Team Manager - Children's Specialist Support Team

We are seeking an experienced manager with a minimum of four years' supervisory experience in children’s social care, including working with and managing services for children with disabilities, to join our Children’s Specialist Support Team and help make a lasting difference in the lives of children and young people.

About you…

You will need to be a registered Social Worker with Social Work England and have significant post qualifying experience working with children and families in the statutory sector.

You will deputise when required for the Head of Service and work closely alongside them to deliver our vision and strategic values.

You will have direct line management responsibility for Assistant Team Managers, Social Workers, including newly qualified Social Workers, students and support staff. You will provide strong leadership by fostering a supportive and collaborative working environment, promoting high professional standards, and guiding and motivating team members to achieve their goals.

Working alongside your Assistant Team Managers, you will oversee the day-to-day operations of the team, offering supervision and support to Social Workers in managing their caseloads. You will step in where necessary to ensure appropriate plans are in place and that needs-led services and interventions are provided to children and families.

You will be able to build effective relationships, demonstrating strong assessment and analytical skills, planning and intervention, and work effectively as part of a management team.

About the team…

The Children’s Specialist Support Team (CSST) is a highly skilled team working with children who have disabilities and/or complex health needs. We are an experienced, friendly and supportive team who focus on ensuring that children are at the centre of all we do.  We provide a range of services for children with additional needs and those who are assessed to have additional vulnerabilities. This includes the council’s statutory responsibilities for disabled Children in Need in the community (including care packages and short breaks).

The team is comprised of different disciplines and service areas covering a wide breadth of work with children with disabilities, occupational therapy, short breaks (including Larchwood, our short break respite unit), taking a child first and social model approach to disability.  Partnership and collaborative working is the key to our success.

We are a small, welcoming and friendly local authority. We are proud of our connected and inclusive culture, with a strong focus on wellbeing, which provides our workforce with a strong sense of belonging.

Our leadership team is visible, available and approachable. 

Everything we do in Children’s Social Care is about improving the life chances of Bracknell’s children, put simply, we change lives for the better

You can read what our team have to say about working at Bracknell Forest via this link: Meet children's social care staff | Bracknell Forest Council. 

Key responsibilities...

• To manage the delivery and performance of the Children’s Specialist Support Team, including retention and recruitment; workload allocation and management; induction; supervision and development of staff; disciplinary and capability performance management and succession planning.
• To lead within a secure base model and to support and encourage a culture where good social work practice can flourish. Providing a secure physical and psychological base from which to work safely and effectively thus reducing the risk of harm to children and increase and improve their long-term outcomes.
• To ensure the provision of statutory functions are discharged effectively with the specific aim of reducing immediate and emerging risk and escalating the needs of the children to provide the best possible opportunities for all ages and stages of life.
• To promote and support the council’s policies and procedures for safeguarding, ensuring children are at the centre of all decisions, and the social model of disability is respected in all work.
• To ensure arrangements for regular engagement andparticipation with children and young people and parents and carers, by all staff within the service, and to lead on investigations and response to complaints from service users, relatives and carers.
• To lead on strategy discussions, Child in Need meetings, professional meetings and other forums, working together with partner agencies to conclude with safe and proportionate threshold decision and planning.
• To undertake regular reviews of, and track, performance data completing audits and contributing to audit programmes and frameworks.
• To develop and maintain effective internal and external working relationships, ensuring a positive working culture within the team, and working collaboratively with multi-agency partners, including chairing reviews, planning meetings, strategy discussions and other professional and network meetings.
• Providing high quality, reflective supervision (in line with the supervision policy) including providing feedback and analysis of performance.
• To develop and maintain accurate case records and comply with the department's policies, procedures and guidelines including data protection and GDPR.

Our benefits… 

• 28 days* increasing to 33 days* after 3 years’ continuous service.
• The opportunity to buy up to 10 additional days* annual leave per year and sell 5 days.
• Hybrid working opportunities to support your wellbeing and work-life balance. 
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice for an electric car at a fixed monthly cost (subject to eligibility).
• An inclusive and social working environment with a variety of staff networks. 
• Local government pension scheme.
• Life insurance cover (linked to the pension scheme)
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and fostering leave. 
• Recognition of continuous service attained within the NHS and UKHSA when calculating some benefits such as annual leave entitlements, occupational maternity/paternity leave, and more. (Terms and Conditions apply – please refer to candidate pack for more information.)
• Career development through internal and external training opportunities. 
• A great office location next to travel links and Bracknell Forest’s thriving town centre. 
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support your health and wellbeing. 
• Sports and Social Club.
• Staff dental and health plans. 
• Discounted leisure centre and gym membership. 
• Supermarket discount. 

*(pro rata for part time)

Our values...

At Bracknell Forest Council our values define who we are and what is important to us. Our core values are inclusive, ambitious, and always learning. These values influence the way we work with each other and the way we serve our residents and engage with our communities. We make our values real by demonstrating them in how we behave every day. If you are excited about joining a diverse team that celebrates learning and strives for excellence, we would love to hear from you. 

Reasonable adjustments...

We are committed to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process for all applicants. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview, please let us know by contacting recruitment@bracknell-forest.gov.uk. We will work with you to support you throughout the process.

 Interview date...

Interviews will be held on Thursday 12^th June 2025.

Interviews will be conducted in person, providing candidates with the chance to personally meet the team and experience our work environment.

We will be reviewing applications regularly and reserve the right to close the advert early if suitable candidates are identified. To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible.

Please note AI is prohibited during the interview, any candidate using AI will be withdrawn from consideration.

Want to ask us a question? 

For an informal discussion or to ask any questions about this role, please contact: 

Lou Richer - Head of Service, Specialist Family Safeguarding

Lou.Richer@bracknell-forest.gov.uk

Helen Gore - Principal Social Worker

Helen.gore@bracknell-forest.gov.uk

At Bracknell Forest we champion equality, diversity and inclusion. At Bracknell Forest Council, we are always learning, ambition and inclusive. Please see our candidate pack for more details.

Bracknell Forest Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect everyone employed with us to share this commitment. All successful candidates for this role will be subject to a DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) check as part of our pre-employment checks process.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate experience of working within the current Social Care System and Framework.

Social Work England registration fees can be claimed back from the Council. 

We can only accept applications from candidates currently residing in the UK.

Candidates currently residing in the UK who require sponsorship to work are encouraged to assess their eligibility for a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) based on the relevant criteria. Please be aware that 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.

No agencies please.