Service Lead- Families Valued

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary: Grade K SCP 44 £55,691- SCP 47 £60,036

Hours Per Week: 36 hours

Base Location: Tameside One, Ashton-under-Lyne

Assessment Date: to be arranged

The Role

Are you passionate about making a real difference in the lives of children and families? Do you bring compassion, curiosity, collaboration, conversation, and courage to your practice? If so, Tameside is looking for you.

This is an exciting time to join the brand-new Families Valued Service in Tameside which supports children and young people at risk of entering care.

We are looking for a dynamic and motivated Service Lead to support our children and families with targeted and formulated therapeutic interventions.

At the heart of this role is our Heart of Support Practice Approach, underpinned by the 5 C’s Compassion, Curiosity, Collaboration, Conversation and Courage. These values are the golden thread in how we work with children, families and each other. You will champion the Heart of Support and play a pivotal role in embedding systemic practice across the service.

If you’re looking for a role where your leadership can spark real change, this is it.

You will be supported by the Head of Service for Family Help and Families First Transformation alongside independent clinical supervision combined with a comprehensive induction, ongoing training, and regular supervision to help you reach your full potential.

About You

We are looking for a Service Lead to manage our Families Valued Service. The aim of our service is to do whatever we can to enable children and young people who are at risk of entering the care system to remain or return to their family network with people that love them and know them the best. In this role, you will take the lead in developing the service towards its goal of being a theraputic service where children and young people are not only placed at the centre of all we do but are also supported to take the lead in their own care planning and determining their futures and realising their aspirations. The vision for the service is clear, aspirational, and progressive.

The Service Lead’s job will be to translate this into a robust direction for Team Managers, to ensure safe and creative support for families who are at risk of care proceedings.

As Service Lead, you will maintain close management oversight alongside a Clinical Psychologist and provide solid supervision within a high support, high challenge culture.

We’re looking for someone who:

• Is passionate about highquality, childcentred practice and improving outcomes
• Can champion and embed the Heart of Support Practice Approach and the 5 C’s
• Has experience in practice development, quality assurance and workforce development
• Inspires others, builds strong relationships and influences across services
• Is reflective, resilient and able to respond to emerging priorities
• Is dedicated to developing people and supporting a stable, skilled, confident workforce

If you want to help shape practice, culture and learning across Children’s Services, this role offers a genuine opportunity to make a lasting impact.

About Us

Hear from Jill Colbert OBE, Director of Children’s Services

“When I first joined the council at the beginning of 2025 I was instantly charmed by the warmth, openness, and energy of my colleagues.

“The reason why I came to Tameside was because I knew we could do fantastic things for our families here.

“Whilst we’re currently a children’s service on a significant improvement journey, I’m proud of the progress we’ve made together, and this is already making a difference for our children.

“I know from the feedback from our Commissioner, Ofsted and our Strategic Improvement Partner, that families are seeing and feeling the impact of the thoughtful and compassionate support delivered by our workforce.

“We know that if we keep children at the centre of our thinking and our actions, we will create meaningful change for them that lasts.

“We are also growing and investing in our future. We have a range of specialist services for children, giving social workers quick access to expert help that makes complex decisions easier and supports better outcomes. Our Social Work Academy is led by people who bring passion to learning. We are strengthening our progression pathways so that staying in Tameside is rewarded and recognised. We have invested in innovation and improvement so that we can grow services and support for families that we can sustain, from family hubs through to complex safeguarding.

“Together, we are creating a proud, inclusive, and safe environment where great practice can truly flourish. And I feel incredibly privileged to lead this journey alongside such dedicated colleagues.

“Be a part of something great, be a part of our improvement journey and join us at Team Tameside.”

At Tameside, we are committed to ensuring all our Citizens lead long, fulfilling and healthy lives. We are committed to supporting economic growth, providing high quality health and care services, protecting our most vulnerable and creating strong and supportive, self-sufficient communities.

We recognise that our people drive our success and enable the organisation to deliver on its vision, purpose and priorities, and that our people are our most important resource and asset. Our values underpin our practice and behaviours, and are at the heart of everything that we do; and we understand that how we do things is just as important as what we do. We pride ourselves on living by our STRIVE values of Support, Trust, Respect, Integrity, Value Diversity and Engage. Our values underpin our practice and behaviours and are at the heart of everything that we do. How we do things are just as important as what we do.

Our employees’ skills, experience and knowledge are essential to our success along with their happiness, wellbeing, commitment, enthusiasm and motivation to be the best they can be.

Our Heart of Support Practice Approach

At Tameside, we believe in:

• Compassion understanding the lived experiences of children and families.
• Curiosity asking questions that lead to deeper insight and better outcomes for children.
• Collaboration working together across services to deliver joined-up support.
• Conversation listening and engaging meaningfully with children, families and professionals.
• Courage leading with courage, making bold and compassionate decisions that put children first.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and expect all staff to share this commitment. This position is subject to Enhanced with Barred List Disclosure Procedures.

This post is a designated customer facing role under the fluency duty and requires a specified level of spoken English

If you have completed the GM Elevate (Leadership Development) Programme, please indicate this within the ‘About You’ or ‘Supporting Statement’ section of your application.

Unfortunately, at this time we are not able to offer sponsorship.

We are committed to developing a culture which respects individuals, appreciates difference and allows everyone regardless of background to reach their full potential. We are proud to be an accredited disability confident employer. Reasonable Adjustments will be considered in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the Job Role Criteria.

Our rewards and benefits package can be viewed here

We have made a commitment to improve the employment opportunities for people with disabilities, care leavers, carers, and ex-military personnel.

For further information about this role please contact Nik Joseph, Head of Service for Family Help and Families First Transformation on 0161 342 5056 or email nik.joseph@tameside.gov.uk