Team Manager

Internal candidates wishing to apply for this role will be considered for a secondment position. Please can you therefore discuss and agree this with your manager before applying for this position. We're seeking a Team Manager to join our Family Safeguarding team based in the South of the County. The successful candidate will be ready to share great ideas and support innovative practice to motivate and inspire a social work team as we continue to implement the Family Safeguarding Model. Family Safeguarding is a whole family strengths-based approach to safeguarding children who may be in need of support or at risk of harm. We work with families with children aged 0-18years to help them identify and make real changes, so that they can stay together, and children can remain safely at home. Our teams are co-located multi-disciplinary teams that include specialist adult practitioners from domestic abuse (to support both victims and perpetrators), substance use/recovery and mental health services ensure that families are getting support at the right time. As a Team Manager you will be ready to demonstrate great practice, share excellent ideas and expertise. You will make sure that children and young people are safeguarded and protected, whilst also being responsible for motivating and leading a small group of social workers and other staff. You will be providing reflective supervision, mentoring, coaching and supporting the development of our relationship-based practice., For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Moira Keen (Service Manager) on and for issues or queries regarding your application please contact . To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and application form. In your application form please outline your motivations for applying and explain how you meet the key skills listed in full and the experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, SWE Registration, 5 years referencing and a health check. Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact . We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our page. Available documents

Some of the key skills and experience/qualifications we are looking for:

• The ability to provide comprehensive professional advice and support within the service specialism, including tackling difficult problems of a technical, professional, resource or people related nature.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills. This will include the ability to develop effective long-term relationships both with other teams across WSCC and external partners enabling the achievement of high-quality outcomes.
• Effective people and performance management skills and the ability to provide direction and motivate the team to deliver quality professional practice.
• Understands the need for emotional intelligence/resilience, specifically in relation to risk.
• A recognised Social Work qualification and certificate e.g. Degree in Social Work, Postgraduate.
• A recognised post qualifying award in Social Work or demonstrable evidence of continuous professional development at a similar level.
• Registration with the relevant professional registration body and maintaining
registration with that body.
• Experience in dealing with significant issues, for example management of complex child protection matters, staff under performance, managing resources to address team performance priorities through allocation of limited resources.
• Expert relevant experience in specialist area, including sound relevant operational experience in social work, ideally working as a senior practitioner or small team leader/supervisor.
• Experience of managing a small budget and/or contributing to financially related decisions on larger spends, how cost-effective decisions are made and operating within the financial constraints.
  
  Here at West Sussex County Council, we are ambitious for our children and our workforce. We have made great improvements in our service for the children and families in West Sussex over 5 years. You will join us as at a key time on our continuous improvement journey; the service you would be joining has a stable workforce with manageable caseloads and a fully permanent management team. We are proud of the work we do and we are proud to be a support and inclusive employer.
That's why we need professionals, like you, who really want to be part of the positive change that is happening for children. Be part of an ambitious ongoing improvement plan and make a significant difference to children and families in West Sussex. There has never been a more rewarding time to join.

For full list of key skills and experience / qualifications please see our job description attached. Rewards & Benefits As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where you can achieve your full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work you do. In addition to working within a great team and a brilliant opportunity you will receive: For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our page.