Families First Programme Practice Lead

inploi; Bury; On-site; GBP 56,000 - 59,000; Full time

Job summary

A local authority in Bury is seeking a Families First Programme Practice Lead to transform children's social care. As the leader, you will provide strategic direction and ensure effective partnership working. You will need a degree in Social Work, extensive leadership experience, and the ability to implement service reforms. Join us to help shape the future of children’s services through innovative practices and community engagement. Closing date for applications is January 4, 2026.

Qualifications

• Qualified and registered social worker with substantial post-qualification experience.
• Strong track record of leadership within statutory children’s services.
• Experience with large-scale service improvement or transformation programmes.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and practice leadership across children's services reforms.
• Lead development and delivery of the roadmap for social care reforms.
• Champion family safeguarding and ensure it is reflected in plans.

Skills

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Partnership building

Leadership

Social Work knowledge

Education

Degree in Social Work

Job description

Job Title: Families First Programme Practice Lead

Salary: £56,723 - £58,883 plus £5,000 market rate supplement (grade SM1)
Contract Type: Fixed Term for 12 months
Hours: Full time, 37 hours per week
Location: Bury Council Offices, 3 Knowsley Place

About the Role

Bury Children's Services are embarking on an ambitious journey to transform how we deliver social care - placing children and families, relationships, and communities at the heart of everything we do.

We are seeking an experienced and passionate Social Work Lead to help shape and drive Families First Partnership Programme implementation within Children’s Services.

Intended Outcomes of the Reform

• Improve early intervention/prevention so families get the help they need and reduce the risk of escalation of concerns.
• Reduce the number of children entering care and supporting children to grow up in their own families.
• Improving the multi-agency safeguarding response.
• Strengthening the families voice, networks and decision making (including via FGDM) to keep children safe and to engage families in finding solutions and planning.
• Better information sharing and consistent identifiers to keep children safe.

Three Key Cornerstones of the Families First Programme

• Family Help Teams integrated local teams providing early, responsive and relationship-based support.
• Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams bringing professionals together to improve decision-making and child protection outcomes.
• Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) empowering families to take the lead in planning for safety and change.

Lead for Reform – Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and practice leadership across all elements of the reform agenda within children's services and promote effective partnership working.
• Lead the development and delivery of the roadmap to implementing national and local social care reforms, ensuring clear milestones, strong governance and measurable outcomes.
• Co-design, pilot and embed new models of working including Family Help Teams, Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams and develop our FGDM and family network meeting approaches.
• Translate reform objectives into operational reality, supporting managers and practitioners to adopt new ways of working.
• Champion our family safeguarding approach and ensure this is reflected in plans and developments.
• Lead our workforce development offer and foster a culture of reflection, learning and continuous improvement across Children’s Services.
• Work closely with partners across education, health, police and the voluntary sector to strengthen integrated working and joint accountability.
• Use data, feedback and evaluation to evidence impact, inform decision-making and refine our roadmap as reforms progress.

About You

You will be a qualified and registered social worker with substantial post-qualification experience in children’s social care, ideally including service transformation or reform.

You will bring both strategic insight and operational credibility, able to connect high-level vision with the realities of frontline delivery. You will be confident in leading change, influencing across systems and inspiring others to deliver excellence in practice.

Essential Criteria

• Degree or equivalent qualification in Social Work, with current registration with Social Work England.
• Strong track record of leadership within statutory children’s services.
• Experience of developing or implementing large-scale service improvement or transformation programmes.
• Comprehensive knowledge of current legislation, statutory guidance and national social care reform agendas.
• Excellent analytical, communication and partnership-building skills.

Why Join Us?

This is an exciting and unique opportunity to shape the future of children’s social care at a time of national reform. You will be at the centre of designing and delivering our roadmap to implementation, helping to embed the Families First cornerstones Family Help Teams, Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams, and Family Group Decision Making as the foundation of our future model of support.

Closing Date

Closing Date: 04/01/2026

Interview Date

Interview Date: 12/01/2026

For an informal discussion, please contact: Linda Evans, Director of Social Care and Early Help / [e-mail]