Deputy Team Manager

Luton Borough Council; Luton; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 51,000; Full time

Job summary

A local government authority in the United Kingdom is looking for a Deputy Team Manager to lead the Family Help team in Luton. The successful candidate will help deliver essential early help and child in need services by managing a multi-disciplinary team of social workers and various professionals. Applicants must be registered with Social Work England and have substantial experience in children's social work. This role offers a competitive salary and a range of benefits including a generous pension scheme and work-life balance options.

Benefits

25 to 32 days annual leave

Buying annual leave scheme

Career pathways

Generous pension scheme

Generous relocation package

Employee Assistance Programme

Flexible working options

Unlimited access to development courses

Staff offers discounts

Arriva Travel Club savings

Friday Funday Socials

Qualifications

• Registration with Social Work England and extensive experience in children's social work.
• Strong understanding of child safeguarding and legislative frameworks.
• Experience in leading, coaching staff and supporting practice development.

Responsibilities

• Manage timely, effective services for children and families.
• Provide supervision and performance monitoring of social work staff.
• Lead on complex casework in high-risk situations.

Skills

Social Work England registration

Child safeguarding knowledge

Leadership and mentoring skills

Decision-making in high-risk cases

Interpersonal and partnership skills

Understanding of multi-agency delivery

Education

Post-qualifying experience in children's social work

Job description

About The Job

Salary: £47,181 – £50,269 a year plus £5,000 market supplement and £3,203 car benefit allowance

Hours per week: 37

Contract type: Permanent

Role

We are seeking a committed and experienced Deputy Team Manager to help lead our Family Help team in delivering high-quality early help and child in need services across Luton. Working alongside the Family Help Team Manager, you will play a key leadership role in managing a newly integrated, multi-disciplinary team that includes:

• Social workers and family help practitioners
• Educational and mental health professionals (CAMHS, psychologists, adult mental health nurses, speech and language therapists)
• Community partners (youth workers, police community support officers, DWP work coaches, health visitors, social prescribers, housing officers, domestic abuse workers and more)

You will be instrumental in prioritising support for our most vulnerable children and families, ensuring the right interventions are identified and implemented in line with Luton’s Threshold Framework and Practice Framework.

Key Responsibilities

• Supporting the operational and strategic management of the team to deliver timely, effective and coordinated services
• Providing reflective supervision, practice oversight, and performance monitoring
• Leading on complex casework and supporting professional decision-making in high-risk situations
• Driving quality improvement through audit, feedback and case reviews
• Representing the service at both internal and multi-agency forums

Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.

About You

We are looking for someone who is passionate about improving outcomes for children and families through integrated working and evidence-informed practice.

To Be Successful, You Will Have

• Social Work England registration and extensive post-qualifying experience in children’s social work
• A strong understanding of child safeguarding, risk management and legislative frameworks
• Experience of leading, coaching or mentoring social care staff and supporting practice development
• The ability to make confident, balanced decisions in high-risk scenarios
• Strong interpersonal and partnership skills with the ability to influence and negotiate across professional boundaries
• A clear understanding of early help and child in need thresholds and multi-agency delivery

About Us

Luton Council has been selected to deliver the government’s Families First for Children Pathfinder programme. Luton is one of seven new areas in the second wave to be chosen with the aim of protecting vulnerable children from harm and improving services to help more children stay with their families in safe and loving homes. The programme is an amazing opportunity for Luton to shape future social care practice, which includes closer working relationships with our health, police, education and voluntary sector partners.

Children are at the heart of everything we do in Luton, and we are very proud of the tremendous work that is already taking place together with our partners, including the development of our Family Hubs and working towards making Luton a child-friendly town where our children and young people can grow up feeling happy, healthy and secure.

Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision – that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty – is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.

The people of Luton depend heavily on this council – and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?

We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough.

Application process

Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person’s criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However, in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.

Additional Information

We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:

• From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
• Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
• Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
• Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
• Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
• Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
• Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
• Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
• Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
• Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
• Friday Funday Socials – One Friday every 2 months where we encourage our staff to get together to socialise after work