People and Place

Head of Service in the Safeguarding and Care Planning

Ref: 000564

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £58,140 - £61,342 per annum (SM2)

Hours: 36.66 per week

Based: Metropolitan Place, Oldham OL1 1TT

Closing Date: Sunday 2nd March 2025

Shortlisting: Tuesday 4th March 2025

Interview: TBC

Informal Enquiries: Assistant Director, Children Social Work Services

Email: Leanne.cooper@oldham.gov.uk

Why should you work in Oldham?

Officially rated as a ‘Good’ by Ofsted, we are proud of our relentless approach in seeking the very best outcomes for our children and families, and there’s never been a better time to join the team and be part of our success story.

Oldham is a wonderful place of diversity, where people of all cultures come together. This is one our greatest strengths and our social workers enjoy using a breadth of skills and gaining a variety of experiences whilst supporting children and families from diverse backgrounds.

We use systemic practice as our chosen practice model, focusing on building relationships with children and families, understanding the context and family dynamics, and reflectively learning together. 2024 has seen the launch of our new systemic reflective hubs, as our Social Work Academy continues to offer reflective supervisions and tailored support through an innovative 2-year ASYE programme.

We have a strong ethos of ‘Growing our own’, providing a great environment to excel in your social work career.

Our Promises to you:

• A commitment to your continuing professional development through a bespoke learning and development programme
• A variety of career opportunities to progress and develop with us in Social Work
• Regular, quality, and reflective supervision and learning from practice audits with fortnightly training days in each of our services.
• Monthly Group Supervision with your team
• Weekly Learning Spaces to focus on a specific area of learning.
• A permanent and supportive Senior Leadership team
• Full corporate and service Induction

You will be rewarded with great benefits:

• Hybrid working giving flexibility for you to manage your diary and offer a better work/life balance.
• Reimbursement of Social Work England professional registration fees currently £90 per year

Other generous benefits including:

• 25 days annual leave with the option to purchase additional days, and which increases after 5- and 10-years’ service. Attractive defined benefit pension scheme with a market leading AVC option for additional retirement savings
• Discounted gym membership
• Staff discount scheme for shopping, entertainment, eating-out, eating-in, travel, motoring and more.
• Salary sacrifice scheme, including Cycle to Work
• Wellbeing support, including an Employment Assistance Programme that provides 24 hours access to advice and support.
• Staff recognition and celebration events

Our employees say

“One of the reasons I’ve worked here for so long is because it’s like a family and a listening organisation, where people are encouraged to participate and get involved”.

“Our Social Worker teams are friendly, approachable and professional”.

“We all want to make a difference to the families and children that we work with”.

“Oldham values the person, the families, and the inclusive culture”.

Hear more from our employees and explore our Social Work Academy offer here

Ofsted says

“Children are well supported by social workers, who ensure that their health, education and emotional needs are met”.

“Staff are tenacious”.

“Children and families in Oldham benefit from a comprehensive range of early help services”.

“There is strong partnership working”.

“Senior leaders promote the participation of cared for children and actively seek their voice in developing and shaping service delivery”.

“Relentless focus on improvement by a strong and stable leadership team, with progress made across many areas of practice,”

Read the full Ofsted report here

About the Role:

You will be responsible for the delivery of quality and effective child-centred practice across our social work service. In the role you will provide direct line management to the Team Managers and Early Progression Officer, and drive forward improvements in line with our priorities.

You should have a strong knowledge base in child protection and care proceedings, a focus on the quality of practice with the experience and expertise to ensure effective safeguarding measures are implemented and that robust and smart care plans ensure our children and young people are protected and well cared for.

We maintain a relentless focus on how we can improve our services for children and families and there are exciting opportunities ahead for you to help shape and deliver new initiatives in this role.

This is a critical management post within the Children’s Social Care Services Management Team, and you will be expected to provide strong operational leadership in the development and delivery of social work services for vulnerable children.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Provide visionary leadership for safeguarding and care planning services, ensuring the highest standards of practice.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring compliance with national policies, local strategies, and regulatory frameworks.
• Maintain effective risk management and quality assurance processes to identify and address concerns proactively.
• Lead on monitoring and evaluating performance, ensuring services meet local and national standards.
• Promote a learning culture, embedding training, mentoring, and reflective practice to build a skilled and resilient workforce.
• Foster strong relationships with health, education, police, and voluntary sector partners to provide holistic support for children and families.
• Lead on multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, ensuring coordinated responses to child protection concerns.
• Represent the service at local and regional panels, influencing policy and practice development.
• Oversee budget allocation, ensuring financial sustainability while maintaining high-quality services.
• Identify funding opportunities and drive efficiency in service delivery.
• Ensure appropriate commissioning and resource planning to meet service demands.

What we need from you:

All applicants must meet the relevant criteria, including the right to work in the UK. We do not accept applications from candidates who require sponsorship.

Oldham Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. All roles require strong commitment to securing good outcomes for children, operating in a supportive environment focused on effective delivery, including identifying and responding appropriately to any safeguarding concerns, ensuring the immediate decision making reflects an analysis of risk and protective factors.

Diversity and Inclusion:

We are committed to creating a fair and inclusive workplace that is as diverse as the communities we serve. We aim to develop a culture of respect, where differences are recognised regardless of background. We aim to be an employer of choice by engaging in fair and open recruitment processes and applications are encouraged from all communities across the borough to create a workforce that represents the diversity of our population.

If you would like support with this application, an interview or interested in looking at any courses that could help with this position please get in touch with Get Oldham Working - Get Oldham Working registration form - Oldham Council

Our Behaviours

Our five behaviours support how we work at Oldham, ensuring we all:

• Work with a resident focus.
• Support our local leaders.
• Take ownership and drive change.
• Stay committed to the borough.
• Drive high performance.

Guaranteed Assessment Scheme:

Any candidate that meets the criteria of our Guaranteed Assessment Scheme and meets the essential criteria of the role, will be guaranteed the first stage of assessment (whether that is an interview or another assessment, as appropriate).

Our Guaranteed Assessment Scheme supports candidates with disabilities, carers, have previously been in or currently in care, and those whose last long term substantive employer was the Armed Forces.

Data Privacy:

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Oldham Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure from the DBS (and a Certificate of Good Conduct where you have lived abroad for 12 months or more in the last 10 years).

If you would like support with this application, an interview or interested in looking at any courses that could help with this position please get in touch with Get Oldham Working - Get Oldham Working registration form - Oldham Council

NB. - Any candidate that meets the criteria of our Guaranteed Assessment Scheme and meets the essential criteria of the role, will be guaranteed the first stage of assessment (whether that is an interview or another assessment, as appropriate).

Our Guaranteed Assessment Scheme supports candidates with disabilities, carers, those who are aged 24 or under and have previously been in or currently in care, and those whose last long term substantive employer was the Armed Forces.

Diversity and Inclusion:

At Oldham Council, we are committed to creating a fair and inclusive workplace that is as diverse as the communities we serve. We aim to develop a culture of respect, where differences are recognised regardless of background. We aim to be an employer of choice by engaging in fair and open recruitment processes and Applications are encouraged from all communities across the borough to create a workforce that represents the diversity of our population.

About Us:

Oldham is committed to developing a Co-operative future; one where citizens, partners and staff work together to improve the borough. Anyone joining the council is coming into an ambitious organisation with big plans. We are working hard to build a brighter future for our borough and we need people from a wide range of backgrounds to continue delivering the best for our communities.

The Council has a clear set of Behaviours, which outline how we do business and we share these borough wide with our residents, partners and businesses. Internally we have translated these into five cooperative behaviours which outline the priority areas of focus for all staff at all levels. You can view these Behaviours, along with staff benefits on our Greater.Jobs pages Working for Oldham

For details of how we use your data please see our Privacy Notice

Please note that should a vacancy that has been released for internal or external recruitment be deemed suitable for an at risk employee, it can be pulled back at any point up to the post being formally offered to an external candidate or an internal candidate that is not at risk of redundancy.

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