Service Manager - Multi Agency Child Protection Team

Our benefits

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage…

• £2k Welcome Bonus for this role
• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes

Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.

About the role

Are you an accomplished safeguarding leader with extensive child protection expertise and a passion for driving exceptional outcomes for children and families? If so, we'd love to hear how your experience, vision and leadership can support the development of our new Multi-Agency Child Protection Team (MACPT).

We are seeking a dynamic and influential Service Manager to lead our new MACPT, providing strategic and operational leadership across Cambridgeshire's multi-agency child protection partnership.

Leading a team of Lead Child Protection Practitioners, you will drive high standards of practice through robust quality assurance, performance oversight and strategic partnership working. You will provide constructive challenge, champion continuous improvement and work collaboratively with partner agencies to strengthen safeguarding arrangements and deliver positive outcomes for children across the county.

This is a unique opportunity to play a key role in establishing and developing a new service, making a lasting impact on child protection practice and partnership working in Cambridgeshire.

In return for your expertise and commitment, you'll receive a £2,000 Welcome Bonus, and a salary of up to £63,288, alongside our generous local government benefits package.

If you would like to discuss the role in more detail please email Hannah Watt, Head of Service for MACPT and IFD via hannah.watt@Cambridgeshire.gov.uk to arrange a phone call or Teams meeting.

Closing date 29th November. Where possible, interviews will be held in person at New Shire Hall in Alconbury Weald, Huntingdon the week commencing 7th December or 14th December 2026.

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

What will you be doing?

As Service Manager, you will lead the delivery and performance of the (MACPT), ensuring high-quality, timely and effective responses to safeguarding concerns. Working collaboratively with colleagues across social care, police, health, education and wider partner agencies, you will champion a culture of partnership, continuous improvement and excellence in child protection practice.

Responsibilities will include:

• Sharing expertise on child protection, offering professional guidance and oversight to ensure statutory safeguarding responsibilities are met consistently and effectively.
• Providing strategic and operational leadership to the MACPT, ensuring effective service delivery and positive outcomes for children and families.
• Leading, supporting and developing a high-performing team of Lead Child Protection Practitioners, fostering a culture of learning, accountability and excellence.
• Building and maintaining strong multi-agency relationships, providing constructive challenge and collaborative leadership to improve outcomes for children and young people.

About you

You will be a qualified and registered Social Worker with significant leadership experience within frontline children's services and safeguarding. Passionate about achieving the best outcomes for children, young people and their families, you will bring a strong commitment to high-quality practice and service excellence.

As an innovative and reflective leader, you will be committed to continuous learning, professional development and service improvement. You will have the ability to build strong, effective relationships with children, families and partner agencies, alongside a proven track record of identifying and responding to safeguarding concerns and risks of significant harm.

You will be confident in analysing complex information, making sound decisions in challenging situations, and providing clear strategic direction within a fast-paced environment. A thorough understanding of relevant legislation, statutory guidance and best practice relating to children and families is essential, together with substantial experience of working successfully within multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

Experience of leading change, driving service improvement and delivering positive outcomes through collaborative partnership working will be highly valued.

You will have the ability to travel countywide independently.

For the full requirements of the role, please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification.

About us

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers