Head of Service - Family and Safeguarding

At Gateshead, we believe that "the strength of Gateshead is the people of Gateshead." Everything we do is driven by our commitment to helping children, young people and families thrive.

At Gateshead, we believe that "the strength of Gateshead is the people of Gateshead." Everything we do is driven by our commitment to helping children, young people and families thrive.

Our Children's Services are rated 'Good' by Ofsted, and we are ambitious about striving for excellence as we continue to strengthen practice, culture and outcomes across the borough. Through our Thrive agenda, we are working with partners and communities to create the conditions in which children and families can achieve their full potential.

As part of our senior leadership team, you will join a service that values relational practice, continuous learning and innovation. We are committed to delivering high-quality support to children and families at the earliest opportunity while ensuring children are protected, supported and empowered to flourish.

This is a significant strategic leadership role within Children's Services and one of three Heads of Function reporting directly to the Service Director for Children's Social Care and Early Help.

As Head of Family Help and Safeguarding, you will provide vision, leadership and direction across a broad portfolio of services that support children, young people and families from early intervention through to family help; safeguarding, protection and care proceedings.

You will be responsible for leading a number of critical services and service developments, including:

• Best Start in Life Hubs
• Youth Justice and Early Help Services
• Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and Emergency Duty Team (EDT)
• Family Help and Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams
• Children Missing from Home and Care Service
• Pre-birth services
• Children with Disabilities service
• Risk Outside the Home (ROTH) services
• Management of our Trusting Hand Service - supporting Adolescent Mental Health and prevention of hospital admission
• 16-17 homelessness prevention
• Legal proceedings and family court work
• Service transformation and innovation programmes
• Medium-Term Financial Strategy demand-reduction initiatives

Leading a large and complex portfolio, you will work closely with Practice Leads, partners and senior leaders across the system to ensure children and families receive the right support at the right time.

You will drive improvement, innovation and high-quality practice across services, ensuring robust safeguarding arrangements, effective quality assurance and strong performance. You will also play a key role in shaping future service delivery, responding to legislative reform and embedding evidence-informed practice that improves outcomes for children and young people.

You will be joining a service with an established and ambitious transformation programme to embed the Family Help model and wider social care reforms. This role will be instrumental in ensuring the effective implementation, embedding and ongoing review of services designed to provide the right support at the right time for children, young people and families. Working across the continuum of need, you will help shape and evaluate innovative approaches, using evidence, insight and learning to strengthen practice, improve outcomes and ensure services continue to meet the changing needs of our communities.

As a senior representative of the council, you will influence policy, lead partnership working and contribute to strategic forums including safeguarding partnerships and wider multi‑agency arrangements.

We're looking for an experienced and inspirational leader with a strong track record of delivering positive outcomes for children and families.

• a recognised social work qualification and registration with Social Work England
• significant post-qualifying experience across children's social care services
• extensive senior leadership experience in services supporting vulnerable children, young people and families
• a detailed understanding of safeguarding legislation, statutory responsibilities and national policy
• strong knowledge of child…