Head of Service First Response - Children's Social Care

What we're looking for...

We are seeking a Head of Service to join an experienced, hard-working, supportive, and friendly leadership team who strive to create the right environment and resources for good social work to flourish.

If you are a strong advocate for children and families, value the workforce, recognise that great leadership in children’s social care goes hand in hand with great social work, then this may be the next right role for you.

The Head of Service has the responsibility of ensuring that we provide children, young people and families with the right risk management and services at the right time. 

Bracknell Forest encourages a one council approach and as such has strong corporate parenting arrangements and effective approaches to performance management and quality assurance.  

Children’s Social Care sits within the People directorate giving us great opportunities to work with all our colleagues including Early Help, Adult Social Care, Housing, Community Safety Partnership, all striving towards a joined-up family approach.

Family Safeguarding is achieved through collaborative working with parents and within a multi professional workspace which is embedded within our MASH and ‘Front Door’, Duty and Assessment teams. 

You will need an in-depth knowledge of what works for children and families, relevant legislation, and know what good looks like in practice. This role has a strong quality assurance focus to it, supported by a Quality Assurance Service.

We are looking for a leader who is committed to continuous development and who can drive up quality from a secure base for the operational teams. Someone who will be insightful and provide supervision to operational managers that is reflective, helps them to understand what the data is telling us and drives plans for children, enabling families to stay together where it is safe to do so. A leader who recognises that strategic intent must have quality and impact.

If this way of working fits with your ethos and values and you are a strong leader, then we would really like to hear from you.

What is it like working in our team… 

We are Ofsted rated ‘Outstanding,’ with Ofsted recognising that at Bracknell Forest Council “children who need help and protection in Bracknell Forest receive a consistently high-quality service”.

Inspectors concluded that social workers and other frontline practitioners benefit from manageable caseloads, good training and powerful and highly reflective supervision that ensures children are at the heart of decision making.

Bracknell Forest Council have an embedded nationally recognised practice model – the ‘Family Safeguarding Model’. Our model and our work are dynamic and impactful.

Bracknell Forest’s Children’s First Response Services, being: 

Our Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) which is the first point of contact for children and families who need a targeted or specialist service from early help or social care.

The team deals with a broad spectrum of needs and risks occurring within families and predominantly triages all incoming requests for support and makes timely decisions for children in need or those who are at risk. We work closely with a range of partners to enable and provide a joined up and comprehensive first point of decision making.

Our work is diverse and fast paced with no two days the same.  We provide a compassionate and safety-first approach to children and families at risk or in need of services to ensure ‘right service - right time’.

The Duty and Assessment Team acts as the front door for Children’s Social Care and carries out assessment and short-term work. Working alongside and directly with children, young people, and their families, our ‘front door’ colleagues know good beginnings have a better chance of making good endings. 

The team predominantly undertakes child in need assessments (Single Assessments) and child protection assessments (Section 47’s) using a range of child and adult tools to enhance our analyses, to measure change and to problem solve, design and plan short, medium, and long-term interventions. The team is fast paced, the work is immensely rich and varies day to day.

We are a small, welcoming, and friendly local authority. We are proud of our connected and inclusive culture, with a strong focus on wellbeing, which provides our workforce with a strong sense of belonging.

Our leadership team is visible, available and approachable. 

Everything we do in Children’s Social Care is about improving the life chances of Bracknell’s children, put simply, we change lives for the better.

Because we’re Bracknell Forest.

Key responsibilities...

You will be supported to carry out the specific duties and responsibilities of the job which include:

• Ensuring the provision of statutory functions are discharged effectively.
• Effective deployment of resources to meet statutory and regulatory requirements.
• Providing strong operational and strategic leadership.
• Setting performance objectives, the strategic direction of the service- translating strategy to operational delivery.
• Working closely and collaboratively with multi-agency partners and boards.
• Leading within a secure base model, supporting and encouraging a culture where good social work can flourish.
• Being part of an on-call rota.
• Having in person presence in the office (Generally 3 days a week).

Our benefits include… 

• Generous annual leave of 28 days increasing to 33 days after 3 years’ service (pro rata for part time).
• Annual leave purchase policy.
• Opportunities for flexible and agile working, to support our employees’ work-life balance.
• An inclusive and social working environment with a variety of staff networks including sports and social clubs.
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and fostering leave.
• Career development through internal and external training opportunities.
• Local government pension scheme.
• Life insurance cover (linked to the pension scheme).
• Shared Cost AVC, a more tax efficient way of saving for your pension.
• A great office location next to travel links and the regenerated town centre.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support employees’ health and wellbeing.
• Staff dental and health plans.
• Discounted leisure centre and gym membership.
• Supermarket discount.
• Social Work England fees reimbursed

Our Values...

At Bracknell Forest Council our values define who we are and what is important to us. Our core values are inclusive, ambitious, and always learning. These values influence the way we work with each other and the way we serve our residents and engage with our communities. We make our values real by demonstrating them in how we behave every day. If you’re excited about joining a diverse team that celebrates learning and strives for excellence, we’d love to hear from you. 

We are committed to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process for all applicants. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview, please let us know by contacting recruitment@bracknell-forest.gov.uk. We will work with you to support you throughout the process.  

Interview date...

The closing date for applications is Wednesday, 1^st January 2025.

Interviews will be held on Friday, 10^th January 2025.

Interviews will be conducted in person, providing candidates with the chance to personally meet the leadership team our workforce and experience our work environment.

We will be reviewing applications regularly and reserve the right to close the advert early if suitable candidates are identified. To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible.

Please note AI is prohibited during the interview, any candidate using AI will be withdrawn from consideration.

Want to ask us a question? 

For an informal discussion or to ask any questions about this role, please contact: 

Sonia Johnson, Assistant Director Children’s Social Care at Sonia.johnson@bracknell-forest.gov.uk

At Bracknell Forest we champion equality, diversity and inclusion. At Bracknell Forest Council, we are always learning, ambition and inclusive. Please see our candidate pack for more details.

Bracknell Forest Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults. We expect everyone employed with us to share this commitment. All successful candidates for this role will be subject to a DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) check as part of our pre-employment checks process.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate experience of working within the current Social Care System and Framework. Social Work England registration fees can be claimed back from the Council. 

We can only accept applications from candidates currently residing in the UK.

Candidates currently residing in the UK who require sponsorship to work are encouraged to assess their eligibility for a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) based on the relevant criteria. Please be aware that sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.

No agencies please.