Head of Service (Support & Protection)

Job Title: Head of Service (Support & Protection)

Location: Walsall, West Midlands

Salary: £70,227 – £84,020 per annum

Job Type: Full time, Permanent

Closing date: Tuesday 9th January 2024

About Walsall:

Walsall is a diverse place to live with opportunities and challenges for children and young people. With a total population of 284,130, children and young people aged 0- 17 make up just under a quarter of the population. 40% of children and young people are from black, Asian or other minority ethnic backgrounds. More than a quarter of children who attend Walsall primary schools and a fifth of those who attend Walsall secondary schools have English as an additional language.

About The Role:

We have an exciting opportunity for an ambitious system leader to drive forward the operational and strategic lead within the Council for both the MASH and Complex Adolescent Safeguarding:

• Be responsible for the operational and strategic development of the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub
• To work closely with Heads of Service colleagues to ensure a consistent approach and delivery of service that makes best use of available resources to deliver sustainable outcomes for children, young people and their families
• Use significant level of judgement, lead on the design and delivery of business plans to resolve service issues or achieve service improvements in the development area of complex adolescent safeguarding. Including innovative and creative thinking, detailed analysis and evaluative skills, assessment or risks, initiating/scoping improvement projects and leading on the design and delivery of objectives
• Responsible for the leadership and development of Walsall Council’s Turning Point Service, ensuring that practice is evidence informed and informed by up to date research around what works in preventing children entering care through family breakdown
• Develop Purposeful, effective response to engaging children, young people and their families by building on their strengths, translating the learning from the Family Safeguarding Model into the sphere of exploitation and services for complex adolescence

Over the next 12 months we are seeking to work collaborative with partners to develop an integrated youth offer to enable us to respond effectively to the increase in youth violence and a growing demand around supporting the needs of young people in our Borough. The successful applicant will be expected to work closely with colleagues to support this objective.

About you:

• This is a key leadership role in our organisation, so naturally we’re looking for extensive experience of leading and managing diverse teams, as well as a background previously working with vulnerable children, families, statutory bodies and voluntary services
• Must have extensive experience of managing Multi Agency safeguarding Hubs and sound knowledge of evidence-based interventions for young people and families in order to secure sustained change
• You must hold a social work qualification
• Your qualifications will be complemented by your exceptional skillset – including substantial experience of working in a leadership role including improving service quality and leading on the development of integrated services provision, building strong and positive relationships, effective communication, sound concise judgement, analytical thinking, teamwork and inclusivity in your approach.

About Us:

Here at Walsall, we want to attract the best talent. That’s why – as well as a satisfying and rewarding job – we offer a range of attractive benefits. Working arrangements in most jobs are flexible (you may work flexitime, full or part time and job sharing is usually available) and you can expect generous holiday entitlements, a first class pension scheme and plenty of opportunities for training and personal development.

We advertise vacancies because we want the best talent available. If that’s you, we’re waiting for your application.

For more information about this role, view the Job Description and Employee Specification on the Walsall Council website.

Please click the APPLY button to be redirected to the council’s website to complete your application.

Candidates with the relevant experience or job titles: Safeguarding Manager, Children’s Support Manager, Child Protection Services, Service Manager, Social Worker, Social Service Team Lead, Social Care, Child Social Care, Safeguarding Officer, Customer Services Manager, Social Service Project Manager, Social Service Manager, Head Of Voluntry Service, Volunteer Lead may also be considered for this role.