Head of Service First Response - Children's Social Care

We are seeking a Head of Service to join an experienced, hard-working, supportive, and friendly leadership team who strive to create the right environment and resources for good social work to flourish.

If you are a strong advocate for children and families, value the workforce, recognise that great leadership in children's social care goes hand in hand with great social work, then this may be the next right role for you.

The Head of Service has the responsibility of ensuring that we provide children, young people and families with the right risk management and services at the right time.

Bracknell Forest encourages a one council approach and as such has strong corporate parenting arrangements and effective approaches to performance management and quality assurance.

Family Safeguarding is achieved through collaborative working with parents and within a multi professional workspace which is embedded within our MASH and 'Front Door', Duty and Assessment teams.

You will need an in-depth knowledge of what works for children and families, relevant legislation, and know what good looks like in practice. This role has a strong quality assurance focus to it, supported by a Quality Assurance Service.

We are looking for a leader who is committed to continuous development and who can drive up quality from a secure base for the operational teams. Someone who will be insightful and provide supervision to operational managers that is reflective, helps them to understand what the data is telling us and drives plans for children, enabling families to stay together where it is safe to do so. A leader who recognises that strategic intent must have quality and impact.

What is it like working in our team…

We are Ofsted rated 'Outstanding,' with Ofsted recognising that at Bracknell Forest Council, "Children who need help and protection in Bracknell Forest receive a consistently high-quality service"

Inspectors concluded that social workers and other frontline practitioners benefit from manageable caseloads, good training and powerful and highly reflective supervision that ensures children are at the heart of decision making.

Bracknell Forest Council have an embedded nationally recognised practice model - the 'Family Safeguarding Model'. Our model and our work are dynamic and impactful.

Bracknell Forest's Children's First Response Services, being:

Our Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) which is the first point of contact for children and families who need a targeted or specialist service from early help or social care.

The team deals with a broad spectrum of needs and risks occurring within families and predominantly triages all incoming requests for support and makes timely decisions for children in need or those who are at risk. We work closely with a range of partners to enable and provide a joined up and comprehensive first point of decision making.

Our work is diverse and fast paced with no two days the same. We provide a compassionate and safety-first approach to children and families at risk or in need of services to ensure 'right service - right time'.

The Duty and Assessment Team acts as the front door for Children's Social Care and carries out assessment and short-term work. Working alongside and directly with children, young people, and their families. Our 'front door' colleagues know good beginnings have a better chance of making good endings.

The team predominantly undertakes child in need assessments (Single Assessments) and child protection assessments (Section 47's) using a range of child and adult tools to enhance our analyses, to measure change and to problem solve and design and plan short- medium- and long-term interventions. The team is fast paced, the work is immensely rich and varies day to day.

We are a small, welcoming, and friendly local authority. We are proud of our connected and inclusive culture, with a strong focus on wellbeing, which provides our workforce with a strong sense of belonging., Ensuring the provision of statutory functions are discharged effectively.
Effective deployment of resources to meet statutory and regulatory requirements.
Providing strong operational and strategic leadership.
Setting performance objectives, the strategic direction of the service- translating strategy to operational delivery.
Working closely and collaboratively with multi-agency partners and boards.
Leading within a secure base model, supporting and encouraging a culture where good social work can flourish.
Being part of an on-call rota.
Having in person presence in the office (Generally 3 days a week).

Disability Confident
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