Team Manager - Children in Care, Mid Essex

Fixed Term, Full Time

£55,892 to £69,241 Per Annum

Location: Chelmsford

Closing Date: Thursday 11th June

Please note this vacancy is available as a fixed term contract or secondment opportunity for up to 12 Months.

We are a really supportive and creative Children in Care service where everyone looks after each other. You will be joining an experienced team and a management team who prioritise providing high quality and regular reflective supervision and support to all our social workers as well as ad hoc and informal support on a day to day basis, and we also have reflective supervision on cases and consider particular dilemmas on cases.

Essex practices social work from a systemic perspective and promotes, strengths based, relationship based and trauma informed practice. The Essex Social Care Academy provides outstanding training opportunities for all social workers and you will have the opportunity to access high quality training and development opportunities.

Children in Care

Children in Care (CIC) teams work with children and young people up to the age of 18 who are in care– they’re unable to live at home and are either placed with a foster carer or live in residential homes. They work with children and young people to ensure their experiences in care is a good one and that the work undertaken prepares them for their transition into leaving care or return home to family. The CIC teams receive cases in proceedings after the first hearing, they visit children and young people in placement, develop permanency plans which include Special Guardianship Order (SGO) and adoption, undertake life-story work to enable a child to understand the reasons for being in care and also support children to return home to birth family.

The Role

The Team Manager will ensure the team operates in line with the Children and Families Anti-Racist Statement and Strategy and that resources are granted to enhance children and families racial, ethnic, religious and cultural identity.

The Team Manager leads the team, developing and promoting capabilities and holding them accountable for performance and delivering improvements. Working with the Service Manager, contributing to the development of strategy and ensuring a service which adapts responsively to change.

With proven ability to focus on results, develop innovative solutions and build strong working relationships, this leader will possess a deep understanding of working in a challenging social and financial environment.

Roles at this level will be focused on delivering results in a specific functional area. You will hold expertise on the application of strength based social work practice, supporting the team to have practice improvement at the heart of all we do.

To read more about our business area, please visit: Children & Families

Please take a look at our ‘No Magic’ Children & Families video

Accountabilities

Lead a team of social workers to deliver a high-quality professional service with positive outcomes.
Accountable for individual performance, quality assurance, resources and budgets.
Accountable for the practice of social workers within the team, providing professional and practice supervision, using available tools to address underperformance and coaching to enhance the quality of the practice.
Responsible for development of individuals to maximise the capability and performance across the team.
Responsible for the oversight and quality assurance of a range of social work reports and court statements.
Responsible for responding to complaints and other feedback from service users in accordance with policy and in a way that fosters positive relationships.
Lead inter-agency collaborative working, where a social work perspective is used to inform and drive decision making. Establishing and developing effective approaches to integrated working with partners, communities and the voluntary sector, to achieve successful outcomes for service users.
Develop the training and tactical service delivery plan for the team.
Use expertise and professional knowledge to provide advice and guidance for complex cases in line with legislative and organisational standards.
Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

A recognised social work qualification i.e. Diploma, degree or Masters in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, with current registration with Social Work England as a registered social worker.
Evidence of continuing professional development, aligned to any relevant Professional Competency/Capability frameworks or Knowledge and Skills Statements.
Significant experience within a Social Care setting with evidence of challenging social and family situations.
Experience of supervision of Social Work students and/or newly qualified Social Workers, possessing strong leadership and behavioural skills, with the ability to forge a highly performing and motivated team from diverse backgrounds, to deliver local objectives and work to required professional standards.
Experience of working within a complex environment and leading change to ensure the Council delivers best practice.
Developing strong relationships with partners, other agencies and the local community to achieve joint objectives and offer a supportive framework for children and their families.
Recognise the financial implications of care packages commissioned.
Evidence of clear decision making in order to highlight and limit the potential risks associated with intervention.
Knowledge of relevant legislation and experience of legal processes including care proceedings

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, the Government announced that councils in Greater Essex will be reorganised into five new unitary authorities from April 2028. In addition to this, Greater Essex has been accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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