Service Manager: Fostering Supervision and Support

Staffordshire County Council; Stafford; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Staffordshire County Council is recruiting an experienced service leader to oversee fostering supervision and support, ensuring high-quality guidance and development for foster carers.

The role requires a qualified social worker, strong management experience, and the ability to lead multi-agency partnerships, governance and regulatory compliance. You will drive improvements, manage budgets and support a culture of learning and high performance.

Qualifications

• Qualified and registered Social Worker.
• Evidence of substantial management training or a professional/management qualification.
• Extensive experience managing teams within children's social care.
• Experience in multi-agency collaboration and safeguarding.
• Strong knowledge of statutory fostering frameworks and national standards.
• Experience with fostering panel governance and regulatory compliance.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop fostering supervision and support services.
• Oversee placement stability, safeguarding and quality assurance using data.
• Ensure compliance with fostering regulations and quality standards.
• Build partnerships with health, education, commissioning and community organisations.
• Support, motivate and develop managers and teams.
• Manage budgets and resources to deliver sustainable services.

Skills

Social work leadership

People management

Stakeholder engagement

Governance & compliance

Education

Registered Social Worker

Management qualification / leadership training

Job description

Main Responsibilities

This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for ensuring foster carers receive the support, guidance and development they need to provide stable, nurturing homes for children and young people. Leading fostering supervision and support services, you will drive high standards of practice, champion continuous improvement and help deliver positive outcomes for children, carers and families. You will support with Agency Decision Making functions and Regulation 24 decisions.

• Lead and develop fostering supervision and support services, ensuring foster carers receive high-quality guidance, supervision and practical support.
• Oversee placement stability, safeguarding and quality assurance activity, using performance data and feedback to drive service improvements.
• Ensure statutory requirements, fostering regulations and quality standards are consistently met across all areas of the service.
• Build strong partnerships with colleagues, health, education, commissioning and community organisations to deliver coordinated support for children and foster carers.
• Support, motivate and develop managers and teams, creating a culture of learning, accountability and high performance.
• Manage budgets, resources and service improvement initiatives effectively, ensuring services remain sustainable, responsive and focused on achieving the best outcomes.

The Ideal Candidate

You will have:

• Be a qualified and registered Social Worker.
• Have a relevant professional/management qualification or evidence of
• substantial management training
• Substantial experience in managing teams within children's social
• care within a multi-agency environment.
• Significant knowledge, understanding and experience of working
• with relevant legislation policy and procedures including the
• statutory framework for fostering, National Minimum Standards and relevant statutory guidance.
• In-depth understanding of statutory frameworks, national
• agendas, and best practice for children in care
• Experience of fostering panel management including governance,
• and regulatory compliance.
• Experience in managing and implementing service development,
• change programs, and operational planning

The assessment process

Throughout the recruitment process, you will be assessed against the three key competency areas:

• Children & Families Core Principles
• Leadership
• Technical and Role-Specific Competencies

The process will take the form of in person interview which will include,

• a role specific exercise
• an element involving our Children and Young People and a Foster Carer (to be confirmed on interview invitation)

Interview dates to be confirmed.

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

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

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.