Brighton and Hove Children's Services has much to be proud of with an outstanding rating from Ofsted. 'There are exceptionally low levels of temporary or short-term staff and there is a strong commitment to anti-discriminatory practice and their relationship-based practice model. Leaders in children's services, the council and partners determinedly hold children at the centre of their thinking Senior leaders know their services exceptionally well and this is reflected in the self-evaluation. There is a clear line of sight to practice, informed by performance data and audits, both regularly reviewed by the senior leadership teamThe quality of work is strong throughout children's social care services and is making a positive difference to the progress and experiences of children and families in Brighton and Hove.' (Ofsted 2024) Interview Date: 12th June About the Role This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for shaping and delivering all fostering and kinship services. A core part of the role is ensuring high quality foster carer support to retain our much valued foster carers as well as working to recruit much needed new foster carers in a difficult market. The role is also responsible for all kinship assessments and kinship support which is a significant part of care planning in Brighton and Hove. Currently the service is undergoing significant transformation through Families First and forthcoming regional foster care recruitment. Additionally, local government reorganisation will be happening in the near future. You will play a key role leading the service through this period of significant transformation, ensuring that the high standards of the service continue to be delivered whilst also working to innovate and continue to develop and improve services. About you As Head of Service you will provide effective, strategic and operational leadership and management across fostering and kinship services to deliver innovative, efficient and impactful services with the highest standard of service delivery. You will be innovative, have strong financial acumen and experience in managing Children's Social Care service. You must hold a Professional Social Work Qualification (e.g. CQSW, DipSW, MSW) and be registered as a social worker with Social Work England. In addition, you will need to have experience of management in children's social work and be able to work at a strategic level. We care about our children and our carers, and we would love to hear from you if children and carers remain at the centre of your career. Please note this role is office based four days a week and does not offer a relocation package. Encouraging a diverse workforce Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans. Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk). Why work for us? As a council, we want to: • be connected • be confident • be innovative and creative • be diverse and inclusive • be healthy and psychologically safe For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development. How to apply Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you've submitted your application and at interview. As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process. AI advice for candidates We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application. We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert. All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants' responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words. Additional information Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only. Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check. We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.