Assistant Director - Children's Social Care - Quality & Partnerships

Location: Council House Solihull

Salary: Salary up to £98,204 per annum

Closing date: 8 Jan 2025

Reference: SOL/TP/179/972

Sector: Local Councils

Job Type: Social Care - Children

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Pattern: Standard

Hours: Full-Time

Children, Young People and Families

Competitive Salary up to £98,204 depending upon experience

Are you an experienced strategic leader in Children's Social Care?

Do you have a desire to be an integral part of Solihull's improvement journey? We are on an improvement journey to enable us to provide the best service to the children and young people of Solihull. We are committed to being ambitious in the way that we will work with children, young people, their families and carers in a restorative way. To support us with this journey, we are looking for an ambitious Assistant Director to join us.

We are looking to appoint an outstanding and experienced individual for the Assistant Director of Quality & Partnership to drive this plan forward, both operationally and strategically.

Reporting directly to the Director of Children's Services, we are looking for an experienced senior leader in children's social care, who understands how to develop and lead a good children's service. This role is focused particularly on the strategic arm of the service, and will work alongside the Assistant Director Children & Families to deliver an improved children's social care service. As Assistant Director for Quality & Partnership your attention will be on improvement, quality assurance and partnerships, with line management responsibility for the Early Help & Vulnerable Young People, Commissioning, Performance and Quality Assurance functions.

The role will focus on providing the leadership and expertise in ensuring the ongoing effectiveness of children's safeguarding arrangements within the Council and the wider partnership (notably the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership). You will develop strategic plans that will ensure continuous improvement in a context of changing policy legislation and practice.

We are looking for experienced, committed and dedicated leaders with a proven track record of improving and/or leading successful children's services. To be considered for this post, you will need to demonstrate:

• Relevant degree or membership of an appropriate professional institute or substantial relevant equivalent experience.
• Substantial and proven experience in improving outcomes, with a particular focus on safeguarding outcomes, for children and young people.
• Effective leadership and management experience across a range of services for people and with multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to work effectively within a multiple accountability environment and, in particular, a political environment, establishing a positive relationship with partners, Councilors, MPs and Minister.
• Very strong communication, negotiation and problem solving skills.

If you have a proven track record of delivering positive outcomes alongside the energy, passion, drive and skills to help deliver better futures for our children and young people of Solihull, then we'd really like to hear from you.

In return we offer:

• Flexible working, and agile working arrangements
• Generous annual leave entitlements with opportunity to buy up to 10-days additional leave per year
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme - a 24 hour independent, free and confidential advice and support service
• Family and carer friendly policies
• Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme
• Employee benefits including staff discounts, subsidised travel passes and Cycle 2 Work Scheme

We are ambitious in Solihull and are building a stronger Solihull for our children, families and workforce . Connecting Families is the name of Solihull Children's Services practice framework. At its core Connecting Families demonstrates the beliefs, values and principles of restorative practice and gives us a consistent relationship-based way of practicing to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families.

We believe that families and their connected networks are of primary importance and are the most important influence on improving outcomes for children. We believe that children and their family networks are experts in their own lives and that children and their family networks have strengths, on which they should be empowered to build and draw on through effective family decision making.

To apply, please click on the link below. If you have a specific question regarding this post, please contact:

Beate Wagner, Director Childrens Services - /

Closing Date: 8 January 2025,

Interviews will be held on 20 January 2025.

Candidates will be required to complete online Psychometric assessments prior to the interview as part of the recruitment process.

This post will require an Enhanced DBS check.

This post is covered by the Fluency Duty, as outlined in the Code of Practice on the English language requirements for public sector workers.

Solihull Council is proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit.

Solihull Council has a responsibility for, and is committed to, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk, and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Attached documents
Job Description & Person Specification