All About The Role
Acting as operational lead for the delivery of Council services that includes, but is not limited to:
To provide children with safe, nurturing care in a secure, and therapeutic, environment.
To manage, develop and promote Clare Lodge Secure Children's Home including strategic and operational aspects of the work, maintaining exemplary levels of security, and ensuring the safety of both children and staff.
To ensure the home is managed in line with statutory and regulatory requirements, and that it is adequately staffed with skilled and caring practitioners, trained, equipped and supervised so that they are best able to meet children's needs well.
To identify, and lead on service improvement and innovation, to meet the evolving needs of children and ensure that Clare Lodge is at the forefront of meeting national standards for children & young people accommodated in secure care.
Takes collective and shared responsibility for the effective leadership and management of the Council's services and delivery of improved outcomes and the achievement of value for money.
All About Our Team
This is an exciting opportunity for you to join and lead our dedicated team. You will be responsible for approximately 90 staff who
have a wealth of childcare experience and training and are skilled in building and maintaining relationships with the young people.
You will need to demonstrate compassionate and inclusive leadership throughout the organisation. If you are empathetic and passionate about helping young people, then this could be the opportunity for you.
All About You
Experience:
Significant and successful experience of:
* Working at a senior level within a large and complex organisation with comparable scope, responsibilities, budget, and resources.
* Providing balanced strategic advice and guidance in a political setting.
* Leading the delivery of public services with competing priorities and demands often outside of the Council's direct control.
* Leading transformational change and creating innovative service models, particularly in response to the demands of an organisation that is undergoing a radical transformation and modernisation.
* Delivering complex projects on time and within budget and outcomes.
* Leading and contributing to strategic decision making, resource allocation and to policy formulation and delivery, adopting a problem-solving culture.
* Delivering creative and innovative solutions to improve the use of resources and achieve value for money across an organisation.
* Establishing a strong performance culture including effective performance measures, evaluation of service quality and the improvement of service delivery to achieve the Council's objectives
* Leading, managing and developing employees to sustain high levels of service delivery, recognising and developing talent.
* Developing and nurturing positive and constructive working relationships with a wide range of customers, stakeholders and partners, maintaining a positive personal and organisational profile.
Skills and Knowledge:
Ability to demonstrate:
* A comprehensive understanding of the current issues and challenges facing local government as well as the statutory framework governing the sector.
* Skills in understanding and responding to different perspectives and taking a cross-organisational approach, gained by working in a political or similarly challenging environment.
* Business acumen and an entrepreneurial mindset to lead the strategic delivery of services and maintain a focus on obtaining best value for money at all times balanced, against the difficult and sensitive challenges faced.
* Ability to lead, develop and sustain effective team, partnership and multi-agency working through strong effective advocacy, influencing and negotiating skills.
* Skills to provide creative solutions to complex problems together with high level analytical, presentational and communication skills.
* Ability to establish and sustain positive relationships that generate confidence, ability and trust.
* Highly developed influencing and negotiation skills to operate at a strategic professional and political level, locally and nationally.
* Understanding of the barriers to organisational and cultural change and the commitment to being a catalyst for change.
Role Specific:
* A good track record of improving experiences and outcomes for children and young people in care.
* In depth understanding of regulatory requirements from Ofsted, and CQC alongside identifying targets for improvement and implementing and monitoring continual service development to keep the Home at the forefront of change.
* A robust understanding of Government policies and direction in relation to Secure Children's Homes and the young people likely to be admitted.
* Substantial practical experience of recruiting, managing and developing staff roles relevant to the work of the Home at a time of change.
* To be able to be flexible when the service requires it.
* To be an excellent communicator who can provide in-depth reports on various aspects of the work in both written and verbal formats to senior managers, other professionals, leading members of the Council and the community and Government officials, sometimes at very short notice.
* Ability to network effectively with a wide and diverse range of persons and positions.
* Have a general understanding of ICT and sufficient skills to deal with medium levels of provision.
Personal Effectiveness
Ability to demonstrate:
* A clear and strong personal commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and a track record of developing inclusive services and leading by example.
* Evidence of leading people and services to recognise, respect and value individual needs to achieve a culture of inclusivity.
* Evidence of operating effectively and openly within the democratic process with the political acumen and skills to develop productive working relationships with Councillors that command respect, trust and confidence.
* Personal and professional credibility which commands the confidence of elected members, senior managers, staff, external partners and external stakeholders.
* Leadership by example with a style that empowers others and is open to question and challenge as well as a commitment to continuous self-improvement.
* A commitment to and evidence of successful strategies in managing personal resilience and wellbeing at a leadership level and promoting positive leadership practice, role modelling these behaviours for others.
* Evidence of planning for the future delivery of services, including effective workforce planning for future challenges.
Role Specific:
* Able to understand, support and work with colleagues from both Care, Education and Health to continue the holistic and psychological formulation approach to meeting children and young people's needs.
* Able to remain calm when faced with challenges and pressures.
* High levels of Emotional Intelligence & Resilience.
* A clearunderstanding of business processes, budget building, deployment, and management so that the self-funding of the Home is maintained and enhanced.
* An ability to undertake a role within the National Secure Accommodation forum and to promote the Home and the work undertaken nationally through a variety of mediums.
* Ability to understand the trends and patterns of the sector and change the service accordingly.
* Able to implement a clear vision and common purpose for the service.
* Able to carry out the duties of the post with reasonable adjustments where necessary.
Qualifications
* A relevant graduate Level qualification or equivalent and/or relevant compensating experience at a senior leadership level.
* Evidence of continuous professional and leadership skill development.
* Level 5 Diploma in Management & Leadership in Residential Care for Children & Young People.
* A professional qualification or a relevant degree in social work.
All About Our Benefits
We value our colleagues and have developed a number of benefits in addition to our generous annual leave starting at 25 days + bank holidays, sick pay and local government pension scheme…
* Access to a range of benefits via Vivup, including in-store and online discounts as well as our Cycle to Work and Home & Electronics schemes
* Buy up to 10 days additional annual leave (pro-rata)
* Access to car lease scheme
* Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
* Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared Cost AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
* Access to development opportunities including apprenticeships to support your personal and professional growth
* Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
* Access to our equality, diversity and inclusion network
* Opportunities to receive Employee Recognition Awards
All About Our Commitments
We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, dedicated to fostering diversity, advancing equity, and building an inclusive workplace for everyone. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and particularly encourage those from underrepresented groups, including disabled people, care leavers, and individuals from minority ethnic communities. Your unique perspectives and experiences are encouraged and valued and will play a vital role in our success.
We are committed to making our recruitment process as accessible as possible. If you are disabled and require any reasonable adjustments during the application or interview process, please contact we will work with you to meet your needs.
Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment