Assistant Director - Early Help and Children's Social Care

Salary: Circa £118,000 per annum
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full time
Location: County Hall, Chichester (Hybrid working available)

Interviews: Initial Technical interviews to be held via an MS Teams video call on Wednesday 1st May 2024. If successful at this stage, you will be invited to the full interview process in person on Tuesday 7th May 2024.

We need a senior leader to ensure that children remain at the heart of our service and practice. Are you an inspirational senior leader with extensive experience leading a complex Children's Service, which includes the provision of Children's Social Care and Early Help in a large local authority? Are you an excellent manager, who will put Children First, with a strong background in professional social care practice, performance management and deliver effective partnership working?

Do you possess the proven ability to strategically plan for the development of services, with an understanding of what good looks like? You will need to be passionate about enhancing delivery to children and young people, with the ability to engage positively with children, young people, their families/carers and other key stakeholders.

About us

Our Children, Young People and Learning (CYPL) Department is recognised as strong and effective services. Joining now you will become part of an ambitious leadership team setting out a bright future for children in West Sussex. The hard work and determination of the previous holder of the role has contributed to Children's social care services recently been judged to be 'Requiring Improvement to be Good' with some key judgments such as Leadership and Care Services receiving sub-judgements of 'Good.' So, you will be joining a strong leadership team and playing a key part in the next part of our journey as we strive to move to 'Good' and 'Outstanding'. Our 2023 Ofsted Inspection praised our relentless approach to improving practice.

The Opportunity

We have a unique opportunity for a senior leader to join us. You will report to the Director for Children, Young People and Learning and be given the opportunity to work at both an operational and strategic level. You will be a key member of the Departmental Leadership Team (DLT) and will be responsible for setting the strategic direction for the whole directorate, with a particular focus on Children's Social Care and Early Help.

You will lead our passionate and committed operational teams in their area of accountability.

What you will be doing

• You will be a key member of DLT and play a pivotal role in providing Safeguarding and Quality leadership across the whole CYPL directorate.
• As part of the Children's Service Senior Leadership Team, to advance WSCC's corporate priorities and those of Children's Services.
• You will lead on all aspects of policy, practice, governance and service development for the designated areas of service accountability.
• You will drive and embed a culture of openness and continuous improvement, leading the way in demonstrating the importance of Corporate Parenting within the Council, making it integral to the wider Council agenda.
• You will deliver a range of children's social care services to the relevant service area, including a focus on effective practice, high quality and improving performance in an ever changing and demanding environment.
• You will ensure strong quality measures are in place to ensure the effectiveness of our service and improvements are driven from feedback.
• You will ensure that the service is delivered within its financial envelope and contribute to the ongoing financial efficiency and investment into the Department.
• You will ensure the service area develops and maintains a stable, confident, engaged and able workforce who have good practice development opportunities.
• As a member of the Corporate Leadership Team, you will lead by example, role modelling our values and work collaboratively and cohesively to deliver the West Sussex Plan.
• You will develop a workforce who are committed to our organisational values and cultural aspiration.

About You

• You will have extensive experience operating as a senior leader in a complex Children's service with the ability to demonstrate a proven track record of improving outcomes for Children.
• You will have a successful track record of managing service delivery within a clearly defined financial framework.
• You will be an inspiring leader with a transformational approach and possess a high level of emotional intelligence and self-awareness with a strong ability to bring people with you.
• You will be educated to post-graduate level or equivalent experience with a social work qualification or equivalent, relevant professional registration, and evidence of ongoing professional development.
• You will have knowledge of relevant legislation, policy and good practices that relates to all the core areas of social care and education practices.
• You will have experience of building cross sector partnership working with stakeholders, communities and agencies.

For more information, please refer to the Job Description attached.

What's in it for you