Head of Service - Family Help & Protection

Sandwell Children's Trust; Oldbury; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous annual leave up to 31 days

Birthday off paid

Flexible working patterns

Learning & Development portal

Local Government Pension Scheme

Up to £6,500 relocation package

Salary sacrifice schemes for cars, bI

Counselling service

Job summary

Sandwell Children's Trust is seeking a Head of Service for Family Help to drive the Families First programme and provide strategic leadership across Family Help, Child Protection and Court services. The role also oversees Sandwell's Integrated Front Door and the Emergency Duty Service, building strong multi-agency partnerships to deliver timely, right-time support for children and families.

With a history of improving Ofsted outcomes and a commitment to relational, trauma-informed practice, you

Qualifications

• Be a qualified Social Worker with significant leadership experience in children and families services.
• Bring senior management experience with a strong record of leading major policy, service and organisational change.
• Accomplished systems leader who can see the whole picture, work across boundaries and translate vision into measurable delivery.
• Energetic, passionate and credible leader with a proven track record of leading high-performing services, inspiring the workforce and influencing partners at every level.
• Experience of managing complex budgets and financial pressures within local government, with commercial awareness to protect quality and outcomes for children.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership across Family Help, Child Protection and Court services.
• Oversee Sandwell's Integrated Front Door and Emergency Duty Service.
• Strengthen decision-making and improve the child and family journey.
• Lead relational and trauma-informed practice with high-quality assessment and timely intervention.
• Oversee child protection, pre-proceedings and care proceedings to achieve permanence.

Skills

Senior leadership experience

Strategy execution

Stakeholder engagement

Budget management

Influencing partners

Education

Social Work qualification

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity to lead at the heart of a once-in-a-generation change in how children's services are delivered in Sandwell. As Head of Service for Family Help, you will play a pivotal role in taking forward our ambitious Families First programme, providing strategic leadership across Family Help, Child Protection and Court services, Sandwell's Integrated Front Door and the Emergency Duty Service. We have transformed children's services in Sandwell, moving from a long history of inadequate services to achieving an overall Good judgement from Ofsted. Recent inspections have recognised the strength of our leadership, including Outstanding leadership and management within our adoption service. This role offers the opportunity to build on those strong foundations, work alongside committed colleagues and partners, and lead the next phase of our journey through Families First. We are looking for the right person in Sandwell to take this work forward: a talented, aspirational and ambitious leader who is ready to shape the next chapter of our services. You will be relentless in driving excellent practice through relational social work and courageous innovation. Highly visible and responsive, you will role model the Trust's ethos, values and standards, inspire colleagues and partners, and turn the ambition of Families First into meaningful and lasting change for children and families. You will lead the development of a truly integrated approach, building strong multi-agency local partnerships and ensuring children and families receive the right help, from the right service, at the right time. Through your oversight of Sandwell's Integrated Front Door and Emergency Duty Service, alongside locality Family Help and statutory services, you will strengthen decision-making, improve the child and family journey and ensure that risk and need are identified and responded to quickly. You will lead services that deliver relational and trauma-informed practice, high-quality assessment, purposeful planning and timely evidence-based intervention. Working with your management teams, you will provide strong oversight of child protection, pre-proceedings and care proceedings, ensuring children achieve permanence through tenacious, timely and ambitious planning.

• Be a qualified Social Worker with significant experience of providing energetic, passionate and effective leadership within children and families services, with the ability to motivate, develop and bring the best out of individuals and teams.
• Bring senior management experience and a strong record of leading major policy, service and organisational change.
• You will be an accomplished systems leader who can see the whole picture, work across organisational boundaries, build shared ownership and translate an ambitious vision into measurable delivery and lasting change.
• Be an energetic, passionate and credible leader with a proven track record of leading high-performing services, inspiring the workforce and influencing partners at every level.
• You will bring people together around a shared purpose, create momentum and lead with visibility, confidence and determination to deliver better outcomes for children and families.
• Have experience of managing complex budgets and financial pressures within local government, with the commercial awareness to make sound, cost-effective decisions while protecting quality and outcomes for children. Sandwell Children's Trust - rated as a Good Provider.

At Sandwell Children's Trust, we firmly believe that the voice of the child should be at the centre of everything we do. We are on an ambitious journey to ensure that children and families in Sandwell are safe and empowered to thrive. Our 'Sandwell Deal', brings together our offering that make Sandwell Children's Trust a great place to work., At Sandwell Children's Trust we strive for excellence to improve the lives of children. To achieve this, we know how important it is to retain and attract high performing, forward thinking and innovative people and provide them with all the support they need. With a culture of collaboration, partnership working and the child at the heart of everything we do, it really is an exciting time to join Sandwell Children's Trust. Working for us There are lots of great reasons to work with us in Sandwell Children's Trust. From a generous rewards package to a culture of learning and development. Our 12 reasons to work for Sandwell Children's Trust sets us apart as the place to grow your career and feel part of a great team. Please visit the Sandwell Deal and our 12 reasons via this hyperlink: https://sandwelldeal.co.uk, Sandwell sits in the heart of the West Midlands and has a diverse population of 341,729 people. While Sandwell is the 12^th most deprived local authority in England, it is a community where our families have high aspirations and where we pride ourselves on equality of opportunity and our adaptability and resilience.

What we can offer you:-

• Generous annual leave of up to 31 days, plus 5 additional days for long service recognition.
• Your birthday off paid in addition to annual leave entitlement and 8 Bank Holidays, plus a concessionary day at Christmas.
• We recognise individual loyalty with service awards from 2, 5, 10 and every 5 years onwards., Flexible working patterns that suit you and all of our roles have well-defined career progression.
• Access to our Learning & Development portal offering virtual training programmes, learning & development info bursts, learning events and much more.
• The latest technology enabling more effective and streamlined working.
• Detailed and effective appraisals to strengthen your practice.
• Access to a range of family friendly policies.

Benefits & Rewards

• Up to £6,500 re-location package
• Generous annual leave entitlement, plus 5 additional days for long service recognition.
• The opportunity to purchase up to 10 days additional holiday through our salary sacrifice scheme.
• Your birthday off paid in addition to annual leave entitlement and 8 bank holidays, plus a concessionary day at Christmas.
• Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme, this is a nationwide career average scheme with employer contributions of 21.6%.
• We recognise individual loyalty with service awards from 2, 5, 10 and every 5 years onwards.
• Reimbursement of Social Work England registration
• 24/7 access to free and confidential employee counselling service
• Access to a range of discounts on products and services
• Salary sacrifice schemes for cars, bikes and technology.
• Refer a friend scheme
• Wellbeing initiatives and forums
• Discounted gym membership
• Eye care vouchers