Assistant Team Manager - Mental Health - Adult Social Care

About the Borough

The London Borough of Sutton is situated less than 30 minutes by train from Central London, with direct connections to London Victoria and London Bridge. Found in zone 5 with good transport links in and out of London, Sutton boasts award winning parks and open spaces, low crime rates, affordable housing and great schools. As well as high levels of resident engagement and satisfaction, providing quality services and success in addressing our financial challenges, whilst involving residents in key issues and high street changes.

Sutton is continuously investing in the health, wellbeing and education of our residents and the future generation, as set out in the “Ambitious for Sutton” corporate plan. We are home to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together with the development of the London Cancer Hub, Sutton will be the world’s leading life-science district, specialising in cancer research and treatment. Our vision will create around 13,000 jobs while contributing £1.2bn to the UK economy each year, a vibrant community of scientists, doctors and innovative companies intended to deliver real benefits for cancer patients and drive economic growth. With the regeneration of the local areas with new homes and schools, Sutton is passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

The Council is seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment. As we strive to improve our services and spaces for our residents as set out in the ‘Ambitious for Sutton’ corporate plan, Sutton aims to shape the future of the borough and adapt to the needs of its residents to make our Borough a great place to live, work and raise a family.

About the Service and Team

Adult Social Care is undergoing a significant transformation to address the rising demand for our services. We're implementing wide-ranging changes to improve care for adults and create positive working environments for our staff. We have new leaders and experienced managers who bring innovative ideas to the service and are driving meaningful changes throughout your service delivery. Our goal is to deliver exceptional care that enhances outcomes for our community whilst providing an inclusive, diverse and stable environment for staff to grow their career.

Mental Health, Learning Disabilities & Transitions

Within our boroughwide specialist service, there are three social work teams - The Transition Team, The Learning Disability Team, and the Mental Health Team.

The Mental Health Team is a new initiative that coordinates social care for individuals with complex mental health needs. The team delivers the AMHP service, works closely with inpatient services promoting timely discharges and coordinates community based support including Care Act assessments, reviews, safeguarding and S117 aftercare. Our team contributes to meeting our statutory duties for those with mental health needs and provides an opportunity to contribute to our strength based approach, focused on achieving the best outcome for our service users.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

Join Adult Social Care as an Assistant Team Manager (ATM) and receive a generous Welcome Bonus of £1000, paid in your first month's salary.

Reporting to the Team Manager, you will support team operations, including recruitment, retention, and workload allocation. You will provide ongoing supervision to maintain exceptional standards of casework and offer guidance while leveraging the expertise of the Team Manager for support on complex cases. Additionally, you will contribute to ensuring that commissioned services are cost-effective and, where appropriate, participate in the co-production of service improvements with service users and family care.

Our team contributes to meeting our statutory duties under the Care Act and Mental Health Act and provides an opportunity to contribute to our strength-based approach, focused on achieving the best outcomes for our service users. The Mental Health Team consists of two ATM's, with both assisting in supporting the Mental Health team's day to day functions as part of the Duty Manager rota, including acting as Safeguarding Manager for statutory safeguarding enquiries.

This position present an excellent opportunity for experienced social workers who have demonstrated strong management and leadership capabilities, ideally within a local authority context, or for those already functioning in a management capacity looking for a new challenge. As a subject matter expert in social care and mental health, you will be expected to possess an in-depth knowledge of current legislation, regulations, and guidance pertinent to social work practice to these roles .

You will play a pivotal role in supporting staff to adopt creative and innovative approaches while effectively managing your own time to meet tight deadlines and demonstrate measurable outcomes. Furthermore, you will be responsible for ensuring the quality of work delivered by your team meets established standards.

Key qualifications and competencies for the roles include:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Social Work, with a preference for candidates holding a Master's degree and registration with Social Work England.
• Extensive post-qualification practice experience with a thorough understanding of relevant legislation, regulations, and best practices within the field of social care.
• Experience in caring for adults and/or children with a learning disability or mental health needs.
• Strong leadership and managerial skills to effectively manage and motivate a multidisciplinary team of social care professionals.
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders and community partners to achieve shared objectives.

If you are a dedicated and experienced Social Worker or an established Assistant Team Manager looking to take on a challenging yet rewarding leadership role, we encourage you to apply. Join our service and make a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve.

For more information about the roles and/or an informal conversation, view the Role Profile or contact Karen Norton, Team Manager on karen.norton-lamb@sutton.gov.uk.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-32 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
• Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Two volunteering days per year
• Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
• Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle leasing scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Sutton we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our PRIDE values.
Here at Sutton we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.