Overview
Team Manager for Children in Care role at Southampton City Council. Location: Southampton. Salary: £57,755 - £65,222 per annum plus a market supplement of £2,000 per annum.
Pathways Through Care Team is a service focused on achieving the best outcomes for children in care. The service works with partner agencies to build strong relationships between practitioners and families, enabling systemic and reflective work with children in care. This post creates a third managerial team within the service to provide strong developmental opportunities for experienced and aspirational managers who support staff and children to be their best.
The role offers the opportunity to support social workers in building meaningful and influential relationships with the children in care, while contributing to stable and proactive permanence planning and a focus on young people’s progress into adulthood.
Ofsted (June 2023) highlighted strong progress and leadership in services for children in care, reinforcing a foundation for ongoing improvement. The service emphasises permanence, identity, belonging, and collaboration with families to ensure the right permanence is in place for each child.
The Children in Care Team supports looked-after children in foster care, with connected carers or family care, and specialist care including residential or semi-independent placements. The team also includes Personal Advisors and care leavers, with strong joint working to streamline the journey to independence for young people aged 16 and over.
The overall service maintains a permanent management team and comprises multiple teams; the new post will be the sixth team, with two teams for care-experienced young people, one team for unaccompanied children, and two teams supporting social workers for children in care under 18, plus a Staying Connected Team providing floating support to young people over 18.
Responsibilities
* Provide strong management oversight and support to staff within the Children in Care service, ensuring high-quality practice and outcomes for children and young people.
* Lead and develop social workers and family coaches who support looked-after children in fostering, residential, or semi-independent settings.
* Drive permanence planning and ensure decisions promote identity, belonging, and stable care journeys.
* Collaborate with partner agencies and internal teams to deliver reflective, outcome-focused services for children in care and care leavers.
* Support staff wellbeing, effective workload management, and professional development opportunities.
Who we are looking for
* A social work manager who is committed to aspirational parenting and delivering high-quality care beyond statutory requirements.
* Experience in leading teams that support children in care and care leavers, with a focus on corporate parenting and service improvement.
* Ability to engage in corporate parenting initiatives and contribute to continuous improvement as evidenced by OFSTED observations and leadership.
What we can offer
* Salary band: £57,755 - £65,222 per annum; starting salary £57,755 with annual progression.
* Extensive benefits including death in service, generous holiday allowance, flexible working options, family-friendly policies, training and development, health and wellbeing support, veteran-friendly employer status, retail discounts, and more.
* Additional benefits include sustainable travel options and an employee volunteering scheme with paid days for volunteering.
Please note: Interviews were scheduled for Wednesday 24 September 2024. For more information about the role or our benefits package, please contact the Service Lead.
Equality and diversity statement: Southampton City Council is committed to equality of opportunity and welcomes a broad diversity of talent to apply.
Seniority level
* Mid-Senior level
Employment type
* Full-time
Job function
* Other
Industries
* Government Administration
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