Team Manager - Duty Team

We are looking for an experienced, innovative, and creative team manager to manage one of our Duty teams, as part of our front door Duty service.

The Duty teams are made up of a Team Manager and Advanced Practitioner and 7 Social Workers.

The team manager will lead the team on a 5-week duty Cycle, the team will go on duty every 5^th week ensuring all the families that need our intervention that week are supported and appropriately assessed.

The nature of the work within the Duty Service can be described as fast paced, as a manager of the Academy team in Duty you will be working closely with the other 4 duty teams and our Duty Social Work Academy. The Duty teams in Wigan hold a varying complexity of cases, case transfer points include the initial child protection case conference, the first CLA review, the first PLO meeting and CIN will transfer at the point longer term intervention is needed.

As one of our Duty managers you will have knowledge of children's services legislative frameworks and legal proceedings and have the ability to make complex information accessible for every audience . You will ensure the delivery of a high quality and effective social work practice to support, empower and promote independence, strengths and assets of both children, families and within their local communities. You will work in partnership with children, young people and parents, some of whom can be difficult to engage, to provide the positive and empower change.

Within the duty service we complete the initial Children and Family assessments within the teams, then we ensure that they are signposted to the appropriate service after completion of this assessment. In our Duty teams we don't hold cases long term we like to ensure that we complete timely assessments, and the children and families receive the right support at the right time.

Here at Wigan Council, we believe our workforce is our greatest asset and we will ensure you have the right support and a positive working environment to deliver outstanding social care to children, young people and families.

As part of our last Ofsted visit staff indicated that they "feel well supported by managers and leaders during these challenging times and they receive regular communication from the senior management team".

We believe that looking out for our young people and supporting families is a key priority for the future. Our children and young people have told us how important it is for them to feel safe, to have access to things that interest them and be proud of their local area. We want our young people to thrive, be proud to call the borough of Wigan home and see it as a safe and vibrant place to grow up in. We want them to be happy and to continue to feel connected with the borough as they grow into adults, with opportunities to live, work and raise their own families here. We want you to help us to achieve our goals.

What we can offer you:

• Flexible working including a blend of working from home/remotely and utilising our re-designed, shared office space


• A generous pension scheme


• A dedicated team of social work practitioners with manageable caseloads


• Fantastic career development opportunities you can access through our 'one stop shop' supported by regular supervision with your manager and reflective supervision with peers


• Regular social work forums to share your views with the ability to get involved in service development to improve our support to children and families, being creative and doing things differently


• New challenges and experiences


• A culture where everyone is treated with respect and ensure our behaviours of Be Positive, Be Accountable, Be Courageous and Be Kind are embedded in everything we do


• Continuous service across other GM Authorities and partner organisations


• Free parking
  
  A caring and friendly nature and you put children, young people and their families at the heart of all you do


• Social work qualification with up-to-date registration with Social Work England


• Significant knowledge and fundamental understanding of research, innovation and good practice


• In depth knowledge of statutory and legislative frameworks which underpin effective care planning


• Experience of a broad spectrum of services within the field of social work with children and families either through social work experience or through training


• The ability to work as part of a team and alongside colleagues from other areas of Children's services


• Good time management skills with the ability to work to deadlines and reorganise the workload to meet conflicting demands


• Lead by example, show a genuine concern for others, and maintain connections with colleagues both within and outside of the organisation
  
  Wigan Council has been voted 'Overall Council of the Year' at the APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) Awards. We are signed up to the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment ensuring that your service will be continuous or 'unbroken' between the supporting organisations.


Wigan is a fantastic place to work where we are able to offer you a wide range of both challenging and rewarding career development opportunities. Ofsted have recently highlighted that we are creating the right conditions for social work to thrive. You will have the chance to join a team of enthusiastic, knowledgeable and supportive managers who have recently committed to the Signs of Safety approach as our practice model. You would be a part of embedding this model across the whole service., Wigan Council prides itself on equality, inclusion and promoting diversity within the borough and aims to recruit a workforce that reflects our diverse communities. We invest in training and developing our staff, in a positive learning environment, and aim to be a consciously inclusive employer. We welcome applications from everybody in the community and would particularly encourage applicants from our underrepresented groups to apply. At Wigan, it is really important to us that applicants demonstrate our Team Wigan behaviours, and we do all we can to make sure that everyone feels like they belong. We have guidance in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process.

To be appointable in this role you must be able to prove you have the right to work in the UK. If this right to work is on a temporary basis, plea...