Team Manager - Family Support & Protection (South)

Permanent, Full Time

£47,405 to £58,727 per annum

Location: Basildon

Closing Date: 25th May 2021

Job Purpose

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity and compassion; promoting development and wellbeing of children, young people and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse. Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future.

The Team Manager leads team, developing and promoting capabilities and holding them accountable for performance and delivering improvements. Working with the Service Manager, contributing to the development of strategy and ensuring a service which adapts responsively to change.

With proven ability to focus on results, develop innovative solutions and build strong working relationships, this leader will possess a deep understanding of working in a challenging social and financial environment.

Family Support and Protection

The Family Support and Protection (FS&P) teams work with families on Child in Need & Child Protection plans to promote sustainable change. FS&P Social Workers are responsible for building positive relationships with families using systemic and strengths based social work approaches. The work is varied and involves working with Public Law Outline (PLO), Court work including S.7 report and when necessary taking families into proceedings and some Special Guardianship Order (SGO) assessments. Through regular reflective supervision and access to CPD/Training from the Essex Social Care Academy a BASW accredited CPD provider you will be encouraged to be creative and innovative in the direct work you undertake with families. We believe that giving families a supportive environment, encouragement and insight helps them to navigate and achieve change. This means we can say goodbye to families knowing they have to tools to sustain change.

Service/Functional Accountabilities

• Lead a team of social workers to deliver a high quality professional service with positive outcomes.
• Accountable for individual performance, quality assurance, resources and budgets.
• Accountable for the practice of social workers within the team, providing professional and practice supervision, using available tools to address underperformance and coaching to enhance the quality of the practice.
• Responsible for development of individuals to maximise the capability and performance across the team.
• Responsible for the oversight and quality assurance of a range of social work reports and court statements.
• Responsible for responding to complaints and other feedback from service users in accordance with policy and in a way that fosters positive relationships.
• Lead inter-agency collaborative working, where a social work perspective is used to inform and drive decision making. Establishing and developing effective approaches to integrated working with partners, communities and the voluntary sector, to achieve successful outcomes for service users.
• Develop the training and tactical service delivery plan for the team.
• Use expertise and professional knowledge to provide advice and guidance for complex cases in line with legislative and organisational standards.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• A recognised social work qualification i.e. Diploma, degree or Masters in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, with current registration with Social Work England as a registered social worker.
• Evidence of continuing professional development, aligned to any relevant Professional Competency/Capability frameworks or Knowledge and Skills Statements.
• Significant experience within a Social Care setting with evidence of challenging social and family situations.
• Experience of supervision of Social Work students and/or newly qualified Social Workers, possessing strong leadership and behavioural skills, with the ability to forge a highly performing and motivated team from diverse backgrounds, to deliver local objectives and work to required professional standards.
• Experience of working within a complex environment and leading change to ensure the Council delivers best practice.
• Developing strong relationships with partners, other agencies and the local community to achieve joint objectives and offer a supportive framework for children and their families.
• Recognise the financial implications of care packages commissioned.
• Evidence of clear decision making in order to highlight and limit the potential risks associated with intervention.