Head of LAC, Placements and Specialist Services

at  London Borough of Bexley

ABOUT US

Bexley is an outer London Borough with the best of both worlds, located between the hustle and bustle of London and the Garden of England, Kent. Within the borough we have award winning parks, open spaces and listed heritage sites.
This role is for a Head of Service in Children’s Social Care. The Council, its staff and partners, were delighted in March 2023, when Ofsted judged the overall effectiveness of children’s social care services to be ‘Outstanding’ for the second time running since 2018. We have been working hard to create an environment where social workers can do the work they came into the profession to do - to support and help families to stay together where this is in children’s best interests, and it is safe enough for this to happen.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

You will need to be a qualified social worker, with extensive operational and strategic management experience. We are looking for a strategic leader with a strong passion and high aspirations for our children and young people.
For the full list of essential and desirable criteria for this role then please refer to the Person Specification within the Job Description attached.
Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
This authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
This post is considered by the authority to be a customer-facing position; as such it falls within scope of the Code of Practice on English language requirement for public sector workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the JD/Person Specification. These will be applied during the recruitment/selection and probationary stages.

We are looking for an experienced and passionate individual to lead our Looked After and Permanence Service.
This Service includes our Looked After Children service; Leaving Care Service; Placements and Fostering. This is to ensure a more cohesive and consistent experience for children and young people through their early lives and it creates an ideal opportunity for whoever is appointed to really own and shape how we support children and young people in our care.
This is a service area that attracts considerable attention and scrutiny within the Council but there is also a highly developed understanding of the complexity and importance of the work we do, and this in turn means that there is wholehearted political and organisational support to delivering the best outcomes for children and young people.
It’s a chance to build on existing good practice but we’ll also want you to ask questions and challenge how things are done. The Council has made significant investment in Children’s Services and that comes with high expectations – and you’ll need to bring a distinct focus to this role, an emphasis on effective performance management and the ambition and resilience to take this service to the next level.
If this sounds exciting and reassuring, we want you to get in touch with us.
Our workforce is stable with over 90% permanent staff, but we are always looking for practitioners wanting to come and practice confidently as part of our team making a difference for families and children.
We will invest in you in return for your investment in our families and children.
Please refer to the Job Description attached for more information.
For an informal discussion about the role please contact :
Tamsyn Basson, Deputy Director for Children’s Social Care on 07508699393 / Tamsyn.Basson@bexley.gov.uk or Stephen Kitchman Director for Children’s Social Care on 0203 0453306 Stephen.Kitchman@bexley.gov.uk.
We will offer you in return a package that includes a competitive salary, an excellent pension scheme and generous annual leave plus bank holidays. For more information on the benefits package on offer please refer to the Candidate Information document attached.
We reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date.