Service Manager (Multi Agency Child Protection Service)

Job Description

Join Harrow Children’s Services

Be part of an ambitious Children’s Social Care service improving outcomes for children and families

The London Borough of Harrow is embarking on an exciting period of change as we deliver a series of ambitious Children’s Reforms Programmes – including Families First, Best Start Family Hubs, Best Start in Life and SEND Reforms. We strive to help every child thrive and through the reforms we are reshaping our future support for children, young people and families across the borough.

As part of the Families First Programme, we are building a practice system where relationships are key, where we work alongside children and families encouraging family led decision making and offering multi-disciplinary help when its needed. We are building on our strengths to further improve our approach to child protection, remodelling our system to create a dedicated Multi-Agency Child Protection Service (MACPS), to have the lead role in keeping children and adolescents safe.

The MACPS will be a new specialist unit of child protection expertise for the Borough which has a direct link to the Local Safeguarding Partnership providing local intelligence to inform strategic planning for safeguarding children and adolescents across Harrow. The MACPS will comprise of several teams working with the most vulnerable children at risk of exploitation, neglect, abuse, violence and criminality.

The MACPS will have dedicated Child and Adolescent Protection Teams which include Lead Child Protection Practitioners, Missing Officers, Police, Education and Health partners. The teams work in collaboration with the Family Help and Children Looked After Services on a co-allocated basis to lead on Section 47 enquiries, chair strategy meetings, child protection conferences, support impactful protection plans and pre-proceedings and promote Family Group Decision Making.

The MACPS will also include teams to wrap intensive support around those on the edge of entering care and the Youth Justice Team who works with those in the criminal justice system.

This is your opportunity to join us at a pivotal moment, influencing practice at a strategic level and creating the conditions for innovative practice. You will help shape the future of child protection in Harrow. We are recruiting a Head of Service and a Service Manager to establish and manage this new service.

What makes these roles special?

• Be part of a new dedicated service that sits at the heart of Harrow’s safeguarding arrangements, ambitious to strengthen quality and improve consistency.
• Champion the importance of relationships and family led, strengths based practice and systems thinking.
• Work closely with peers across children’s services and Harrow’s partners to foster a collaborative approach and contributing to services that aim to deliver outstanding outcomes for children.
• Be committed to inclusive and culturally competent practice, ensuring anti-discriminatory engagement with children and families.
• Have a key role in quality assurance to drive continuous improvement, modelling reflection and shared responsibility to nurture a culture of critical analysis, learning and innovation.

The successful candidate will have:

• Significant experience working within a front-line statutory Children's Social Care service, including management experience.
• A recognised Social Work qualification and current Social Work England registration.
• Detailed knowledge of relevant child protection legislation, statutory guidance and safeguarding frameworks, including Working Together and London Child Protection Procedures.
• Experience of chairing complex multi-agency meetings and overseeing high-risk child protection cases.
• Strong experience of quality assurance, performance management and driving practice improvements.
• The ability to lead, support and develop managers and social work teams to deliver high-quality services.
• Experience building effective relationships with partner agencies and working collaboratively to achieve positive outcomes for children and families.
• Strong analytical and decision-making skills, with the ability to assess risk, manage complexity and make defensible decisions.
• A commitment to relational, strengths-based and trauma-informed practice, with children and families at the centre of decision-making.

For more information, please refer to the Role Profile/Selection Criteria

Interview panel scheduled for 17 July 2026.

About us

Harrow Council is the 12th largest London borough and one of the most culturally diverse local authorities in the UK, making it a great place to live, work and visit with a range of cultures, religions and opinions that come together to produce high achieving schools and a close and friendly community. Located 10 miles from the city centre and just 13 minutes to Euston from Harrow & Wealdstone station there are great transport links via the Metropolitan Line, Watford DC Line and national rail service. It is easily accessible to the M1, M25 and A406.

Other information

Support for candidates visit:Harrow.gov.uk Our behavioural indicators roles below G11 and above G11 Here at Harrow Council, the vision is one of 'Working together to make a difference for Harrow' Please click here to view Harrow Council's benefits

Important Note

To deliver our commitment to equality of opportunity in service provision, all staff are expected to promote equality in the workplace and in the services the Council delivers. All sections of the population will have equal access to jobs at the London Borough of Harrow. No applicant or employee will receive less favourable treatment because of age, disability, gender, reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy, or maternity unless a Genuine Occupational Qualification applies. As such, we value diversity and welcome applications from all backgrounds. For further information, please read our equality statement.

As a disability-confident employer, we are committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and accessible to everyone. This includes reasonably adjusting the recruitment process for those with disabilities or long-term health conditions. For further information, please contact us at resourcing@harrow.gov.uk

London Borough of Harrow is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Harrow operates stringent, safer recruitment procedures.

Due to the high number of applications received for some posts, we may close vacancies before the stated closing date if sufficient applications are received. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible.

Harrow redeployees will be given priority consideration.

The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, any your data protection rights, can be found by visiting www.cifas.org.uk/fpn