Team Manager - Canterbury Children’s Social Work Service

What will you be doing?

We have an exciting vacancy within Canterbury Children’s Social Work Service for a Team Manager to join our service. The successful candidate will be welcomed into one of our five Team’s and will be based at Brook House in Whitstable. This post will have direct line management responsibility of a team of Social Workers and a Senior Practitioner and will work closely with the other Team Managers to provide a cohesive Service across Canterbury Children's Social Work Service.

As Team Manager, you will be leading a team of Social Workers and Social Work Assistants, supported by a Business Support team. You will play a key role within the management team, providing a high standard of social work to our children, young people, and their families. You will be able to evidence extensive knowledge of child protection, and legal processes, including Public Law Outline and pre-proceedings.

You will be required to provide a high-quality level of supervision, evidencing management oversight for the children open to your team, be competent in quality assuring the work of your team along with creating and maintaining good team atmosphere and morale, and therefore you should have some experience of supervising staff. You will be responsible for chairing strategy discussions, permanency planning meetings and other professional meetings to continue towards key decision making for children in need of our service and protection.

You will need to lead, manage and motivate a team to embed a positive performance culture. Above all, you’ll be focused on helping children and families to change their lives for the better.

You will be a champion of social work values, delivering and improving services for children and young people. You will allocate resources and workload and ensure the provision of cost-effective services. Your day-to-day support and high quality caseload supervision will ensure your team can meet the complex and changing demands of the service, as well as enable their ongoing development. Working in partnership with a broad range of agencies, you will contribute to the development of Children’s Services procedures and policies. And, advising on commissioning strategies, you’ll ensure that services are developed and accessible to all children, young people and families needing support, protection and intervention.

About you
Your social work degree – CQSW, DipSW or equivalent – must be supported by professional registration and extensive post-qualification experience. This experience should include supervision, budget management, and joint working with partners in the statutory, private and voluntary sectors. You should be confident in your ability to lead and develop a team. And, with an in-depth understanding of safeguarding procedures, legislative frameworks and social work theories relating to child services, you’ll have the expertise needed to contribute to practice and policy development. In return, we offer an attractive benefits package, a competitive salary and a range of professional development opportunities.

The right time

There has never been a better time to join us. We continue to invest in every part of our service, and in the careers of talented people who share our passion for making a real difference to the lives of young people in Kent.

The right place

With Kent’s overall Ofsted rating of ‘good’, with an ‘outstanding’ judgement for ‘The experiences and progress of children in care', we have been recognised for the fact that ‘Children remain at the core of a strong, and often exceptional, service in Kent’ (Ofsted 2025). As one of the largest Children’s Social Work Services in the country, we offer a comprehensive learning and development framework across Kent. Recognising that a one-size fits all approach is not effective, we provide development opportunities that can be tailored to meet individual, and team needs.

Kent is a large and diverse county, offering a broad range of opportunities to support children and young people from all backgrounds and circumstances. We are able to offer you a variety of work, including being able to work across a range of locations and environments, as well as having the option to be seconded to or move to other teams.

We place great importance on professional development that enables you to grow your skills and knowledge to manage a varied caseload. There will be new challenges and opportunities with case work and as part of the wider organisation, e.g. developing specialist links with partner agencies and representing Children’s Services in court.

Acting as a role model and mentor to less experienced colleagues, you will contribute to training initiatives, and, proactively maintaining your awareness of changes in child development theories, legislation, policies and practices, you will share your knowledge and uphold high standards of social work.

Benefits

• A supportive team working environment with regular supervision.
• Access to a wide range of formal and informal CPD activities underpinned by a performance appraisal scheme and career progression pathway.
• An annual appraisal linking your learning and development needs.
• Generous annual leave allowance.
• Local Government pension scheme.
• Access to smarter working / flexible working.
• Relocation Package.

You will also have a range of professional development opportunities including the exciting social care academy and routes for progression.

Eligibility

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service and registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.

This role is subject to holding a Full UK Driving Licence – The Council is committed to making reasonable adjustments so whilst this job requires the jobholder to drive your application will still be considered if you are unable to drive due to a disability.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. 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/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

About you

For more information, please contact:

Carrie Bill

Carrie.Bill@kent.gov.uk

03000 418435

About us

Work that works for you and us - let's talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county's working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note - if you are interested, please apply soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.