Team Manager – Integrated Early Help Service

We are looking for an experienced Team Manager to join our Integrated Early Help Service in Wokingham. The ideal candidate will be passionate about providing quality services to vulnerable children and their families, ensuring that the right support is in place at the right time to respond to emerging need.

As Team Manager of the Integrated Early Help Service; you will have responsibility for a group of Early Help Workers and Parenting Workers, who are assessing need and providing targeted services to vulnerable children and families from several hub-based locations across the Borough. Through effective supervision delivered to the Assistant Team Managers and the Senior Parenting Worker, you will ensure that assessments appropriately identify risk and need and that interventions are tailored accordingly and will promote the importance of collaborative working relationships the with multi-agency network.

Through your line management of the Early Help Hub/Contact Coordinator, you will ensure that the needs of families referred for Early Help are appropriately identified and supported by the relevant agencies; and that supervised contact delivery for Wokingham’s Children in Care is optimised.

As Team Manager, you will lead by example and promote good practice. You will encourage the use of Wokingham’s practice framework within the service. You will ensure that training needs are identified and addressed and will work with the Service Manager to ensure team practices align with organisational priorities.

With a demonstrated ability to understand and navigate complex multi-agency systems and processes, engage with a variety of stakeholders and communicate effectively in both verbal and written form; you will support the implementation of the Family Hub model across the Wokingham Borough, which is a key strategic priority. These skills will further enable you to work collaboratively with the partnership to embed Wokingham’s Multi-agency Early Help Assessment, which was launched in February 2023.

The Integrated Early Help Service has responsibility for the Supporting Families Programme. In your role as Team Manager, you will take a lead in the coordination of the programme, working with partners, practitioners and data analysts to ensure that the core aims are met, turnaround targets are achieved and the needs of families are effectively responded to.

Your practical skills as a Social Worker will be supported by a working knowledge of the legislation and guidance that governs work with vulnerable children and families, including the Children’s Act 1989 (as amended), the Children and Families Act 2014 and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018. A Social Work qualification is essential to perform this job role and prior experience of working within an Early Help setting is desirable.

What we can offer you

• Salary: £55,784 - £61,139 per annum (NL47-NL52)
• Annual Leave: 31 days, rising to 36 days with 5 years continuous service
• Local Government Pension
• Local and National Discounts
• Continuous Professional Development
• Supportive Management

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Service Manager, Kelli Scott, at kelli.scott@wokingham.gov.uk

Closing date: 26th November 2023 at 11pm

Interview date: 6th December 2023

Wokingham Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff, other workers and volunteers to share this commitment. All successful candidates for this role will be subject to Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks along with other relevant employment checks.

WBC is an equal opportunities employer.