Head Of Service - Assessment And Intervention

Head of Service - Assessment and Intervention

Reference number: SC06402

Location: London

Schedule: Full-Time

Salary Range: £65,736 - £82,023

Contract Type: Permanent

The role

An exciting opportunity has arisen for staff to apply for the Head of Service for Assessment and Intervention. This is an exciting leadership role at the heart of Children’s Services that requires a candidate with knowledge, resilience, ambition, creativity and proven experience in practice and leadership in Children’s Services to lead our Assessment and Intervention, MASH and Out of Hours Service. You will need to have significant experience managing operational teams within children’s social care, and have a genuine commitment to the provision of high quality services for children young people and working with families to keep families strong.

We are looking for a Head of Service who is ambitious to develop our front door with practitioners and families to ensure it moves from good to outstanding. To help achieve this ambition we are well resourced with an embedded Clinical Service, an internal Family Group Conference Service, Parent Advocates, A Family Council and Family Support Workers working directly with families to provide help and support to keep children safe within their families. We also have an excellent Quality Assurance offer with a dedicated Audit and Learning Partner for the service and a quarterly celebration of Learning which we call Learningfest.

It will be critical for the post holder to champion and embed the Southwark Practice Principles across Southwark in this key leadership role. These principles are to be Child Centred, Family Minded, Relationship Based, Outcome Focused, Strength Based, Evidence Informed, Fair and Reflective. A key aspect of the role will be to lead the strategic development of the division as a whole, to ensure children and families get the right help, at the right time, in the right place. So, while the post holder will have key responsibility for their area, they must work beyond the boundaries of their service, with other services, agencies, and groups that represent the voice of children and parents, to continue to develop the best possible help and protection for children.

It is vital the post holder can show how they stand up to all forms of discrimination and are committed to standing up to racism and actively seeking to understand and challenge disproportionality. This role is challenging and at the heart of Children’s Services, it is an opportunity to make a massive life changing difference.

Our most recent Ofsted inspection was graded as ‘good’ in all areas.

Ofsted, November 2022

At Southwark Children’s Services, we pride ourselves on doing our vital job differently. Our systemic, holistic, family-centred approach sits at the core of our values. Our endlessly supportive, collective, people powered culture underpins everything we do to protect vulnerable children across our borough.

“Children are at the heart of practice in Southwark.”

“Staff have time to work intensively with families when needed, and to reflect and consider ways to improve children’s lives”

About you:

This role requires a visible leader with high expectations, results-focused approach which is supported by well-developed analytical planning, excellent practice knowledge and strong organisational skills; all of which will be used to best effect in helping to instil a reflective, restorative and open culture where there is an environment of high support but also high challenge.

A commitment to systemic ways of working, restorative approaches and freeing practitioners to spend their time with children and their families is vital.

Knowledge and experience of supporting families under child in need, child protection and legal frameworks is vital.

Additional details

Please note a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is required at enhanced level.

If you are interested in a discussion about this role, please email Helen Woolgar, Assistant Director – Safeguarding and Corporate Parenting at Helen.Woolgar@southwark.gov.uk

About Southwark:

We are the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes lived in by 40% of Southwark’s residents. We are home to over 18,300 businesses including iconic London venues and social enterprises and we have a young, diverse and growing population.

At Southwark we are committed to making our borough just and fair and are taking positive action to tackle inequalities. Our residents and communities are our greatest asset and the passion we have for Southwark is shared by millions of Londoners who enjoy our outstanding cultural offer, use our hospitals and attend our universities. Our refreshed borough plan and focus on Southwark Stands Together, (which is our work with Southwark’s communities and the council’s staff to tackle racism, injustice and inequality) underpins all that we do.

Benefits and more information:

In your role, we want you to feel supported, challenged and rewarded. You will benefit from our family-friendly policies including flexible working, home working, and a local government pension scheme, plus many other staff benefits. You will join a motivated, driven and supportive team that strives for excellence and values its members. You will also be part of a successful and high-achieving development team that is making a real difference to the lives of residents in the borough. Our offer includes:

• Substantial training and development is provided including an offer of bespoke coaching and mentoring.
• Modern technology including laptop, Apple iPhone and iPad.
• A basic salary range of up to £82,023 plus an additional financial JNC Benefits package of £2,724 per year (pro-rata, April-March, subject to review).

For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit our Staff Benefits page.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme:

As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans.
• Are currently in care, or have previously been in care.
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition.

Recruitment timetable

Closing date: 17 March 2024 at 23:59.

Interview and Assessment: 25 March 2024.

We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together programme. We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.

Attachments

• Click here to view the Job Description and Person Specification