Team Manager- First Response

We take the right action, at the right time for Children in Need of help and protection in Leicestershire who receive a timely and proportionate social work response to manage risk and meet needs. We are ambitious for children, young people, their families and for the workforce that supports them. Our commitment is to make Leicestershire the best place for children and their families to thrive. About the Role Our First Response Service is based at County Hall. We have Screening, Duty and Assessment Teams with Team Managers, Senior Practitioners and Social Workers in each team. This position is predominantly based in one of the sub-teams within the Screening part of the service but you are expected to work across the service as needed. At our 'front door' there is an effective and timely response to contacts from professionals and members of the public, to ensure that children's needs are met at the earliest opportunity. Management oversight of the front door is thorough, and decision-making is evident throughout a child's journey at the referral and assessment stage. When children are at risk of immediate harm, prompt action is taken to understand their circumstances and to better safeguard them. Decision-making is proportionate and leads to appropriate actions, including the decision to undertake child protection investigations. We are confident that there are timely responses to non-immediate safeguarding issues too. We have a strong data and performance culture to ensure that we continually challenge ourselves in respect of children and young people receiving timely interventions. A DBS enhanced check for a regulated activity is required for this post. For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement. Assessments are timely, comprehensive and of good quality and written to the child, with immediate safety planning and actions put into place at the earliest opportunity. Risks are appropriately identified during the assessment stage, and this leads to coherent plans that better promote children's safety and well-being. First Response has a strong service-learning framework to know what is working well and what areas for development should be targeted, this is a fluid framework responding to current trends and themes. Managers take part in regular quality assurance and audit activity and this supports a culture of high challenge, high support where there is access to regular reflective supervision. We have strong leadership in Leicestershire and the Team Managers in First Response work together, supported by Senior Leaders who are visible. We are committed to our continuous improvement in First Response and achieving excellence through purposeful practice and we challenge ourselves to ensure that we are providing the best possible service to the Children, Young People and Families of Leicestershire., We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below. This may include requests for term-time working, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, home/remote working, etc.

Are you experienced in in leading a Social Work team to improve the outcomes for children, young people and their families? Are you committed to continuing to support us delivering outstanding services to children and young people? We are looking for someone who has a robust understanding and application of thresholds, identifying and responding to risk and harm and is able to support and lead a small team of Social Workers and newly qualified staff. You will know what 'good' looks like and be able to quality assure and drive good practice and leadership. You will need to be able to confidently work on your own initiative as well as part of a small group of managers. We need can-do, resourceful and creative managers to support the development and delivery of a busy front door and assessment service in line with the policies and procedures of the Department and within regulatory and statutory guidelines. About You To apply for this post, you must-have :

• Social Work degree or equivalent, e.g. CQSW, DipSW (with specialism in children's services), approved by Social Work England and evidence of continuing professional development.
• Experience of statutory childcare social work, including Child in Need, safeguarding, child protection and care proceedings.
• Experience of supervising staff and/or social work students.
• Management experience.
• Experience of using performance indicators to monitor and improve performance.
• To analyse information to reach sound decisions, often under pressure, and take responsibility for their outcome and regular reporting to the Service Manager.
• To apply the principles of equal opportunities in service provision and employment, promoting anti-discriminatory practice.
You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion. In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process., Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.