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Staffordshire County Council; Brauncewell; On-site; GBP 57,000 - 62,000; Part time

Job summary

Staffordshire County Council's Emergency Duty Service is seeking an experienced Interim Team Manager for the out-of-hours period. You will lead a skilled social work team, oversee safeguarding decisions and ensure statutory duties are delivered safely for children and adults across Staffordshire.

This fixed-term role (6 months) offers leadership during peak demand, with 18.5 hours per week and shifts outside standard hours.

Qualifications

• Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England.
• Experience as a Team Manager, Assistant Team Manager or senior practitioner with safeguarding knowledge.
• Minimum 2 years post-qualifying experience in social work.
• Ability to cover 5pm-8am Monday-Friday and provide 24-hour cover on weekends/bank holidays.
• Knowledge of Mental Health Act and multi-agency safeguarding.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational leadership and safeguarding oversight for out-of-hours services.
• Support and supervise social work staff within the EDS team.
• Ensure statutory duties and service standards are met and monitor performance.
• Foster effective multi-agency collaboration and partnership engagement.
• Assist with workforce planning and system transformation activities.
• Contribute to Liquidlogic implementation and changes to practice/recording.

Skills

Leadership

Safeguarding

Out-of-hours experience

Communication

Partnership working

Education

Social Work England registration

AMHP desirable

Tools

Liquidlogic

Job description

Interim Team Manager (Emergency Duty Services)

18.5 Hours per Week | Fixed Term for 6 Months

Salary: £57,444 to £62,029 per year

Location: Lindum House Stone, ST15 0SD

Staffordshire Emergency Duty Service (EDS)

Are you an experienced Social Work Manager looking for an opportunity to lead a highly skilled out-of-hours service that makes a real difference to vulnerable children, adults and families across Staffordshire?

We are seeking an experienced and dedicated Qualified Social Worker to join Staffordshire Emergency Duty Service as an Interim Team Manager for a six-month fixed-term period.

This role has been created to provide additional operational leadership and management capacity during a period of increased demand, service transformation and management cover requirements. The post will play a key role in ensuring the continued delivery of safe, effective and responsive statutory services outside normal working hours.

Staffordshire Emergency Duty Service delivers critical statutory out-of-hours services across:

• Children's Services
• Adult Social Care
• Mental Health Services

Operating countywide, EDS responds to urgent safeguarding concerns and emergency situations that cannot safely wait until the next working day. The service works closely with a wide range of partners, including Police, Health, Mental Health Services and other emergency responders.

The service is currently experiencing increased referral volumes, greater case complexity and rising safeguarding demand. EDS is also preparing for significant system developments, including the implementation of Liquidlogic alongside existing Care Director and Capita systems.

Shift Pattern

The Emergency Duty Service operates outside standard office hours:

• Weekdays - Monday to Friday 17:00 - 00:00
• Weekends and Bank Holiday - Day Shift 8:30 - 16:30
• Evening Shift - 16:30 - 00:00

Working arrangements for this 18.5-hour post will be agreed in line with service requirements.

Why Join Us?

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to one of Staffordshire's most critical frontline services during a period of transformation and development. You will work alongside experienced professionals committed to delivering high-quality emergency responses and safeguarding outcomes for some of the county's most vulnerable residents.

Join us and help shape the future of Staffordshire Emergency Duty Service while ensuring vulnerable children and adults receive the right support when they need it most.

Main Responsibilities

The Role

As Interim Team Manager, you will provide operational leadership, professional supervision and safeguarding oversight to support the delivery of high-quality out-of-hours services.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing management oversight of complex safeguarding and risk-management decisions.
• Supporting and supervising social work staff within the EDS team.
• Ensuring statutory duties and service standards are maintained and undertaking quality assurance and performance monitoring activity.
• Supporting effective multi-agency working and partnership engagement.
• Assisting with workforce planning and operational management.
• Supporting service improvement and system transformation activities.
• Contributing to the implementation of Liquidlogic and associated changes to practice and recording systems.

You'll be :

• Representing the Emergency Duty Service, providing a service outside of normal office hours.
• Carrying out tasks related to the following and dependent on relevant qualification and experience for the task:
• To secure the provision of a range of services in urgent situations, for the care of children for whom the local authority has a statutory duty and responsibility under the provisions of the Children Act 1989.
• To secure provision of a range of services in crisis situations, for adult service users within the framework of the Care Act 2014.
• To ensure the safety and wellbeing of service users who require urgent assessment subject to the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983.
• To facilitate the delivery of services to children, young people and adults in police custody, as outlined in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1983 (PACE).
• To ensure that health and safety matters are considered when undertaking a piece of work.
• Interviews will be held during the week starting 5th October 2026.

The Ideal Candidate

You will be:

• A qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England.
• An experienced Team Manager, Assistant Team Manager or senior practitioner with strong safeguarding knowledge.
• Approval as an Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) would be desirable, given the service's responsibility for responding to urgent Mental Health Act requests outside normal working hours.
• Knowledgeable across Children's Services, Adult Social Care and Mental Health legislation and practice.
• Confident managing risk and supporting decision-making in complex situations.
• Skilled in staff supervision, quality assurance and performance management.
• An effective communicator with strong partnership-working skills.
• Able to work flexibly and provide leadership within a busy out-of-hours environment.

Minimum Criteria

Working in the Emergency Duty Service requires teamwork, good organisational skills and a good level of competency using IT systems. You’ll also need:

• Minimum 2 years post-qualifying experience in social work.
• Good communication skills because you’ll interact with lots of people across the organisation and externally through phone, in person and email.
• Good organisational skills and attention to detail, as you’ll be keeping data updated and you’ll be working to deadlines.
• A flexible approach to work as sometimes things can change, and so you’ll need to be able to prioritise work and sometimes change tasks quickly.
• A passion to always give the best service.
• Ability to cover 5pm-8am Monday-Friday and provide 24-hour cover on a standby basis on Saturdays, Sundays and also bank holidays.

Our Recruitment Process

We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

For information, please note that there is currently an ongoing review within Children and Families to realign individual teams and the wider team’s ways of working. As a result, this role may be affected by the review. For further information, please speak to the hiring manager.

Please note: The minimum criteria in the ideal candidate section detailed above will be used if you are applying under one of our Interview Guarantee Schemes detailed below.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Our benefits:

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire.

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities.

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers – we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme