Team Manager - Fostering Team

About the Borough

The London Borough of Sutton is situated less than 30 minutes by train from Central London, with direct connections to London Victoria and London Bridge. Found in zone 5 with good transport links in and out of London, Sutton boasts award winning parks and open spaces, low crime rates, affordable housing and great schools. As well as high levels of resident engagement and satisfaction, providing quality services and success in addressing our financial challenges, whilst involving residents in key issues and high street changes.

Sutton is continuously investing in the health, wellbeing and education of our residents and the future generation, as set out in the “Ambitious for Sutton” corporate plan. We are home to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together with the development of the London Cancer Hub, Sutton will be the world’s leading life-science district, specialising in cancer research and treatment. Our vision will create around 13,000 jobs while contributing £1.2bn to the UK economy each year, a vibrant community of scientists, doctors and innovative companies intended to deliver real benefits for cancer patients and drive economic growth. With the regeneration of the local areas with new homes and schools, Sutton is passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

The Council is seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment. As we strive to improve our services and spaces for our residents as set out in the ‘Ambitious for Sutton’ corporate plan, Sutton aims to shape the future of the borough and adapt to the needs of its residents to make our Borough a great place to live, work and raise a family.

About the Service and Team

We are in the midst of a significant transformation in Children's Social Care, driven by the growing demand for our services. Our focus is on implementing comprehensive changes to elevate the quality of care provided to children and families, while also fostering positive and supportive work environments for our staff. Through strategic recruitment of new leaders and experienced managers, we are infusing innovative ideas and driving meaningful changes throughout our service delivery. Our ultimate aim is to establish ourselves as a leading authority in children's social care, committed to delivering exceptional support that positively impacts the well-being of our community and provides an inclusive, diverse and stable workforce.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

Children's Social Care has initiated a transformative journey to address the increasing demand for our services and to enhance our Fostering service. At Sutton, our objective is to ensure the safety, well-being, and development of children and young people requiring support or protection.

This role is eligible for our Recruitment and Retention Bonus, subject to payscale

• £1000 Welcome Bonus in your first month's salary
• £1000 Retention Bonus for your 1st completed year in service
• £2000 Retention Bonus for your 2nd completed year in service
• £3000 Retention Bonus for your 3rd completed year in service, and every year thereafter

We have an exciting opportunity to join us as a Team Manager for the Fostering Team within Children Social Care. Reporting to the Service Manager, you will oversee the operations and management of the team of professional and experienced Senior Practitioners, and Social Workers to provide high quality supervision, support, and training to foster carers and their families to enable them to provide the best possible trauma informed care to our children and young people.

You will be expected to develop and motivate your team to fulfil the changing demands of the service through high quality social work supervision and compliance with the statutory requirements for Fostering, as well as having an interest and the capacity to contribute to the recruitment and retention of foster carers and service development. An understanding of children in care, foster carers and their families is essential to this role.

The team collaborates with external partners, including local authorities, child welfare organisations, healthcare professionals, and educational institutions, to coordinate support services and ensure comprehensive care for children and families. We invite applications from driven individuals with substantial supervisory experience to manage and lead a team of social care professionals. You will be an integral part of the Sutton Fostering Service; self-motivated, energetic, and confident, with a can-do and positive attitude.

This role presents an excellent opportunity for seasoned professionals such as experienced Team Managers or Deputy Team Managers seeking more responsibility based on significant experience in their current role. It's also ideal for experienced Managers looking to embark on a new journey and share their wealth of knowledge and expertise with our service, while effectively delivering against our statutory objectives.

Whether you’re already experienced or aiming for promotion, you will receive robust support through coaching, mentoring, and leadership from the Service Manager and Head of Service and our friendly and knowledgeable team of social care professionals. We're committed to ensuring that you're well-equipped to succeed in your new role and make a meaningful impact on the lives of those we serve.

We would expect candidates to fulfil the competencies including (but not limited to):

• Relevant professional qualification and registration required.
• A minimum of 3 years post qualification with extensive, sophisticated and up to date working knowledge of relevant national and local policies, statutory guidance and legislation in relation to the provision of Health and Social Care services.
• Experience of Project Management in the Fostering field including developing recruitment strategies.
• Familiar with Social Media Platforms required to promote fostering and increase visibility locally and across neighbouring boroughs.
• Ability to contribute to and provide professional leadership of organisational change and development and address performance management issues that arise.
• Ability to communicate effectively in challenging situations to a wide range of audience in different contexts.

For more information about the role and/or an informal conversation, view the role profile or contact Geeta Rath , Service Manager for Fostering on geeta.rath@sutton.gov.uk

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-31 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
• Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Two volunteering days per year
• Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
• Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Sutton we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our PRIDE values.
Here at Sutton we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are in the process of updating our payscales in line with the pay award for NJC, Chief Officers and Chief Executives for April 2025 therefore please take this into account when viewing the salary on this position.

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.