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We're seeking a Team Manager to join our Assessment and Intervention team based in Crawley. The successful candidate will be ready to share great ideas and great practice to motivate and inspire a social work team as we implement the Family Safeguarding Model.
Family Safeguarding is a new way of working with families and offering the right support at the right time in order to reduce the risks to children so that they can stay together, and children can remain safely at home. In West Sussex, the Family Safeguarding Model is being delivered through a redesign of our Assessment and Intervention (A&I) teams and former Family Support and Protection (FSP) teams.
Our Assessment and Intervention service is a fast paced, busy and supportive duty team completing child and family assessments, Section 47 enquiries, Child Protection and Child in Need work whilst planning for permanence from day one. Assessment and Intervention is at the forefront of continuing to produce the best outcomes for children and ensure they are safe, and their voice is heard within all the work we do.
As a Team Manager, you will make sure that children and young people are safeguarded and protected, whilst also being responsible for motivating and leading a small group of social workers and other staff by providing expert supervision, mentoring, coaching and supporting the development of reflective and relationship based practice.
Experience and Skills
Key Skills:
- Ability to make sound pragmatic problem-solving decisions, which will have a wider service impact.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence the actions of others and communicate information which may be complex and contentious.
- Effective people and performance management skills and the ability to provide direction and motivate and inspire the team to deliver quality professional practice.
- Able to manage self, is self-aware and understands impact of work on self and others and responds constructively to situations. Ability to respond calmly and appropriately to situations where others are in a stressful or anxious situation.
- Able to reflect on practice and learn from experience and feedback, taking responsibility for own performance and being proactive in relation to own work and professional development.
Qualifications, knowledge and experience:
- A recognised Social Work qualification e.g. Degree in Social Work, Post Graduate Certificate in Social Work, DipSW, CQSW or equivalent as recognised by the relevant professional body.
- A recognised post qualifying award in Social Work or demonstrable evidence of continuous professional development at a similar level.
- Registration with the relevant professional registration body and maintaining registration with that body.
- Demonstrable experience of delivering or co-ordinating a quality customer focused service to others.
- Experience in dealing with significant issues, for example management of complex child protection matters, staff under performance, managing resources to address team performance priorities through allocation of limited resources.
- Experience of managing/leading staff.
- Experience of managing a small budget and/or contributing to financially related decisions on larger spends, how cost-effective decisions are made and operating within the financial constraints.
- Experience of supporting initiatives in a political environment.
- Demonstrable knowledge of how to improve practice and performance in a supportive, positive way.
- You will need to be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport.
Rewards and Benefits
In addition to working within a great team and a brilliant opportunity you will receive:
- A competitive salary
- A generous pension scheme
- Training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
- Flexible working
- A range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers with the opportunity to save over £1,000 (Including: Argos, Samsung, Asos, B&Q and many more)
For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further Information
To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and cover letter. In your cover letter outline your motivations for applying and explain how you meet the key skills listed in full and the experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, SWE Registration, 5 years referencing and a health check.
West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.
For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran's Guaranteed Interview Scheme, this can be found on our application help page.
