About Us
Working for West Sussex County Council is all about making a positive difference to the people of West Sussex. This is an exciting time to join the County and be part of a new specialist Mental Health Social Work Service, that incorporates Older People's and Working Age Mental Health Social Work Teams and a new Countywide AMHP Service.
The mental health social care staff will engage with a new hospital discharge pathway through the set-up of a mental health hospital discharge team who will be managed by West Sussex County Council, but will work in partnership with health colleagues.
Why not have a look at our dedicated careers in adults social work webpage to learn more!
About The Job
Salary: £55,057 to £58,829 per annum
Working Pattern: Full time
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: Worthing office base - county wide hybrid role
This exciting opportunity is for a Team Manager who will support the effective development and delivery of the statutory social work service for this psychiatric hospital discharge team. The Team Manager will link into the multi-agency Hub on a daily basis to discuss appropriate referrals to the team and support the decision making around delayed transfers of care (DToC). The Team Manager will then allocate the work and oversee the management of the staff within this team. The social care staff will report directly to the Team Manager. All work will be completed to a high standard and in line with statutory duties.
The team will work closely in partnership with the SPFT Discharge Hub but will not be co-located. The team will be made up of staff from OPMH and WAMH and cover the entire county linking in with each of the mental health hospitals. The Team Manager will ensure staff complete all statutory work which will include Care Act assessments, s117 aftercare planning meetings, safeguarding meetings, Capacity Assessments and Best Interest Meetings. The MH SWDT staff will utilise the D2A provision where applicable, utilising the services within
this model. The Team Manager will ensure staff use a strengths-based approach
to all their assessments.
Key Responsibilities
* Leadership and Management: Lead and manage the SWDT Team, ensuring effective service delivery, coordination of assessments, and operational oversight.
* Policy Development: Lead the development and implementation of local SWDT policies and practices, ensuring they align with legal requirements and offer a high-quality service.
* Statutory Compliance: Ensure all referrals and assessments are conducted within the statutory framework.
* Budget Management: Lead the team to work within the SWDT budget to achieve best value for money and optimal use of resources.
* Training & Development: Plan, deliver, and manage training for the SWDT team to ensure compliance with statutory training and registration requirements.
* Statistical Reporting: Develop and maintain administrative systems to gather and interpret data in line with Department of Health requirements, contributing to operational procedure development.
* Deputise: Deputise for the Service Manager
Experience and Skills
Please cover how you meet the following criteria with examples within your application as these are the short listing criteria):
Key Skills:
1. Able to make sound pragmatic problem-solving decisions, which will have a wider service impact.
2. Able to provide comprehensive professional advice and support within the service specialism, including tackling difficult problems of a technical, professional, resource or people related nature.
3. Able to communicate clearly with an ability to influence actions of others and negotiate effective business solutions.
4. Able review effectiveness of service delivery, including individual and team performance and implement changes, where required. Able to challenge existing practices and identify innovative solutions within required framework.
5. Able to demonstrate an ability to lead supervise, coach and mentor other members of the team.
6. Able to manage conflict and operate in high risk and high-pressure environments.
Qualifications and/or experience:
* Post-graduate professional qualification relevant to the professional service specialism (such as CQSW/CSS/DipSW or BA/MA in Social Work or equivalent and PQSW); plus, significant and broad experience demonstrating applied application of the above levels of knowledge in a relevant setting.
* Relevant chartered status of a professional body or equivalent high-level experience of involved practices.
* Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) qualification or working towards this within 2 years of their appointment to the role.
* Extensive knowledge of and be able to apply, a range of complex and specialist legislation i.e. the Mental Health Act 2014, Mental Capacity Act, Care Act, Children Act and other relevant case law.
* Significant post-qualification experience in dealing with significant and diverse issues.
* Proven ability to manage conflict and work with opposing views.
* Significant experience working in frontline mental health services.
* Experience of working at a senior level either as a manager or Senior
Practitioner.
* Experience of working with finite resources and managing budgets.
* Supervisory experience and contributing towards the wider management
team.
Further Information
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to Social Work England registration, an enhanced DBS check, 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.