Team Leader - South Office

Job Description

Children, Education and Justice Services

Team Leader
South Office

Salary: £50.550 - £60,506 per year
Hours: 36 per week

Team Leader vacancies;
1 x South East Locality, permanent.
1 x Children affected by Disability, permanent.
1 x Children affected by Disability, fixed term 1 year.
1 x North West Locality, permanent.

CEC is currently undergoing a service review and as part of this structure and posts are subject to change.

Qualifications, training & professional membership

Degree/Diploma in Social Work or equivalent

Registration with the Scottish Social Services Council or other U.K. Social Services registration body

Post-qualifying award in Child Care/Child Protection

Management / Leadership qualification

To provide leadership, professional support and supervision to a group of social work or social care staff in either a locality or a centrally managed service. Composition of staff teams will vary depending on service area but may include senior practitioners, social workers, social work assistants, assistant unit managers, residential care officers and/or family care workers. To be part of a management team taking responsibility for delivering a high quality of service delivery, good outcomes for children and families, and high performance against key indicators. Report to the Team Manager as required and take effective action in cases where performance is not achieved.

To lead the team in order to meet need, manage risk and operate in ways that are consistent with statutory duties and council policy and procedure. This includes appropriate allocation of workload to team members. To work closely with business support colleagues ensuring implementation of appropriate business systems in the team, ensuring data accuracy and reporting to team manager as required. To offer sound professional advice and consultation to team members, including advice on child protection matters where required. To make recommendations to senior managers about planning for children and families. This includes acting in a capacity independent from services directly managed by the post holder, eg chairing fostering and adoption panels and making recommendations to the Agency Decision Maker.

To contribute to team plans that have the effect of continuously improving service delivery and are consistent with wider council and multi agency service planning. To undertake additional tasks as directed by the Team Manager and Service Manager, taking into account the wider needs of Children’s Services and the skills and strengths of the post holder. To manage staff within the policies and procedures of City of Edinburgh, promptly advising the Team Manager regarding any issues which may require to be considered in relation to disciplinary procedure, absence management procedure, fair treatment or grievance. To investigate and respond to client complaints and queries from stakeholders. To provide advice to the Service Manager in relation to any issues raised by elected members.

 

Requirements

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

•Substantial operational experience in children’s social work services
• Considerable experience in child protection investigations.
• Considerable experience in post-investigative child protection cases.
• Considerable experience in working with children who are looked after and accommodated (children in care).
•Experience in permanency planning for looked after and accommodated children.
• Previous experience of managing and coordinating child protection investigations.
• Previous experience of managing / supervising post-investigative child protection cases.
• Previous experience of supervising / managing cases involving children who are looked after and accommodated (children in care).
• Experience of practice teaching and supervision of social work trainees
• An in-depth understanding of operational issues in children’s social work services.
•A sound knowledge of the legal/statutory framework for working with children and families.
•Knowledge and understanding of the permanency legislation and process for Looked After Children.
•Very well developed assessment and communication skills (written and verbal).
• Experience of taking a lead role in developing practice in a social services setting.
• Ability to initiate and develop new ideas and approaches to meet the needs of children and families.
• Ability to maintain high practice standards in a culture of responsiveness to changing needs of children and families.
• Previous experience of managing, supervising or mentoring social work personnel.
• The understanding of the need for fiscal responsibility and the ability to take on budget responsibility.
• Experience of managing change processes in organisations.
•A strong commitment to inter-agency working and the ability to form and maintain strong and effective professional relationships that influence behaviour and outcomes. • A team player - able to play a lead role in building and maintaining team and locality identity.
• Be seen as a trusted adviser and who can be relied upon to deliver effective outcomes Ability to plan and monitor services and prioritise and co-ordinate cases.
• Ability to monitor and analyse performance and a strong commitment to performance improvement.
• Ability to understand issues and problems, to analyse and assess complex situations, often within limited timescales

This post is regulated work with children and/or protected adults under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. The preferred candidate will be required to join the PVG Scheme or undergo a PVG Scheme update check. Where an individual has spent a continuous period of 3 months or more out with the UK in the last 5 years, an Overseas Criminal Record Check will be required. You will be required to provide this check. An unconditional offer of employment and commencement in the post will be subject to the outcome of both these pre-employment checks being deemed satisfactory.

As part of our goal to improve our organisational culture and create a great place to work together for the people of Edinburgh, we want to make sure that we’re bringing the best people into our roles, not just in their skills and experience but also in their approach to work.

To help achieve this, we’re changing the way we interview and assess candidates by moving from a competency-based interview approach to a behavioural and technical (skills for the job) based approach. This new way of interviewing will allow us to assess how you think and how you would bring Our Behaviours of Respect, Integrity and Flexibility into your ways of working.

Responsibilities

We're committed to creating a workplace culture where all our people feel valued, included and able to be their best at work, and we recognise the benefits that a diverse workforce with different values, beliefs, experience, and backgrounds brings to us as an organisation.

You can find out more on Our Behaviours web page Our Behaviours – The City of Edinburgh Council

Our salary range typically reflects the initial starting salary and annually increases until it reaches the top of the range.

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