Assistant Team Manager - Children's assessment service

About us

Together, we’re shaping children’s social care for the future. Every day, our colleagues are helping to transform the lives of the residents of Oxfordshire.

In our Early Help, Assessment and Prevention Directorate, we’re committed to delivering lasting change, by helping the children, young people, and families of Oxfordshire to thrive. We know the importance of building relationships, empowering people, and building on strengths and this is reflected in our restorative, relational practice approach.

Everyday you’ll be challenged in a new way, supported by your team, in an organisation that is free thinking, flexible, and helps people achieve their ambitions. We’re not afraid to do things differently and our dynamic culture means this is a place where new ideas are embraced, and innovation thrives.

We believe that together, our differences make us stronger, and that diversity is the foundation for innovation. Here, you can create a unique career for yourself – while raising the bar for the future of children’s social care.

We’ve been consistently rated as “good” by Ofsted and we continue to strive to do better!

• The post holder will line manage Social Workers (including NQSWs, Senior Practitioners) and Family Help Practitioners.
• The purpose of this job is to help children, young people and families in need of help and protection with a particular focus on managing Child & Family Assessments and Strategy Discussions/Section 47 Investigations for children newly referred or not currently open to a statutory social work team.
• The post holder will hold supervisory responsibility for some newly qualified social workers supporting and assessing them to meet the requirements of the Council's Assessed & Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) programme.
• The post has lead responsibility for ensuring that the duty and assessment function in the team is managed safely and delivers outcomes effectively and in a timely way.
• The role has no direct budgetary responsibility.

The nature of this post will require flexibility to meet urgent priorities as they arise. This may entail some work outside normal office hours on occasion. The post holder will be expected to adopt a flexible attitude, to undertake a range of tasks in line with the needs of the Service and support other services within the Front Door as and when needed.

Are you passionate about making a difference in the lives of children, young people, and families in need of help and protection? We have a exciting Assistant Management opportunity within the Children's Assessment Service in the City of Oxford. The post holder will be free-thinking and brave, and that sets you apart. You'll be supportive and energized; you don't accept the norm if it can be done better - finding answers through exploration and courage.

Just as importantly, you will embody our values in everything you do: always learning, be kind and care, equality and integrity in all we do, taking responsibility and daring to do it differently.

Fundamentally, you'll be passionate about delivering stand-out public services, because we're here to make every moment the best it can be for the residents of Oxfordshire.

• Social Work Qualification and registration with Social Work England.
• Working knowledge of the Family Safeguarding Model and Motivational Interviewing.
• Considerable direct experience of frontline safeguarding social work, assessment working at pace and developing safe plans and interventions.
• Direct experience of the supervision of student social workers, family support staff, and/or social workers.

Please refer to the job description linked below for a full list of selection criteria. We would love to hear all about your relevant experience and achievements in your application.

Contact our friendly team for a confidential and informative chat! Laura Watson-Harrison Laura.watson

It really is true that every single job role here contributes to bettering the lives of the people in our county - we want to do this for our employees too. We are proud of our strong flexible working culture,…