All about the Role 

A rare and exciting opportunity has arisen to joint Peterborough Assessment Service, as a Team Manager. This role includes overseeing an experienced team and supporting the delivery of effective and timely support to children and their families, while Child and Family Assessments are undertaken in collaboration with them.

You will manage one of the three Assessment Teams and be responsible for a team of 7 social workers, including a senior practitioner and Children's Social Care Practitioner, plus a Child Information and Advice Officer (CIAO).

The Assessment Team cover S17 Assessments, strategy discussions and S47 investigations; responds to Court ordered reports (such as  S7 reports), completes SWET for Court, and care plans where this is necessary and proportionate.

We work closely with our MASH colleagues to ensure that children are allocated to their social workers without delays and receive the right response from the service. We also work closely with Young People Safeguarding Service, who provide specialist support to our adolescents at risk of extra-familial harm and with Early Help colleagues to ensure that the right support is provided to families at the earliest opportunity.

Our Assessment Team is a fast-paced but highly rewarding environment to work in. We're a Service who have a passion for ensuring that children, young people and families in our community receive a positive and timely service, proportionate to their situation. We work with multi-agency partners, often to tight timelines to achieve change for children without delays.

We are guided by Family Valued principals and highly committed to working with families in way that is collaborative and promotes the strengths of the family and their network in building support and safety for children. As a Team Manager, you will have a lead role in this commitment and ensure that practice is collaborative, proportionate, respectful of families' rights and underpinned by their views and strengths.

Day-to-day responsibilities of a Team Manager in Assessment include:

· Supervision and development of practitioners, identifying areas of strengths and areas to improve and implement appropriate plans to achieve this.

· Manage the delivery of the team to ensure it is a high quality and effective service that responds to the needs of children, young people and their families or carers in a timely manner within statutory guidelines or service specifications.

· Manage the planning, allocation and review of children's allocations and ensure priorities are managed.

· Lead on customer service and stage 1 complaints.

· Manage the recruitment and staffing of the team.

· Provide expert knowledge of safeguarding processes, policy and case law.

· Lead on initiating, developing and sustaining internal and external working relationships with other professionals and partner agencies.

· Lead on implementing the Family Valued approach and a relational approach to social work practice with families

About the team

You will be joining a well-established service and two other permanent team managers already in post, to jointly support our social workers to deliver their best work to the children and families of Peterborough.

We are proud to have created a space where colleagues can learn and reflect together in Service Workshops as well as benefit from monthly individual supervisions. We recognise that the job can

bring challenges and ensure our Social Workers are well supported to do their best for children and that this can only be achieved by effective support for Team Managers.

You will have the opportunity to be creative in your work, contribute to Service development and will have the opportunity to have your ideas and voice heard. Peterborough Children's Social Care social work practice is underpinned by Family Valued principles, placing the voices of children and their families at the heart of our assessments and planning. We use Motivation Interviewing to create change and support families to develop their own solutions.

Our team is supported by Children's Information and Advice Officers (CIAOs) and Business Support which makes administrative tasks much more manageable. You will also be supported by a permanent Service Manager, who will provide you with a consistent and reliable leadership.

We are supporting our colleagues in career progression and have a comprehensive Learning and Development offer to contribute to your professional growth.

About you

We're looking for a confident and nurturing team manager, who is keen to sign up to the ‘high support, high challenge' culture within the service and make a positive contribution to practice improvement and development. You will be committed to timeliness and proportionality in your oversight and social work practice, but most importantly ensure that the work of the team is focused on the needs of the children, their specific circumstances and views.

You must:

· Be a qualified Social Worker with a Social Work England registration

· Have the ability to work from a variety of locations and travel countywide independently

For a full list of the requirements of the role, please check out the Job Description & Person Specification.

All about our Benefits 
We value our colleagues and have developed a number of benefits in addition to our generous annual leave starting at 25 days + bank holidays, sick pay and local government pension scheme… 

• Access to a range of benefits via our Employee Benefits Platform, including in-store and online discounts as well as our Cycle to Work and Home & Electronics schemes 
• Buy up to 10 days additional annual leave (pro-rata)  
• Access to car lease scheme 
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances 
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared Cost AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings 
• Access to development opportunities including apprenticeships 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 our equality, diversity and inclusion network 
• Opportunities to receive Employee Recognition Awards 

All about our Commitments 
We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, dedicated to fostering diversity, advancing equity, and building an inclusive workplace for everyone. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and particularly encourage those from underrepresented groups, including disabled people, care leavers, and individuals from minority ethnic communities. Your unique perspectives and experiences are encouraged and valued and will play a vital role in our success. 

We are committed to making our recruitment process as accessible as possible. If you are disabled and require any reasonable adjustments during the application or interview process, please contact pccrecruitment@peterborough.gov.uk  we will work with you to meet your needs. 

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.