Service Manager

We have an exciting opportunity to join us as a Service Manager for Quality Assurance for Practice Improvement and Inspection at West Sussex County Council (WSCC).

You will play a vital part in the management of the department's quality assurance framework and support services. You will ensure the quality of the service we provide alongside the Head of Service for Practice Improvement and Inspection. You will work collaboratively with colleagues across Children's Social Care Services, Ofsted, and other professionals as required.

A key part of the role is ensuring WSCC meets the requirements of Ofsted, leads on improvement work in conjunction with staff and managers, and supports the management, preparation, and responses to inspections.

The responsibilities of the Service Manager role include, but are not limited to:

• Ensuring the safety of each child in the community.


• Promoting the voice of the child through increasing opportunities for children and young people.


• Ensuring effective strategies are in place for recruitment, staff management, making best use of your teams' skills and abilities, practice quality and performance, and equality, diversity, inclusion, and equity.


• Identifying key themes for improvement, evaluating improvement plans, and supporting targeted work.


• Co-ordinating and developing activities of staff and resource allocation.


• Providing professional leadership and guidance and being a role model to your team.


• Developing close working relationships to challenge, influence and achieve positive outcomes.



• Ensuring the department's activities are co-ordinated and aligned with business planning cycles the service and wider council, keeping in line with policies, procedures, and plans., Working within the Children, Young People and Learning (CYPL) Directorate, within the Safeguarding, Quality and Practice Service, the Quality Assurance (QA) team are responsible for providing the assurance that children and families are being provided with the best quality service. The Service Manager - QA will analyse performance, business intelligence and trend data analysis and act as the key vehicle for operational insight and help drive areas for continuous service improvement, high performance and securing best value for money., In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.


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, five years referencing and an occupational health check.

Equity, inclusion, and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

Do you have experience with social work services?

Are you a collaborator with experience of managing a team?

Do you enjoy solving complex issues?, We are looking for someone who enjoys being creative and finding solutions to problems.

If you hold a Social Work qualification, or if you are an alternatively qualified professional with a passion to drive improvements and real-life experiences of children and young people in West Sussex, we would love to hear from you., 1. Strategy, planning and issue resolution skills, using analytical skills to understand and use 'big' data and intelligence to build an accurate picture of service delivery and a sound evidence base for decision making.
2. Excellent communication and diplomacy skills with the ability to build strong networks and influence and persuade senior partners and stakeholders.
3. Ability to work positively and constructively with colleagues, managers, and partner agencies.
4. Ability to provide a clear overview of complex issues and provide sound, professional and reliable advice in an engaging, accessible, and non-technical manner.
5. Ability to work under pressure within tight timescales and manage competing priorities, with creativity and imagination in seeing new approaches, painting the vision.
6. Ability to gather and manage data and information in a number of ways, draw key lines of enquiry, and analyse relevant information to produce sharp and concise reports.

Our priority in West Sussex is 'Children First' and this is an exciting and challenging opportunity for a Service Development Manager to join and be part of West Sussex's commitment and drive to provide quality interventions to the children we help, support, and protect.

Our latest Ofsted inspection visit was a positive demonstration of the progress we have made over the years and the improved service we offer children, young people, and families in West Sussex. We know there are further improvements to be made which is why we're looking to recruit the best people to help us achieve them.

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance, and are rewarded for the work they do.