young People’s Team (YPT)

Service:Children’s Social Care – Young People’s Team
Role:Team Manager
Service Area:Looked After Children / Young People
Age Range:14–18 years

Role Overview

We are seeking anexperienced and established Children’s Social Care Team Managerto lead a Young People’s Team supporting young people aged14–18 who are looked after.

The successful candidate will provide strong professional leadership, management oversight and practice guidance to a team working with young people with a range of complex needs. The team also undertakesjoint 16+ homelessness assessmentsand works withUnaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC).

The role requires a confident manager who can provide effective oversight of safeguarding, risk, care planning and outcomes while ensuring high-quality social work practice.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide effective leadership and management to a team of Social Workers and social care professionals.

• Provide regularsupervision, case management oversight and professional supportto team members.

• Ensure high-quality assessments, care planning and interventions for looked-after young people aged 14–18.

• Monitor the quality and progress of cases, ensuring statutory duties and timescales are met.

• Provide management oversight of safeguarding concerns, risk assessments and complex cases.

• Support practitioners to develop effective relationships with young people and promote their voice, wishes and feelings.

• Ensure young people receive appropriate support and planning as they prepare for adulthood and independence.

• Oversee and contribute tojoint 16+ homelessness assessments, working collaboratively with housing and partner services.

• Provide management oversight and support in cases involvingUASC, ensuring their needs, welfare and safeguarding are appropriately addressed.

• Promote effective partnership working with education, health, housing, immigration services, police and other agencies.

• Provide professional oversight of cases involvingcontextual safeguarding and extra-familial harm, including risks within communities and peer groups.

• Ensure appropriate responses to risks such as exploitation, criminal exploitation, gang affiliation, missing episodes and other forms of harm outside the home.

• Chair and contribute to relevant meetings, reviews and multi-agency discussions.

• Monitor team performance and ensure service targets and statutory requirements are achieved.

• Support staff development through supervision, reflective practice, training and performance management.

• Contribute to service development, quality assurance and continuous improvement.

• Ensure accurate recording and case management in accordance with local authority procedures.

• Escalate and manage significant risks appropriately, ensuring senior management is kept informed where required.

Essential Experience

The successful candidate will ideally have:

• Established Team Manager experience within Children's Social Care.

• Experience managing a team working withLooked After Children / young people.

• Strong knowledge of safeguarding, risk assessment and statutory children's social care practice.

• Experience working with young people aged14–18.

• Experience of16+ homelessness assessmentsor working alongside housing services.

• Experience working with or managing cases involvingUASC.

• Strong understanding of care planning and preparing young people for adulthood.

• Excellent supervision, leadership and performance management skills.

• Experience managing complex and high-risk cases.

• Strong multi-agency partnership-working skills.

Desirable Experience

• Knowledge and experience ofcontextual safeguarding.

• Experience managing cases involvingextra-familial harm.

• Understanding of risks associated with child exploitation, county lines, gangs, missing children and peer-on-peer harm.

• Experience working with UASC and young people experiencing homelessness.

• Experience within a specialist Young People's or Leaving Care Service.

• Social Work England registration and a recognised Social Work qualification.

Key Skills

Team Leadership | Staff Supervision | Looked After Children | Safeguarding | Risk Management | Contextual Safeguarding | UASC | Homelessness Assessments | Care Planning | Partnership Working | Quality Assurance | Performance Management | Complex Case Management | Preparing for Adulthood