Children Looked After Team Manager - Permanent

Your new company
Our vision is A Southend Where All Children Achieve Success. By joining Southend Sea City Council as a qualified and experienced social worker Team Manager, you will be key in making our vision a reality for all our children. You will be joining a service where we demonstrate with pride that:

• All paths lead back to the child.
• We spend time getting to know each child and their story.
• We do what we say we're going to do.
• We work with the whole family.
• No matter what, we aim to make things better.

You will provide support to work to the highest standard using our model of practice, Restorative Practice, to deliver the vision. You will access a professional social work development offer that has been designed by social workers, whatever stage you are at in your career. You will be given regular restorative supervision and separate supervision focussing on development and evidencing your SWE registration.
Your new role

• To have experience with, or a willingness to be trained and learn, the restorative practice model and support this approach in all aspects of the work carried out by the team
• To have previous management or supervisory responsibilities of other practitioners working within children and families service, mainly being Children Looked After
• To keep apprised of the changing contexts, research, practice theories and statutory procedures that govern work with Children Looked After and young people leaving care, at the local and national level, and to implement these within the team
• To contribute to the development and implementation of local policies and service improvement strategies and support their implementation within the team and service.
• To liaise, network, influence, and coordinate with other multi-agency partners to provide the best level of multidisciplinary support to Children Looked After
• To represent the local authority in a professional and competent manner, especially when making representations in court, with families, or with other agencies
• To ensure that timely response and action is carried out by the team to any contacts, referrals, allocations, complaints, information requests, child protection enquiries, court directives received, and plans for children, where appropriate
• To ensure the practice and management oversight of all work and performance in the team is complaint with relevant laws, statutory guidance, and local procedures that govern children's safeguarding, adult safeguarding, the social work profession, health and safety employment law, human rights, and data protection.
• To maintain regular supervision and appraisal of workers' performance in the team, that includes case management oversight, timely decision-making, the effective implementation of care plans, children assessments, reflective space, respectful challenge, recognising areas of good and bad practice and support the ongoing learning and development of workers.
• To chair strategy, review, planning, professional, and network meetings as required.
• To be available after hours as necessary to support workers who may be dealing with crisis and casework responsibilities to safeguard young adults.
• Other duties as required are necessary to carry out the smooth functioning of the service and to meet our corporate parenting and safeguarding responsibilities to children.

• This position attracts the added incentive of a one-off payment of 7,500, after you have been employed in this post for 3 years and 1 day.

Subject to the candidate continuing in the position covered by the scheme
What you'll need to succeed
To be successful in this position you must have a recognised Social Work qualification and be registered with Social Work England and have completed your ASYE.
Experience of:

• Children frontline services.
• Child in need and Looked After social work practice.
• Knowledge of methods of social work intervention.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation, regulations, guidance & policy issues.

What you'll get in return
Pension:
Southend-on-Sea City Council provide membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) for employees aged under 75. The LGPS is a generous scheme and provides you with a future income, independent of share prices and stock market fluctuations.
Leave Entitlements:
We offer our employees a generous leave entitlement from 25 days up to 32 days based on length of service (Continuous service). Southend-on-Sea City Council also offer a range of flexible working and family-friendly leave.
We also offer paid time off to allow employees to undertake volunteering activities
Here at Southend-on-Sea City Council we also offer our employees free access to the benefits' portal that provides access to wellbeing support and a range of salary sacrifice schemes to help spread the cost of items, including:

• Bicycles, cars, electronics and gym membership.
• The portal also provides access to a range of discounts on products and services including retail, food shopping, travel, dining out and leisure activities.

Nowhere else will you gain as much experience on the job, making us a sought-after place to work. If you are passionate, dedicated to making a change and ready for a challenge - you could be the candidate we are looking for.
What you need to do now
If you are interested in this role, please click 'apply online' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV.

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