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Panoramic Associates are exclusively working with Swindon Borough Council with the key and critical hire of a Head of Service to manage the Front Door and Assessment Service for their Children's Services, as the push forward and continue on an ambitious transformation journey

Swindon Borough Council

Head of Service, Front Door & Assessment

Salary: £77,517 per annum

Benefits package (including a relocation package if required)

37 hours per week

Hybrid working

Free parking at the central Swindon campus if required

This an exciting and critical senior role, fundamental to the welfare of vulnerable children across Swindon. You will inspire, give confidence and be committed to supporting children to achieve their potential.

Swindon's Front Door - Contact Swindon - provides support and guidance for parents, carers, members of the public, young people and professionals.

Details

You will oversee all functions of Contact Swindon and will play a key role in Swindon's safeguarding partnership
You will be adept and driven to working in a challenging and demanding role to the greater good
You will need to be an exceptional team player with a track record of forming good strategic relationships
You will be be confident in managing the threshold for child protection and be confident in getting things right, irrespective of the time of day.
You will champion the voice of the child and their family, ensuring that the decisions we make are informed by their experiences.
You'll able to lead and influence, winning hearts and minds far beyond our organisational council boundaries.
You will understand the power of data and use you experience alongside it to continuously improve the service

Key

Previous or current experience as a Head of Service, or a Service Manager with the right experience looking for a step up
Experience of working at a senior level in a political environment to provide assurance and effect change.
Strategic experience of leading and managing complex projects and programmes to improve and transform services.
Excellent influencing and negotiating skills to secure collective responsibility both internally and across the partnership to develop efficient, effective and impactful services with strong influencing skills to challenge partners and stakeholders critically and constructively, using respect alongside negotiation to drive change.
Extensive experience of working within Children Social Care services and leading teams.
Budget management and utilising a best value approach to council funding and grants.
Knowledge of relevant legislation, regulations and guidance and latest research on social care matters that affect children, young people and families.
Experience of writing strategies, plans, policies, business cases and reports, liaising with other departments where needed e.g. Finance, Legal, Human Resources.
Experience of delivering presentations along with being skilled at presenting complex issues in to a range of different audiences.
Experience of developing and using quality assurance systems and processes for monitoring and evaluation
Experience of facilitating co-production and capturing lived experience within quality and performance feedback.
Professional social work qualification (degree or diploma) - essential
Registered Practitioner with SWE England - essential
Management qualification or significant experience managing in a social care setting- essential

Next steps

Please drop me a call or get in contact if you would like to know more about this position and have a further discussion on it.

1st stage interviews will be held week commencing 30th June, with a face-to-face interviews happening the following week