Head of Service - Family & Care

Position: Head of Service - Family Help & Care
Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities!

We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants.

Introduction We are looking for three Senior Leader's to join Lewisham Children’s Social Care, Family Help and Care to provide strategic and operational leadership across our children’s social care services.

The roles are senior leadership role for an ambitious, values-driven professional's who are passionate about improving outcomes for children, young people and families. You will play a key role in shaping and delivering high-quality, effective and innovative services, ensuring that children are safe, heard and supported to achieve their potential.

What’s the role? …As Head of Service, you will:

Provide strong, visible leadership across children’s social care teams and services.

Drive improvements in practice, performance, quality and outcomes for children and families.

Ensure services are delivered in line with statutory duties, legislation, safeguarding requirements and best practice.

Lead and develop managers and practitioners, creating a culture of accountability, learning and continuous improvement.

Use performance data, quality assurance and professional intelligence to identify priorities and drive improvement.

Work collaboratively with education, health, police, housing, early help and other partners.

Ensure children and young people’s voices and experiences are central to service design and decision-making.

Contribute to strategic planning, service development, workforce planning and budget management.

Support the service to respond effectively to inspection, audit and regulatory requirements.

Promote a strengths-based, relationship-focused approach that improves outcomes for children and families.

To carry out duties with due regards to the Councils Values and behaviours.

What’s in it for you?

Excellent training and development opportunities, plus a range of benefits including:

Generous holiday allowance

Local Government Pension scheme

Flexible working and family friendly policies

Season ticket and bicycle loansA range of staff discounts including local subsidised gym memberships

Supportive staff networks

What we’re looking forYou will be an experienced social care leader with a strong track record of managing complex children's services and delivering sustainable improvement.

You will have:

A professional qualification in Social Work and current Social Work England registration.

Significant post-qualification experience within children’s social care.

Proven experience at senior management level within a statutory children’s social care environment.

Strong knowledge of safeguarding, child protection, corporate parenting and relevant legislation.

A demonstrable record of improving practice, performance and outcomes.

Excellent leadership, communication and relationship-building skills.

The ability to inspire teams while maintaining clear standards of accountability.

Strong analytical, strategic and decision-making skills.

Can inspire and motivate those they work with, manage and lead

Experience of working effectively with senior leaders, elected members and multi-agency partners.

A commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion and ensuring the voice of the child informs our work.

Location The job is primarily based in Laurence House, Catford, London, SE6 4RU
, but we operate a hybrid approach where you will be required to work both in the office and from home on a regular basis.

Special conditions

To apply for this post, you must have a degree in social work or equivalent qualification and be registered with Social Work England.

Weekend working is required for this jobThe job is subject to an enhanced DBS check

The recruitment process is anonymous and we don’t accept CVs.Applicant handbook - please read the guidance in this handbook when applying. It is essential that you complete the application fully and that your supporting statement covers how you meet each of the person specification criteria…