Practice Manager Fostering Service

Barnardo's; Liverpool; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading children's charity in the UK is looking for a passionate Practice Manager to oversee Supervisory Social Workers in Liverpool. You will ensure high-quality care for children, manage compliance with regulations, and foster strong relationships with stakeholders. This role offers a supportive work environment and opportunities for personal growth. Candidates should be qualified social workers with experience in children's social care. A flexible approach and commitment to safeguarding are essential.

Benefits

Generous annual leave

Pension scheme

Access to training and development

Flexible working arrangements

Discounts at high street shops

Qualifications

• Registered with Social Work England.
• Experienced in fostering or children's social care.
• Strong commitment to safeguarding children.

Responsibilities

• Supervise and develop Supervisory Social Workers.
• Ensure compliance with NMS and Fostering Regulations.
• Contribute to the placement matching process.

Skills

Team management

Quality assurance

Relationship building

Flexibility

Education

Qualified Social Worker (DipSW, CQSW, or equivalent)

Job description

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Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

Join Barnardo's North West Fostering Service as a Practice Manager

Barnardo's is one of the UK's leading children's charities, and our North West Fostering Service is committed to providing safe, nurturing, and supportive homes for children and young people. We are now seeking a passionate and skilled Practice Manager to join our dedicated team.

About the Role

As a Practice Manager, you will play a vital role in supporting a team of Supervisory Social Workers to provide high-quality care. You will:

• Supervise, support, and develop Supervisory Social Workers to ensure the best outcomes for children and carers.
• Undertake Quality Assurance of all reports, assessments, annual reviews that have been completed by a Supervisory Social Worker for our carers.
• Have a lead area to develop the service
• Contribute to the matching process and placement stability.
• Oversee our duty and recruitment processes
• Work collaboratively with a range of stakeholders, including LA, commissioning teams, children, families, carers, and professionals.
• Maintain accurate and timely records in line with regulatory requirements.
• Ensure compliance with NMS and Fostering Regulations

What We're Looking For

We're seeking someone who is:

• A qualified Social Worker (DipSW, CQSW, or equivalent) registered with Social Work England.
• Experienced in fostering or children's social care.
• Skilled in building strong, supportive relationships.
• Committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
• Able to work flexibly, including occasional evenings and weekends (on call rota)

Why Barnardo's?

• A supportive and inclusive working environment.
• Access to high-quality training and development.
• Generous annual leave and pension scheme.
• Opportunities to grow within a respected national charity
• Regular supportive supervision with experienced fostering service manager

Ready to Make a Difference?

If you're passionate about improving the lives of children and supporting foster carers to thrive, we'd love to hear from you.

For any informal discussion prior to shortlisting please contact Sue Gardner Operations Manager [e-mail]

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band - this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.