Children Looked After and Permanence Team Manager

As of February 2023, our Children’s Services have been judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted inspectors for the second time in a row. They found that the service had a ‘clear strategic direction, strong partnerships and good political and corporate support’ allowing it to make a significant difference to children’s lives. Inspectors found that the service has a well-trained workforce that is improving the lives of children and families and that frontline workers feel safe and supported because of the quality of management oversight and decision-making.

Our practice is relationship-based, using the Signs of Safety framework. See Ofsted activity, reports and ratings.

We believe:

Working in social care in Bexley is endlessly rewarding. As well as helping some of the most vulnerable people in our borough, we invest in looking after you and your career.

Part of that is offering excellent benefits, from competitive salaries and generous leave to flexible working and a wealth of health and wellness programmes.

At Bexley we use the ‘Signs of Safety’ model, which has been adopted as our practice framework and is in line with our ‘Bexley Values’. As with all practice frameworks, we also work within the framework of the Children Act (1989). The model is used across all of our services within Children’s Social Care and is being developed with our partner agencies. The Signs of Safety framework is a way of working that puts children and families at the centre of practice with our underpinning ethos statement being ‘Nothing about us, without us’.

The Signs of Safety approach emphasises the need to foster open, honest and respectful relationships with families in a compassionate and respectful way. We facilitate ‘Family Network Meetings’ to support families with finding their own strengths within their networks that support the safety and wellbeing of their children. The Signs of Safety incorporates a system whereby we obtain feedback from families to inform us about our practice and help us look at how we can continuously make improvements to our service.

This post is considered by the authority to be a customer-facing position; as such it falls within scope of the Code of Practice on English language requirement for public sector workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the JD/Person Specification. These will be applied during the recruitment/selection and probationary stages.

The Team Manager will be responsible for supervising, leading, and supporting a team of social work practitioners and support staff within a statutory child protection service area (ie: child in need, child protection, Children Looked After). Due to the nature of the work, you will be expected to work in a demanding working environment dealing with a variety of complex, risky, and diverse issues when supporting and safeguarding the many children and young people we work with.

You will be responsible for risk management and decision making within the team. This requires you to have extensive knowledge and experience with professional standards for social work as well as the laws, statutory guidance, and local policies and procedures and to ensure these are being modelled and adhered to within the team.
In line with our Signs of Safety practice model, it is expected you will have previous training and/or experience working with a solution focused approach. This will highlight the importance of respectful and collaborative working relationships with families and professionals in order to bring about improved safety and outcomes for the children we serve. You will recognise both areas of strength and safety, as well as worries and danger which will then help inform the next steps in a child’s safety and support plan.
You will be expected to have a good breadth of experience working with children and young people and supervising other members of staff. You will be responsible for maintaining a staff complement congruent with the workload of the team, as well as assisting with recruitment, retention, and supporting the ongoing learning and development of those within the team.

You will also contribute to the strategic oversight and development of the service. This will involve making contributions and giving feedback in management meetings on performance as well as promoting and implementing any agreed service or strategic improvement plans.
You will have a proficient ability to communicate in English and be able to influence others in an effort to help coordinate services and supports in the best way possible to keep children as safe and well cared for as possible.
You will have experience and need to lead on making decisions about legal planning meetings and supporting practitioners with the court process, especially where care proceedings are necessary.

You are a qualified social worker and registered with Social Work England. You will have significant experience of working within a Service focused on Looked After children, having supervised staff and managed the timely completion of statutory processes. Court work experience is essential for this role as you will be supporting social work colleagues through proceedings. You inspire people, supporting and leading colleagues to achieve positive outcomes for our children and their families. You have experience and an understanding of working within a diverse, urban community; and share our ambition and energy in embracing new ways of working. You are a positive individual with a mature approach and are conscious of the importance of professional development for yourself and your team. You are always open to helping others.

Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification attached for more information.

Use the ‘Apply for vacancy’ button.

For an informal discussion please contact Nicoleta.stangu@bexley.gov.uk, Service Manager or tel. 020 3045 4387.

Please note that the system has a one-hour time limit. We would advise you to prepare your answers separately and then copy and paste into the online form once finalised and have your CV and/or Supporting statement ready to upload.

If any mandatory fields are missing, a pop-up box will appear at the top of the page advising which sections require completion. Please check your Junk email for any correspondence.

This authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and vulnerable adults and expects this of all staff and volunteers.

As a disability confident employer Bexley welcomes applications from people with all disabilities, including hidden disabilities and mental health conditions. We will interview any disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made to any part of the recruitment process due to your disability, please email: recruitment@bexley.gov.uk