About the Role
and our Ideal Candidate
Join Children Social Care as a Service Manager within our Locality Teams and enjoy a Golden Hello along with a Recruitment and Retention Bonus, outlined as follows:
1. £1, paid with your first month's salary
2. £1, for your first completed year of service
3. £2, for your second completed year of service
4. £3, for your third completed year of service and each year thereafter
With a total salary package of up to £68,, inclusive of bonuses and benefits, this is an excellent opportunity to elevate your career in social care.
As a Service Manager for a Locality Team within Children Social Care, your responsibilities will include:
5. Provide leadership to a team of social care professionals to ensure that all interventions are child-centred, emphasising the best interests of the children and young people in our care.
6. Develop and implement children-focused policies, procedures, and best practices that enhance service delivery.
7. Manage budget planning and resource allocation effectively to ensure sustainability and efficiency of services.
8. Ensure the highest standards of safeguarding practices are maintained, promoting the welfare of vulnerable children and young people.
9. Fostering a positive team culture that encourages professional development opportunities for staff.
As a Service Manager, you will play a pivotal role in providing strategic leadership to the teams that deliver front-line Child in Need and Child Protection services, guiding processes from initial assessment to care proceedings. You will ensure compliance with both local and national legislation, maintaining high standards of service delivery. Your expertise in children's social care and effective people management will be key as you oversee four teams composed of Team Managers and front-line social care professionals.
You will lead your teams by monitoring practice, managing processes, and overseeing data management to ensure our Local Authority meets statutory requirements while addressing the health and wellbeing needs of the children in our care. A thorough understanding of relevant legislation and policy application is essential, along with a proven track record of achieving positive outcomes for children and young people. This knowledge will be critical for promoting high-performance within social care practices.
Our strong, accessible, and supportive management culture, led by our Service Managers, is essential in creating a positive team environment that promotes regular supervision and encourages continuous professional development for staff. Join us on this journey to create an environment where both the children in our care and our staff can thrive and succeed in their everyday lives.
The successful candidate should candidate to demonstrate the following competences (not limited to:):
10. Qualified Social Worker with a Social Work Degree or recognised qualification, registered with Social Work England, the relevant governing body.
11. Significant experience at team manager level (ideally 4 years), with demonstrable experience of frontline safeguarding practice.
12. Leadership skills and social care expertise to grow and develop your service in accordance with changing needs and policy.
13. Excellent communication, analytical and organisational skills, with the ability to have relevant understanding of social work practice as defined within Children Act and Working Together .
For more information about the role and/or an informal conversation, you can view the Role Profile or contact Andrea Bryant, Head of service Family Support Care Planning ()
About Us
The London Borough of Sutton “is uncompromising in its focus on improving quality of frontline social work” – Ofsted
London Borough of Sutton works closely with Kingston University and regional partners as part of the Developing Together Social Work Teaching Partnership (SWTP). The partnership offers staff a wide range of pre and post qualifying education opportunities to promote continuous learning and development. This includes staff being encouraged to support the practice education of Social Work students and those in the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE). Staff are also given the opportunity to attend conferences, workshops and have access to research and practice resources to support their ongoing professional development.
Children's Social Care is going through an important change to meet the growing needs of the children and families we support. We are making many improvements to ensure that care for children is better and to create positive working environments for our staff. With committed leaders and experienced managers, we are bringing fresh ideas to our work and are helping to make real improvements in how we support children and families. Our aim is to provide high-quality care that helps children thrive while also creating an inclusive, diverse, and supportive environment for our staff to develop their careers.
Our Offer To You
As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.
Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:
14. A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-32 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
15. Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
16. Two volunteering days per year
17. Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
18. Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
19. Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
20. Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
21. Interest free season ticket loans
22. Local Government Pension Scheme
23. Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
24. Electric vehicle leasing scheme
25. Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support