Children's Social Work Team Manager

An exciting opportunity has arisen for the role of Team Manager in East Staffs (Burton on Trent).

Our aim is to create an environment where families are supported to stay together safely and live well in their communities by building on their strengths.

This is the right thing to do. Families tell us they do not want to be in services and evidence says that lives are better when needs can be met early within the family or community.

Working in this way is also more sustainable. We can support more families to live better lives if we focus on addressing needs as early as we can. This report details the changes we have already made across the children and families system.

You will be:

• leading a team of practitioners and manage the day to day practice and the safe allocation of work
• leading on the delivery of the statutory responsibilities relating to children’s safeguarding (in the broadest sense) under the Children and Families Act 2017 and it’s contextual framework through Working Together 2015 and other relevant legislation e.g. Education Act 1996, Children Act 1989, Adoption & Children Act 2006 etc
• providing the highest level of professional leadership, motivation and direction to a team
• ensuring that effective professional practice and supervision is delivered throughout the team following the principles of the knowledge and skills statements for social workers and in adherence with Children and Social Work Act 2017
• identifying and embed service improvements through audits, quality assurance, identifying training, benchmarking and the interpretation and dissemination of legislation
• participating and work in partnership through relevant boards, e.g. LSCB, partnership committees, locality arrangements and other meetings as necessary
• maintaining, developing and contributing to internal, local, regional, national and multi-agency partnerships to influence, support and maintain best practice

You will have:

• experience of working at a senior level within a local authority ·
• knowledge of managing social workers and others within a single or multi-professional team ·
• experience of leading multi-disciplinary teams in a partnership environment · Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of relevant legislation in relation to the children’s’ social care system ·
• experience in managing budgets effectively ·
• proven ability to quickly build and manage strong credible stakeholder relationships ·
• excellent supervision skills and an ability to enable practitioners to utilise reflective practice
• an ability to deal with a range of issues and conflicting demands and deadlines
• proven ability to influence decision makers ·
• ability to work collaboratively with teams and partners.

“We’re happy to talk flexible working”

Interviews will be held week commencing 20th April 2026.

For an informal chat about the role please contact Fiona Creighton, District Lead on email at fiona.creighton@staffordshire.gov.uk

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.