Team Manager

Kent County Council; Whitstable; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Kent County Council is looking for a Team Manager to lead within Canterbury Children’s Social Work Service. This role involves direct management of social workers, ensuring high-quality services and ongoing professional development. The successful candidate will play a vital role in safeguarding and supporting children and families, while benefiting from a comprehensive benefits package and flexible working arrangements.

Benefits

Annual retention market premium payment of £3,000

£2,000 Car Market Premium

28 Days Annual Leave

Professional development opportunities

Flexible working arrangements

Qualifications

• An experienced social worker with supervisory responsibilities.
• Must have professional registration and extensive post-qualification experience.
• In-depth understanding of social work theories and legislative frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Manage a team of social workers and oversee case supervision.
• Allocate resources and manage workloads effectively.
• Work collaboratively with various agencies to enhance children's services.

Skills

Leadership

Organizational Skills

Budget Management

Safeguarding Procedures

Collaboration

Education

CQSW, DipSW or equivalent

Job description

We have an exciting vacancy within Canterbury Children’s Social Work Service for a Team Manager. The successful candidate will be welcomed into one of our five Team’s and will be based at Brook House in Whitstable. This post will have direct line management responsibility of a team of Social Workers and a Senior Practitioner and will work closely with the other Team Managers to provide a cohesive Service across Canterbury Children's Social Work Service.

For this role, you will not only meet the conditions of the Job Description and Person Specification but will also be highly organised, flexible, and able to work in a fast paced and child focused environment. This role will also require you to be mobile throughout a wide operational area including travelling around Kent and beyond to support our children and young people.

You will be a champion of social work values, delivering and improving services for children and young people. You will allocate resources and workload and ensure the provision of cost-effective services. Your day-to-day support and high quality caseload supervision will ensure your team can meet the complex and changing demands of the service, as well as enable their ongoing development. Working in partnership with a broad range of agencies, you will contribute to the development of Children’s Services procedures and policies. And, advising on commissioning strategies, you’ll ensure that services are developed and accessible to all children, young people and families needing support, protection and intervention.

About you
Your social work degree – CQSW, DipSW or equivalent – must be supported by professional registration and extensive post-qualification experience. This experience should include supervision, budget management, and joint working with partners in the statutory, private and voluntary sectors. You should be confident in your ability to lead and develop a team. And, with an in-depth understanding of safeguarding procedures, legislative frameworks and social work theories relating to child services, you’ll have the expertise needed to contribute to practice and policy development. In return, we offer an attractive benefits package, a competitive salary and a range of professional development opportunities.

About us
We are proud of our Ofsted rating of outstanding and we are continuing to develop excellent services and ensure ‘Children are at the centre of Kent County Council’s culture and practice’ (Ofsted 2022.) As one of the largest Children’s Social Work Service in the country, we offer a comprehensive learning and development framework in Kent.

We want the best for the children of Kent, and this can only be delivered as a team effort with everyone playing their part. So we’re creating a culture that fosters excellence and collaboration – a place where social workers are empowered to be creative and share ideas and advice.

Our Package

KCC offers the following market premiums:

• Annual retention market premium payment of £3,000 (following successful probationary period)
• £2,000 Car Market Premium (Applies to eligible staff who use their own car to carry out their duties) and paid business mileage
• 28 Days Annual Leave (increased to 30 days after 5 years)

We offer an attractive benefits package and a commitment to ensuring that you achieve a healthy work life balance with flexible working arrangements and an emphasis on health and well-being.

You will also have a range of professional development opportunities including the exciting Social Care Academy and routes for progression.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service and to registration as a qualified Social Worker with the Health Care Professionals Council.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

For further information regarding this role, pleasecontact:

Work that works for you and us - let's talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county's working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note - if you are interested, please apply soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.