Salary: £51,465-£54,480
Location: Twickenham
Contract Type: Permanent
Hours: Full-time
Directorate: Specialist Children's Service
Service: Referral and Assessment

About the role 
As a Head of Referral and Assessment you will lead and manage the Referral and Assessment Cluster teams, ensuring sound and robust investigation of concerns about a child or young person’s safety and well-being, identifying their needs; planning their care and promoting their welfare. 

Our emphasis is on building strong, meaningful relationships with children and their families and we want to recruit a committed Team Manager whose focus will be on leading a team of social workers to engage children and families to achieve good outcomes for children. An essential part of your leadership will be to continue to develop good quality partnerships with children, families and partner agencies. You will ensure the staff you manage are able to develop their professional careers and they continue to be able to provide a very high standard of service to vulnerable children. 

You will work with the Head of Safeguarding and take operational responsibility to ensure the delivery of team objectives and ensuring targets are met. 

Do you have the management style, that will ensure effective decision making, provide high-quality supervision, and rigorous management oversight? If so we look forward to hearing from you. In return, we will offer you high-quality support and development opportunities, including Signs of Safety training, Systemic Family Therapy support and much, much more. 

About us 
We have been up and running for four years, and in that time we have established a reputation as one of the leading children’s services providers in the country. We are one of the Department for Education’s eight ‘Partners in Practice’, tasked with leading improvement across the sector. 

In return, we will offer you high-quality support and development opportunities. Our learning and development offer was highlighted as a key strength by the judging panel when they named us Social Work Employer of the Year in 2016.   

If you would like to find out more about this exciting opportunity, please contact Sara Doyle, Associate Director for Referral and Assessment at sara.doyle@achievingforchildren.org.uk for an informal discussion.   

About you 
To apply for the Head of Referral and Assessment, you will need to be at the top of your game as a social work professional. You will be an expert in your field, with extensive front-line child protection and court work experience. You will bring a wealth of knowledge and be inspirational in your approach in managing diverse and complex cases. You will have sound written and verbal skills. Full support for personal development, career progression and further training will be provided. This role requires you to have a social work qualification and be HCPC registered.  

For this post we require:

• Experience of supervision of staff and preferably managing a team with a complex caseload
• A recognised Social Work qualification and registration with the H.C.P.C.
• Substantial experience of working with vulnerable children
• Evidence of effective performance management
• Strong analytical and planning skills 
• Use of relevant research methods, including critical reflection and evidenced-based decision making
• Evidence of continued professional development.  

For more information regarding this role, please view the Job description and person specification.

Benefits of working for Achieving for Children 
As a social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Kingston, Richmond and Windsor & Maidenhead), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government. We offer a range of excellent staff benefits, including generous annual leave entitlements, cycle to work scheme, annual season ticket loan, childcare vouchers, and discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres and much more.   

The successful candidate will have access to; 

• Excellent learning and development opportunities and schemes of support 
• A competitive and desirable retention package (to include a generous local government pension scheme) 
• Retention of continuous service benefits, for those moving from a local government post 
• A clear progression path when key qualification milestones are reached 
• Tools and models to support, including Signs of Safety
• Reflective supervision from an experienced management team   

You will find out more about our organisation at https://www.achievingforchildren.org.uk 

How to apply 
Before applying please refer to the role profile and ensure you meet the essential criteria. You will then need to complete the online application, adding a supporting statement addressing how you meet the criteria outlined on the role profile. Some of our positions require CV only.   

Achieving for Children is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. 

All candidates will be required to undertake a Criminal Record Check. The possession of a criminal record will not necessarily prevent an applicant from obtaining this post, as all cases are judged individually according to the nature of the role and information provided. However, should you not declare an offence that is subsequently revealed, e.g. through the DBS check, then this may place your appointment in jeopardy. 

Closing Date: 7th August 2018