Family Help Team Manager

Gloucestershire County Council; Gloucester; On-site; GBP 54,000 - 56,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

LGPS

Welcome payment

Retention payment

Flexible working

Annual leave

Cycle to Work

Job summary

Gloucestershire County Council is seeking an experienced Family Help Team Manager to lead the Disabled Children's Team. You will provide strong leadership to social workers and practitioners delivering services to children with complex needs, ensuring safeguarding and high-quality practice.

You will work with health, education and partner agencies to coordinate plans, support families through a strengths-based approach, and actively involve children and families in assessment and planning.

Qualifications

• Qualified social worker registered with Social Work England.
• Extensive experience with children and families in statutory settings.
• Experience supporting disabled children and families or strong understanding of disability needs.
• Knowledge of disability legislation and safeguarding.
• Experience leading and developing social work practitioners.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the Disabled Children's Team, delivering high-quality services.
• Provide oversight for children with complex disabilities and safeguarding interventions.
• Coordinate plans with health, education and partner agencies.
• Support families through a strengths-based, relationship-focused approach.
• Ensure children, young people and families are involved in assessment and planning.
• Oversee short breaks, CIN, CP and legal planning processes.

Skills

Social work

Team leadership

safeguarding

Disability experience

Interagency collaboration

Education

Social Work England registration

Tools

Systemic Practice

Job description

Family Help Team Manager

Job Location: Gloucestershire

This is a Gloucestershire County Council job.

• Job Location: Shire Hall
• Salary: £54,143- £56,293 per annum
• Hours per Week: 37.00
• Contract Type: Permanent
• Job Requisition Number: 14975
• This post is open to job share

Make a real difference to children and families

Following significant investment in Gloucestershire Children's Services and the implementation of the Department for Education's Families First Partnership Programme reforms, we are looking for an experienced and inspirational Family Help Team Manager to lead our Disabled Children's Team.

This is an exciting opportunity to lead a dedicated team supporting disabled children and young people, ensuring they receive the right support at the right time so they can thrive at home, in school and within their communities.

About the role

As Team Manager, you will provide strong leadership and oversight to a team of social workers and alternatively qualified practitioners delivering services to disabled children with complex needs. You will play a key role in ensuring high-quality practice, safeguarding children and young people, and working collaboratively with families, education, health and partner agencies to achieve the best possible outcomes.

You will

• lead and manage the Disabled Children's Team, ensuring the delivery of high-quality services for disabled children and young people
• provide management oversight for children with complex disabilities and additional needs, including safeguarding and statutory interventions where required
• work closely with health, education and partner agencies to coordinate effective plans and support packages
• support children and families through a strengths-based, relationship-focused approach
• ensure children, young people and families are actively involved in assessment, planning and decision-making
• maintain oversight of short breaks, Children in Need, Child Protection and legal planning processes as appropriate

What we offer

• the opportunity to be part of significant national reform and service development
• a supportive, experienced and values-led workforce
• practice underpinned by Systemic Practice and a commitment to learning and development
• meaningful work that helps prevent escalation to higher-level services
• flexible working arrangements where service needs allow

You will be joining an authority that is committed to delivering the best possible outcomes for children and families, recognising the importance of reflective practice, collaboration, and professional curiosity.

Reward and support

For all your hard work, you will receive the following:

• between £54,143- £56,293 per annum pro rata
• retention payment of £2,000*
• welcome payment of £4,500**
• flexible and agile working opportunities
• 25.5 days annual leave rising to 30.5 days after 5 years continuous service
• option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year
• family friendly policies and benefits to help support you and your family
• supportive and positive working environment with regular, robust supervision
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• in-house Occupational Health service
• employee discount scheme
• employee networks including Prism (LGBT+) and the Young Employees Network
• career development and qualification opportunities
• access to our Academy
• cycle to Work Scheme
• green Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme

Right child, right support, right time, every time

In our recent inspection in June 2025, our Children’s Services have been officially judged as ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ elements. Ofsted also said ‘Leaders have set out a clear vision for delivering success for children, by modelling values and creating a culture where the workforce, children and families feel valued and heard; risk is managed confidently with bottom lines clearly set out.’

This marks an important step in our journey to improve outcomes for our children and young people, and we remain focused on our mission: to continue building on this success and ensure that every child and young person in our county has the opportunity to thrive.

Gloucestershire offers a range of opportunities to develop your career, supported by a phenomenal Social Work Academy offer, a developing systemic practice methodology, an ambitious leadership team and an award-winning workforce.

We are a local authority adopting, and training all colleagues in, systemic social work practice. If you would like to be part of an authority that takes a relational approach to working with families and focuses on what needs to change in the system around a child and family to enable children to thrive, then consider a role with GCC.

About you

We are looking for an experienced and motivated social worker who will:

• be a qualified social worker registered with Social Work England.
• have extensive experience of working with children and families in a statutory social work setting
• have experience of supporting disabled children, young people and their families, or a strong understanding of disability and additional needs
• be knowledgeable about of legislation and guidance relating to disabled children and safeguarding
• have experience of leading and developing social work practitioners and creating a positive learning culture

Interviews are due to take place in person on: W/C 9th November, 2026

If you would like to find out more about our Children's Services, please look at our:

Children's Social Care Careers | Careers hub