Service Manager for Fostering and Permanence

Enfield Council; Enfield; Hybrid; GBP 71,000 - 91,000; Full time

Job summary

Enfield Council in London is seeking a Service Manager for Fostering and Permanence to lead the Fostering and Special Guardianship teams, guiding supervision and support for family and local authority assessed carers, and managing the in-house contact centre.

You will drive trauma-informed practice, improve permanence and placement stability, report to the Head of Children in Care and Care Leavers, and help shape strategy, transformation and continuous improvement across Children in Care

Qualifications

• Senior leadership experience in statutory children’s social care.
• Ability to lead high-performing teams and manage complex services.
• Experience managing large budgets.
• Knowledge of Ofsted frameworks and quality assurance.
• Politically astute with senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Provide teams and partner agencies with support to maintain placement stability and improve permanence and wellbeing for children in care.
• Lead service improvement and embed strong relational practice.
• Ensure strong performance, quality assurance, and statutory compliance.
• Strengthen partnerships to support stability, family time and better outcomes.
• Support review of placement stability and kinship arrangements.
• Produce and promote the local offer to Kinship carers with partners.
• Represent Enfield with partners, Members and regional forums.

Skills

Senior leadership experience

Budget management

Change leadership

Communication and partnerships

Strategic leadership

Education

Qualified Social Worker (Social Work England)

Job description

Job details

Reference Number: PEO-002856

Salary: HOS2 £70,752 to £90,921

Advert closing date: 24/09/2026

Department: People

Location: Thomas Hardy House

Contract type: Permanent

Division: Children in Care

Hours Per Week: 36

Contract End Date: Not specified

Interview Date: 02/10/26

Role overview

As Service Manager for Fostering and Permanence, work with the Fostering and Special Guardianship teams you will guide the teams in providing support, guidance and supervision to family and local authority assessed carers. In addition, you will be responsible for the management of the in-house contact centre.

You will drive high-quality, relational and trauma-informed practice, working with partners to improve permanence, placement stability, education, health and wellbeing.

Reporting to the Head of Children in Care and Care Leavers, you will support service strategy, transformation and continuous improvement.

What You’ll Do

• Provide the teams and partner agencies with support to maintain placement stability and improve permanence and wellbeing for children in care.
• Lead service improvement and embed strong relational practice.
• Ensure strong performance, quality assurance, and statutory compliance.
• Strengthen partnerships and develop the enduring relationship Hub to support stability, family time, lifelong networks and better outcomes including the successful reunification of children with parents following a positive assessment.
• Support the current Fostering association and the staff group to review the support improved placement stability.
• Produce and promote the local offer to Kinship carers alongside partner agencies.
• Be an active member of the North London Fostering Consortium.
• Represent Enfield with partners, Members and regional forums.

What We’re Looking For

• Senior leadership experience within statutory children’s social care services including working with children in care and carers.
• Ability to lead high-performing teams, manage complex services and deliver improvement.
• Able to lead change while maintaining good services.
• Strong understanding of children in care and the importance of family and lifelong networks.
• Experience managing large budgets effectively.
• Knowledge of statutory frameworks, Ofsted and quality assurance.
• Experience leading change in complex organisations.
• Politically astute and confident with Members and senior stakeholders.
• Excellent communication, influencing and partnership skills.
• Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England.

Why Join Us

• A key leadership role improving outcomes and shaping change.
• Opportunity to shape services that make a difference.
• Collaborative, forward-thinking leadership culture.
• Commitment to development and improvement.
• An ambitious, diverse borough with strong partnerships.

We do not see your name or title when shortlisting your application. This is one of many initiatives to build a more talented and diverse workforce. However, if you put your name on your CV or Statement it will be visible to us. Please note it is your responses to the Essential/Desirable criteria, as detailed in the Job Description and Person Specification which is available on the job advert, that will determine if you are shortlisted for an interview, therefore we encourage you to always address the essential and desirable criteria in your application/CV.

Why it's great to work for Enfield Council

• An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
• Up to 32 days annual leave depending on grade and length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year and an extra day off at Christmas.
• A blend of remote and office based working for most roles.
• Interest free season ticket loan repayable over three or ten months.
• Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods.
• Employee Assistance Programme to provide advice and counselling services. This is a free and confidential service available to staff and members of their family.
• Health and leisure discounts and tax-free bikes for work.
• 1 month's paid sabbatical for registered Social Workers working in Children's Social Care.

We are passionate about our people and how we deliver services to our community in Enfield. That’s why we encourage a culture that puts our customers at the heart of everything we do - by empowering our people to work together to find solutions, be open, honest and respectful, take responsibility and listen and learn. If you value these behaviours too, we’d love to hear from you - and of course we are always happy to talk flexible working,

Certain posts in the Council are ‘politically restricted’ which means that staff employed in these posts may not undertake political activities either in or outside the workplace and therefore if candidates are affiliated with any political party, we may not be able to proceed with their application.