Head of Service - Children We Care For

About Us

We are committed to improving our services for the children and families in West Sussex we support. You will join us as at a key time on our improvement journey. The work we have started includes establishing a new and experienced leadership team driving forward our 'Children First' improvement plan.

About The Job

This is an exciting time for West Sussex Children we Care for Services following the service achieving a 'Good' judgment in our Ofsted inspection in March of this year, we are now embarking on the next phase of our journey to develop and sustain outstanding services for our children and families.

As the Head of Service - Children We Care For, Care Leavers and Children Seeking Asylum, you will lead and be accountable for the largescale complex whole service area and responsible for a group of service managers and all staff within this assigned service. You will ensure that our children and families are at the heart of service delivery and design and that the welfare of our children and young people is safeguarded and promoted at all times.

For this role, you will be expected to demonstrate relevant theoretical Social Work concepts, practices and detailed organisational knowledge relating to the provision of a professional Social Work service. You will need to demonstrate confidence in managing and leading a large staffing team to achieve performance improvements and service developments.

For anyone considering this position from outside of the local area, we offer a recruitment and relocation allowance for hard-to fill roles by contributing up to £8,000 for costs incurred by employees who move their main residence to start employment with WSCC. The scheme is not intended to meet fully all costs associated with relocating but should be a helping hand in helping you start a new role with us.

The role will require the following Skills:

• You to have the ability to work independently, making sound pragmatic problem-solving decisions, which will have a wider service impact, and aren't as simple as right or wrong answers.
• You will possess exceptional, highly developed communication skills to influence and persuade the actions of others resulting in delivery of effective business solutions.
• You will be able to demonstrate effective research and planning skills resulting in complex business critical solutions that may span the time horizon of several years.
• You have ability to forward plan, continuously developing and reviewing the effectiveness of service, whilst still delivering the current service. This will also include being able to recognise where change is needed and to challenge existing practices, processes, and activities to identify and deliver effective solutions thus promoting change.
• You will demonstrate strong partnership working skills with the ability to develop and manage these further to successfully deliver objectives.
• You have effective people management and performance management skills with the ability to lead and inspire, providing direction and support to individuals and teams.

The Qualifications, knowledge and experience you will require include:

• A recognised professional Social Work Qualification e.g. degree in Social Work, Post Graduate Certificate in Social Work, DipSW, CQSW or equivalent as recognised by the relevant professional body.
• Post graduate professional qualification relevant either to management or to the professional service specialism; or equivalent level of significant experience demonstrating comprehensive application of the above levels of knowledge in a relevant setting.
• Fellowship membership of a relevant professional body or equivalent high-level experience of involved practices.
• Self-sufficient expertise across the technical/professional specialism at the highest level of proficiency, with a comprehensive knowledge of complex practices and precedents built on concepts and principles.
• Practical and theoretical knowledge of the political environment of local government and partner organisations.
• Comprehensive operational and strategic experience appropriate to the business and the organisation.
• Experience of delivering an exceptional service to others through the management of a service, with considerable experience of managing and leading a business function or service with several integrated teams and effectively managing a budget and contributing to decision making on high level spending.
• Experience of developing policies and approaches to business which achieve corporate objectives.
• Exposure to shaping and supporting initiatives in a political environment.

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.

Rewards and 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 employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do. For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to Social Work England registration, an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.