Senior Manager - EmPower Contextual Safeguarding

Lancashire County Council; Preston; Hybrid; GBP 68,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Lancashire County Council is seeking a Senior Manager for EmPower Contextual Safeguarding in Education and Children’s Services. You will lead services for children and young people, shaping trauma-informed practice across Lancashire.

The role requires strategic and operational oversight, robust safeguarding, and collaboration with partners to improve outcomes. You will manage teams, influence across boundaries, and drive change while keeping children at the heart of decisions.

Qualifications

• Minimum four years’ management or leadership experience within children’s social care.
• Professionally qualified and registered Social Worker meeting Social Work England standards.
• Management qualification or significant management training.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership across specialist teams.
• Drive performance, quality and continuous improvement in service delivery.
• Lead high-quality practice and ensure risk and safeguarding are managed effectively.
• Oversee performance, resources and budgets; manage partnerships across agencies.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Risk management

Safeguarding

Partnership working

Education

Registered Social Worker (Social Work England)

Job description

Job Details

• Job-ID: 21347Category: Social Care
  ChildrenLocation: Lancashire, United KingdomSchedule: Full timePosted: 2026-10-09Closes: 2026-11-01Senior Manager, EmPower Contextual Safeguarding Education and Children’s Services – Lancashire County CouncilSalary: 68,225 – 74,531Location: Lancashire, Countywide (Hybrid)Lead With Purpose.
  

Transform Futures

Some leadership roles are about managing services.

This one is about changing futures. As Senior Manager within Lancashire EmPower Contextual Safeguarding, you’ll lead services supporting children and young people at critical points in their lives, shaping how we deliver child-first, trauma-informed practice across Lancashire. You’ll inspire teams, influence partners and help create a service that gives young people the opportunity to move forward and achieve their potential. This is senior leadership where your impact really matters.

About the Role

You’ll provide strategic and operational leadership across specialist teams, working closely with the Head of Service to drive performance, quality and continuous improvement. You’ll lead high-quality practice, ensure risk and safeguarding are managed effectively and oversee performance, resources and budgets.

Partnership working will be central to your role, bringing together professionals and agencies around children and young people while ensuring their voices and those of their families shape the services they receive. It’s a significant leadership opportunity to influence the future of youth justice across Lancashire.

About You

You’ll be an experienced children’s social care leader with a strong understanding of Contextual Safeguarding, and a track record of leading high-performing teams through change and improvement. You’ll be confident making complex decisions, managing risk and performance and building strong relationships across organisational boundaries.

Most importantly, you’ll be a leader who can bring people with you while keeping children and young people at the heart of your decisions. You’ll need a minimum of four years’ management or leadership experience within children’s social care and must be a professionally qualified and registered Social Worker, meeting Social Work England professional standards.

You’ll also hold a management qualification or have undertaken significant management training.

Why Join Us?

A workplace built on trust, balance and flexibility. We want our leaders to have the support and flexibility they need to perform at their best.

You’ll join an organisation where trusted leadership, wellbeing and collaboration are central to how we work.

Development that grows with you. You’ll have the opportunity to influence a critical area of Children’s Services, working alongside senior leaders and partners while helping shape future services, practice and workforce development across Lancashire.

A culture grounded in inclusivity. Our values are supportive, innovative, respectful and collaborative. We want leaders who create inclusive teams, listen to children and families and empower people to deliver their best work.

Closing Date & Interviews

Closing Date: Sunday 1st November

Interviews: TBC

The post you are applying for is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013).

If successful you will be required to apply to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for a 'disclosure'.

Further information can be found on the 'Our Recruitment Process' tab.

You will be required to provide a car for use in connection with the duties of this post and must be insured for business use.

However, we may consider you if you cannot drive because of a disability.

Local Government Reorganisation

The Government has confirmed that local government across Lancashire will be reorganised, with the current 15 councils being replaced by four new unitary councils covering North, South, East and West Lancashire from April 2028.

If you are successful in your application, you will initially join Lancashire County Council.

However, as part of the planned transition, your employment will transfer to one of the new unitary councils from April 2028, subject to the implementation of the reorganisation and relevant employment legislation. Throughout this period, our focus remains on delivering excellent services to our communities.

By joining us now, you'll play an important role in shaping the future of local government and helping to build a strong new organisation that will serve residents for years to come.

In return Lancashire County Council offers a range of benefits, which can be found on LCC Vacancies website. We reserve the right to close down a vacancy early, before the closing date, if we receive sufficient applications.