Interim Deputy Director - Adult Social Care

Bexley is an outer London Borough with the best of both worlds, located between the hustle and bustle of London and the Garden of England, Kent. Within the borough we have award winning parks, open spaces and listed heritage sites.

Bexley is a place where you can make a real impact; and where you can expect to get involved in a much wider range and diversity of work. It’s a changing Borough, with growing numbers of younger and older residents – so we need to adapt our services to meet different needs.

There’s lots to do. We have some great success stories where we are setting standards that others aspire to. But we recognise where there is also scope for improvement in some aspects of our work – and we are committed to getting it right.

We are seeking an Interim Deputy Director for Children’s Social Care to provide senior leadership guidance and support on a temporary basis whilst we recruit to our permanent Deputy Director role. This will be for an immediate start.

This is a vitally important role for the Council, as we continue to respond and adapt to the growing levels of demand and associated budget implications.

The postholder will be responsible for the following service areas:

·     Integrated Rehabilitation

·     Integrated Services for Older People

·     Mental Health

·     Complex Care

·     Safeguarding Adults

·     Bexley Care and new pathways

·     Social Care Information Systems

·     Integrated Commissioning (Learning Disabilities & Physical Disabilities)

·     Integrated Commissioning (Mental Health)

Please refer to the Job Description attached for more information.

We reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date.

We expect that you will already be an experienced leader in Adult Social Care or Health, with a proven track record of leading improvement. You’ll bring a highly developed appreciation of the value of effective partnership working, as well as a practical appreciation of how to make these work on the ground. Fully committed to delivering high quality services that best meet the needs of our residents, you’ll also to need to bring a seasoned awareness of the financial pressures that we face, and be able to offer sound, evidence based advice to support key resourcing decisions.

You will need to be available to start immediately.

For the full list of essential and desirable criteria for this role then please refer to the Person Specification within the Job Description attached.

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

Use the ‘Apply for vacancy’ button.  For any agencies that wish to submit candidates please email CV’s to olivia.raber-batchelor@bexley.gov.uk

Anticipated Interview date: Friday 1st March 2024

System Information

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.

Additional Information

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 contact us on  recruitment@bexley.gov.uk

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

This role may be available as a development opportunity through secondment for the Council’s existing employees.  The Council’s Secondment Scheme can be found here. If this option is of interest, please contact the recruiting manager.