Children's Assessment Duty Team Manager

Surrey County Council; Byfleet; Hybrid; GBP 54,000 - 59,000; Full time

Job summary

A local authority in the UK seeks a Duty Team Manager for its Children's Assessment Team in Byfleet. The successful candidate will oversee contacts to ensure they are allocated and managed according to policies. Responsibilities include delegating tasks to social workers and addressing safeguarding concerns. Benefits include a competitive salary range of £54,636 - £58,953, 28 days of annual leave, and flexible working arrangements. Previous social work experience and a degree in social work are required.

Benefits

28 days annual leave

Employee Assistance Programme

Lifestyle discounts

Paid volunteering days

Qualifications

• ASYE completed, within two years of qualifying.
• Experience in managing social work contacts and case allocation.
• Strong understanding of safeguarding protocols.

Responsibilities

• Manage contacts coming into the North East Assessment Team.
• Delegate tasks to duty social workers effectively.
• Ensure timely responses to safeguarding concerns.

Skills

Qualified Social Work degree and SWE Registration

UK social work experience

Substantial post-qualified experience

Car driver with a valid UK license

Evidence of supervising staff

Job description

We have a great opportunity for a Duty Team Manager to join our Children's Assessment Team based in Dakota, Weybridge. The salary range for Team Managers is 54,636 - 58,953 per annum based on a 36 hour working week.

When not working with our residents in the community, we are keen to support agile working with a combination of home and office working. We are keen to get the balance right of providing flexibility but ensuring you feel connected to your team and the service.

Our Offer to You

• We pay your Social Worker England Registration fee
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 31 days after 5 years' service (plus bank holidays)
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependants leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• Refer a friend payment of 1,000 as a thank you for finding the right Social Worker

Our Progress

We are proud of our recent Good Ofsted judgement, which marks a significant milestone for Surrey. The report highlights how strong assessments in Surrey consider children’s histories and involve social workers spending time alone with children to understand their experiences. Our strong training and development offer in Surrey helps to equip staff with the understanding, knowledge and skills that they need to practice in a kind, sensitive, motivational and respectful way and that staff feel highly valued, are proud to work for children’s services. You can read the full report HERE.

About the Role

Our Duty Team Manager is responsible for managing the contacts coming into the North East Assessment Team via both the Multi Agency Partnership (MAP) and the Request For Support (RFS) and ensuring these are allocated and managed in line with Surrey thresholds, policies and procedures.

You will delegate contacts to duty social workers and will be responsible for the allocation of children to social workers across the assessment service, and where necessary lead on the identification of children who are at risk of immediate harm, facilitating strategy discussions in line with agreed processes to ensure a timely response to any safeguarding concerns.

You will also work closely with the other Team Managers as part of the management team within the North East Assessment service and will be expected to provide cover to other Team Managers as and when required to ensure cover across the service and ensuring the monthly rota for the duty social workers is covered.

About working in Assessment

The first contact any family or professional has with our assessment service sets the tone for our entire working relationship with them. Our practice across the whole service is based upon consent, strong relationships with families and with partners who are also supporting our families. Using motivational approaches the assessment social worker engages with both the family and the network supporting them to understand the presenting worries and work out whether a statutory social work service is required. If not, a plan to support the family at a lower level of need will be put in place to meet the need of the child and family.

One Voice

In Surrey, you will have a sense of belonging within your individual team but also the wider service areas and directorate. You will receive high quality supervision, as there is a firm commitment towards dedicating time that focusses on the work you do with children and families, to enable you to work creatively and holistically in providing support and protection to children whilst also paying attention to your wellbeing and career development.

Your Application- Our Inclusive Approach

In order to be considered for shortlisting, your application will clearly evidence the following skills and align with our behaviours:

• Qualified Social Work degree and SWE Registration
• Car driver with a valid UK license
• ASYE completed, within two years of qualifying
• UK social work experience
• Substantial post-qualified experience
• Evidence of supervising (students and practice educator) or supervising other qualified staff

To apply you will need to upload your CV and answer the following questions (no more than 200 words per question):

1. Please tell us what has motivated you to apply for this role?
2. Please tell us about the key skills and experience you will be able to bring to this role.
3. Working in an Assessment team can be quite fast paced, unpredictable and often requires multi-tasking. Using an example, please tell us how you cope under pressure?

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description and Our Life at Surrey handbook to get an insight into working at Surrey.

Next Steps

If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to a short virtual call to explore your answers to the application questions (lasting approx. 15- 20 mins) If successful following this, you will invite for an in-person interview, allowing you to meet the team, check out your potential office and get a feel for what your journey might look like.

We are committed to inclusive recruitment. That's why, if you're invited to a face-to-face interview, we'll share the themes of the questions with you in advance. This way, you can prepare and feel comfortable, allowing you to confidently discuss your skills and experiences.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on the 28th of December 2025.

Contact Us

Our friendly teams could talk your socks off when it comes to all things Social Work. We'd love to hear from you and find out more about what you're looking for so if you'd like to talk to us please just drop a quick message to and we'll get a call arranged.

An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.