Service Manager- Neighbourhood Social Work

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary: Grade K. SCP 44 £55,691 - SCP 47 £60,036

Hours Per Week: 36 hours

Base Location: Tameside One, Ashton-under-Lyne

Assessment Date: Interviews Friday 17th July 2026, in person at Tameside One

Are you passionate about making a real difference in the lives of children and families? Do you bring compassion, curiosity, collaboration, conversation, and courage to your practice? If so, Tameside is looking for you.

The Role

The We are looking for an experienced social work leader to be the Service Manager for several of our neighbourhood social work teams who work mostly with children who are in need protection, within pre proceedings or the family Court arena.

About You

As Service Leader you will hold children and achieving the best for them at that heart of all you do. You will create the culture and conditions within your service area for best practice to flourish. Your relational approach will model the way we work with children, families and each other, and provide the support and challenge to drive continuous learning to improve practice to be the best it can be.

You will have a laser focus on ensuring that the social work practice in your service keeps children safe and supported to achieve the best outcomes for them, and that plans for permanence are achieved swiftly. You will be confident in chairing meetings where there are multiple complexities, often differing perspectives, and be skilled in navigating these to reach and make agreed evidenced child centred decisions within all areas of social work with children.

You will be skilled in providing reflective supervision, supporting team and service wide practice, learning and development, and confident in using a variety of data, quality assurance tools, feedback from children, families, colleagues and partner professionals, complaints and MP enquires, to understand individual, team and service performance. You will use this to celebrate best practice, drive areas for improvement and resolve issues of poor practice through formal processes when needed.

About Us

Hear from Jill Colbert OBE, Director of Children’s Services

“When I first joined the council at the beginning of 2025 I was instantly charmed by the warmth, openness, and energy of my colleagues.

“The reason why I came to Tameside was because I knew we could do fantastic things for our families here.

“Whilst we’re currently a children’s service on a significant improvement journey, I’m proud of the progress we’ve made together, and this is already making a difference for our children.

“I know from the feedback from our Commissioner, Ofsted and our Strategic Improvement Partner, that families are seeing and feeling the impact of the thoughtful and compassionate support delivered by our workforce.

“We know that if we keep children at the centre of our thinking and our actions, we will create meaningful change for them that lasts.

“We are also growing and investing in our future. We have a range of specialist services for children, giving social workers quick access to expert help that makes complex decisions easier and supports better outcomes. Our Social Work Academy is led by people who bring passion to learning. We are strengthening our progression pathways so that staying in Tameside is rewarded and recognised. We have invested in innovation and improvement so that we can grow services and support for families that we can sustain, from family hubs through to complex safeguarding.

“Together, we are creating a proud, inclusive, and safe environment where great practice can truly flourish. And I feel incredibly privileged to lead this journey alongside such dedicated colleagues.

“Be a part of something great, be a part of our improvement journey and join us at Team Tameside.”

Our Heart of Support Practice Approach

At Tameside, we believe in:

• Compassion understanding the lived experiences of children and families.
• Curiosity asking questions that lead to deeper insight and better outcomes for children.
• Collaboration working together across services to deliver joined-up support.
• Conversation listening and engaging meaningfully with children, families and professionals.
• Courage leading with courage, making bold and compassionate decisions that put children first.

This position is subject to Enhanced with Barred List Disclosure Procedures. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and expect all staff to share this commitment.

This post is a designated customer facing role under the fluency duty and requires a specified level of spoken English.

If you have completed the GM Elevate (Leadership Development) Programme, please indicate this within the ‘About You’ or ‘Supporting Statement’ section of your application.

Unfortunately, at this time we are not able to offer sponsorship.

We are committed to developing a culture which respects individuals, appreciates difference and allows everyone regardless of background to reach their full potential. We are proud to be an accredited disability confident employer. Reasonable Adjustments will be considered in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the Job Role Criteria.

Our rewards and benefits package can be viewed here

For further information about this role please contact the recruiting manager on 0161 342 4085 or philip.wilkinson@tameside.gov.uk