Assistant Team Manager - Supporting Families Team
Brighter Futures for Children
About us
Brighter Futures for Children is a not-for-profit company, owned by, but independent of, Reading Borough Council. Although we are independent, we are very much part of the Reading Family. Our people enjoy all of benefits as other Council employees including membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme and continuous service.
We work closely with partners in the local community and key organisations including Reading Borough Council, policy, public health and voluntary groups. We are responsible for the delivery of children’s social care, early help & prevention, education services (including SEND).This also includes fostering and adoption, the Youth Offending Service and traded services with schools.
Our main aim is to protect and enhance the lives of the children of Reading. We help families find long-term solutions to ensure children lead happy, healthy and successful lives.
About the role
We currently have a vacancy for an experienced Assistant Team Manager to join our Supporting Families Team, part of the Family Help & Safeguarding service. We firmly believe that relationship-based social work makes a real difference to the lives of children, young people and their families, and our Supporting Families Team focus is on delivering outstanding support to families.
Our Supporting Families Team currently provides a range of interventions including supervised contact for Children Looked After; specialist support for parent/carers with substance misuse difficulties via a Consultant Practitioner; providing direct work and parenting interventions for those children subject to CIN and CP Plans and offering group work support for parents/carers who are survivors of domestic abuse.There is also now an exciting development within the Team to introduce a small group of Lead Practitioners to case hold Child in Need (S.17, Children Act 1989) cases, with the support of a social work qualified and experienced Assistant Team Manager.
As this Assistant Team Manager, you will be responsible for leading and managing a small team of 5 Lead Practitioners who will each case-hold a number of Child in Need cases, taking new cases from our Together for Families Teams following the completion of Single Assessment.You will provide passionate and inspiring leadership to your Team, providing regular high-quality supervision and support, and will ensure that the child’s lived experience is at the very heart of everything that is done. At Brighter Futures for Children, we have a culture of providing high support and high challenge, in the very best interests of children.
We are immensely proud to be growing and developing our staff in the Family Help & Safeguarding service and now benefit from having a very stable workforce where over 90% of our staff are permanent, our reliance on agency cover is low, and caseloads are mostly manageable.
We need skilled and committed people to join our Team and support our delivery within our relationship-based practice model and make a real difference to our children and families in Reading. In return we offer a very competitive salary and benefits package, a recruitment and retention allowance, generous pension, relocation package, annual leave up to 26 days, and excellent career progression opportunities.
Whether you want to develop your skills and experience as a social worker or step into more senior roles including management, we offer a comprehensive range of training and learning opportunities to do so, making a commitment to investing in you.
At Brighter Futures for Children, we invest in the well-being of our staff too, and know that we can’t deliver excellent outcomes for families if our staff are also not exceptionally well supported. We really do like to “grow our own” and are immensely proud at how so many of our staff have stayed working with us, and have been supported to progress in their careers, including to more senior roles.
If you like the sound of this, please get in touch with us today for a confidential discussion about the post.
Our offer
We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition are strongly encouraged, and you’ll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.
Inclusion and Diversity
We want Brighter Futures for Children to be a great place to work and to ensure that our children, young people and families are represented in leadership roles and positions of power. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking.
We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and those of Other Ethnicities, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our children, young people and families so that equalities and justice remains at the heart of everything we do.
Asking for Adjustments
Brighter Futures for Children is committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and as accessible as possible for everyone. This includes making adjustments or changes for disabled people, neurodiverse people or people with long-term health conditions.
If you would like us to do anything differently during the application, interview or assessment process, including providing information in an alternative format, please let us know.
Closing date: 13 October 2024Interview date: 22 October 2024 (in person)
We look forward to hearing from you!