Service Manager

We are seeking an experienced and passionate Service Manager to join the Social Work Academy, playing a key role in developing the next generation of social workers.

In this role, you will supervise, support and formally assess Newly Qualified Social Workers, students, apprentices and Practice Educators to nationally accredited standards, ensuring fair, balanced and high-quality outcomes. You will provide reflective supervision, coaching and challenge to drive excellent practice and decision-making in line with Cafcass standards.

You will also contribute to the recruitment, induction, coaching and ongoing development of both new and experienced staff, helping to foster a positive learning culture and drive practice excellence across the organisation.

Working closely with the Head of Practice and Assistant Director, you will contribute to learning and development, performance improvement and organisational learning. You will also build strong partnerships with higher education institutions and professional bodies.

This is a vital leadership role where you will champion the ‘Together with Children and Families’ practice framework, uphold safeguarding responsibilities, and support a culture of continuous improvement and high-quality service delivery.

Being a Service Manager is very rewarding but as you would expect, challenging too. As well as being registered with Social Work England, you’ll be organised, resilient, empathetic, supportive and able to work independently across both public law, private law and information screening teams where Child Focused Courts are running.

You will provide leadership, oversight, guidance and reflective supervision to NQSWs managing Private Law workloads. This includes supporting practice within the Early Intervention Team, where a key responsibility is ensuring that Cafcass intervenes only where children and families require a service, promoting proportionate and timely involvement.

In addition, within the Work to First Hearing work, you will ensure that children’s voices remain central to decision‑making by supporting high‑quality assessments, robust analysis of risk and need, and effective court practice. Through reflective supervision, quality assurance and case oversight, you will promote safe, timely and child‑focused recommendations while supporting practitioner development, performance and wellbeing.

Through modelling best practice, promoting continuous improvement and embedding professional standards, you will support the delivery of high‑quality services that achieve the best possible outcomes for children and families.

We also think for you to succeed and truly make a difference youshould be someone who has;

• Expert knowledge of children’s social work, including safeguarding, statutory and assessment frameworks
• A track record of highly effective practice management or supervisory experience
• Demonstrable experience of being a practice educator with the skills to continuously monitor, manage, develop and improve team and individual performance
• Proven ability to establish strong and effective networks with other agencies.
• Experience of leading individuals and teams through change