Team Manager

This is a full time permanent position. If the postholder requires a Standard or Enhanced DBS disclosure the candidate is required to declare full details of everything on their criminal record unless the conviction/s and/or caution/s are considered “protected” in line with filtering rules for DBS checks.

We have a rare opportunity for a Fostering Team Manager to join our busy but supportive fostering team. If you are committed to delivering high quality foster homes to meet the needs of children and young people, we would love to hear from you. We are very proud of our foster carers in Hull, and we are proud of our creative and committed team of fostering social workers.

We are looking for a dynamic and enthusiastic manager who can continue to contribute to the development of our fostering community. You will lead a team of fostering social workers with a particular focus on our kinship carer community, but you will also work collaboratively with the team of fostering managers supporting other areas of the service where needed.

This is a time of progress in the Fostering Service with a particular focus on our kinship strategy and our kinship local offer, developing our support for kinship carers and the use of therapeutic approaches to support our staff and carers to ensure best practice, stability, and good outcomes for children.

The post holder will play a central role in the supervision of our kinship assessing social workers as well as supporting our viability assessment team and kinship support team. We have a fantastic, expanding community of kinship carers, and this post holder will be involved in overseeing their assessment, support and development.

We are seeking a manager with drive and passion to assist in our journey, who can operate with integrity and ambition for our service. You should have significant knowledge and experience of working with children and young people who are looked after and with foster carers, including an in-depth understanding of the legislation and guidance which directs how fostering services are delivered, particularly in relation to kinship care.

We are looking for someone who has the skills to be a strong and capable manager who can support and supervise a team of staff to deliver consistent and creative services to children, young people and carers. You should be able to evidence that you are able to deliver change and work effectively within a performance framework to ensure high quality social work.

In addition to the core fostering responsibilities, this role will also include oversight and management of the Supported Lodgings service. As part of this function, the postholder will be required to be registered with Ofsted as the Registered Manager for Supported Lodgings provision, ensuring full compliance with regulatory requirements and maintaining high standards of care and support for young people. The successful candidate will therefore carry the accountability associated with Ofsted registration, including inspection readiness, quality assurance and service development. Appropriate support, guidance and professional development will be provided to enable the postholder to confidently fulfil these responsibilities.

A further key element of the role will be to work in close collaboration with other Kinship Team Managers to lead, supervise and support staff across the kinship service, ensuring consistent high-quality practice and shared learning. This is an exciting time to join the service, as national kinship reforms continue to develop and Hull is already well positioned to build on its strong foundations, offering an opportunity to shape and influence practice and outcomes for kinship carers and the children they support.

At Hull City Council we are committed to our children and young people and we are passionate about how we deliver services to them. That’s why we are developing and nurturing a culture that puts our children and young people at the heart of everything we do - by empowering our workforce to work together to find solutions, to be open, honest and respectful, to take responsibility and listen and learn from others. If you value these behaviours too, we’d love to hear from you. Hull is a changing local authority and it’s a fantastic time to join us and be a key player in supporting our journey.

Why it's great to work for Hull City Council:

• A competitive salary of up to £53,460
• An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Up to 31 days annual leave depending on grade and length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
• Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
• A generous relocation package available
• Supportive and forward thinking culture
• Great career development opportunities
• Flexible working hours.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Jayne Betts, Group Manager on 01482 612 800 or catherine.boaler@hullcc.gov.uk

ROLE AND PURPOSE

To manage a team with a city wide brief to deliver high quality foster placements consistent with Fostering Regulations 2011 and National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services. Delivers best practice in supporting carers who secure permanence orders. Achieves the best possible outcomes for young people in need and their families with a high level of focus on the development and raising of quality in practice, setting standards and the conditions for successful work. Importantly the Team Manager will model, demonstrate and coach a high standard of practice, providing supervision to members of their team which promotes:

• Compliance with practice standards and statutory requirements
• A strengths and relationship based approach
• Different perspectives and collaboration
• Family & goal orientated plans which are SMART
• The value of systemic tools such as genograms
• Professional curiosity and challenge

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

1. Strategy – Team Managers are responsible for the performance and practice of the team. Teams Managers will prioritise the quality of practice balanced alongside a focus on a set of agreed performance measures, based on statutory and inspection requirements. Team Managers will drive key service and directorate wide priorities and ensure that the team is fully informed and engaged within its wider context – a directorate, a council and a wider partnership.
2. Customer Focus - The Team Manager will lead and drive key aspects of partnership working. The role will work in partnership with colleagues, parents and carers to ensure that child centred, purposeful systemic practice is the standard for all social work and related practice. Team Managers will routinely seek feedback from children, young people, families and carers through Quality Assurance work, learning from complaints and compliments received. Team Managers will set a tone which listens and values user feedback, whilst ensuring that feedback is shared and escalated when appropriate, in order to influence service design and improvement.
3. Performance Management - Team Managers will complete routine Quality Assurance work in order to ensure that learning is embedded within team culture and practice. Quality Assurance includes; case audits, observation of practice & feedback from Children, Young People and Families. Team Managers will monitor practice and individual / team performance using a Performance Dash Board and other Performance Reports. Importantly, Team Managers will prioritise performance management tasks and approach them in a way which sets a tone of continuous improvement, learning and development.
4. Leadership - Team Managers will be responsible for the allocation of work to team members and the transfer of work between other parts of the social care system. Team Managers will have a sound knowledge and oversight of the team caseload at any point, whilst promoting a set of system wide priorities and standards around work flow and a transfer process. Importantly, Team Managers will achieve a balanced focus between the team caseload and a priority to ensure workflow/ transition through the system in a timely way. Team Managers will make and record their decisions around case work, ensuring that all work is well planned and purposeful in order to effect positive change for children. Where possible, the goal will be to support children safely with the minimum of statutory intervention possible, promoting a principle of ‘normality’, family based care and early help community based services which are local and accessible. Team Managers will prioritise decision making which is predicated on a high degree of systemic and reflective thinking.
5. Statutory Obligations - Team Managers will be required to understand, and present to their teams, a set of statutory requirements which apply to the whole social care system. In addition, Team Managers will have a higher level of understanding and directly manage a set of statutory requirements which specifically relate to the service area in which they work. Statutory requirements, whether timescales or an explicit process, will be a key priority and accountability of the role. Team Managers will routinely make and review decisions around complex casework, including high levels of risk.
6. Team Managers will provide regular formal and individual supervision for all team members. The two key elements of supervision will be; case supervision and individual supervision. Team Managers will prioritise the supervision of staff and follow the local supervision policy. Formal supervision and other case discussion will focus on the assessment of risk and outcomes at any given time. Team Managers will be required to provide support, challenge and direction to staff and make decisions in relation to complex and high risk cases. Team Managers will facilitate routine, reflective team supervision.
7. Team Managers will be responsible for a number of management tasks and accountabilities, following local policy and procedure, including; Complaint investigations, Sickness monitoring, Individual Employee Performance (IEP), Staff recruitment.
8. Team Managers will lead and develop effective partnerships with other services and agencies in order to achieve ‘a coordinated approach to ensure effective safeguarding arrangements’ (Section 10, the Children Act 2004) and support other organisations and individuals to ensure their functions and practice has sufficient regard to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
9. The role will maintain a continued focus on developing carers and staff as well as practice within the team, contributing to a wider team and single service. In addition to supervision Team Managers will prioritise staff development and skill sharing within the team, in order to deliver the best possible practice and service for children, families and carers. Team Managers are required to set a tone that the team as a learning system, providing support and constructive challenge, promoting a culture which learns, is clear about accountability but does not blame. Team Managers will work with colleagues and their managers, to plan and deliver team and service development time.
10. Team Managers are required to work closely with peers, their managers and within a wider system. Team Managers will attend and contribute to decision making panels and have oversight of all work managed by the team.

OUT OF HOURS SERVICE

In order to comply with the Fostering Regulations and National Standards the post-holder is required to be on call on a rota basis to provide an out of hours service to Foster Carers.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.