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West Sussex County Council is a diverse organisation that provides services to more than 850,000 residents every day. Through our Early Help Service, we will work with children, families, and young people to help ensure that every person is supported to achieve his or her potential. The foundations for mental health, emotional control, doing well in education and parenting ability are all set in place in the early years; the home surroundings, family life and parenting are all important factors in determining positive outcomes for children as they grow and develop.

For more information, please visit our WSCC Health and Social Care section of our website.

Salary: £43,516 to £46,549 per annum
Working Pattern: Full Time (37 hours)
Contract Length: Temporary to 01/08/2024 to cover parental leave
Location: Arun Early Help Hub - covering Bognor and Littlehampton areas

Interview date: 22 June 2023

Early Help ensures that children and families receive accessible and co-ordinated support when they need it. This support ranges across a continuum from early identification and preventative approaches through to more targeted help where families are experiencing more complex or multiple difficulties. At every level support is designed to address and reduce the problems or challenges and prevent them getting worse.

As a Team Manager you will be expected to have leadership of a team that provides direct intervention to children, young people and families through targeted support, partnership working within the dedicated schools team or leading a team that provides support to the Early Help Hub. There is an expectation that you are flexible and can lead on any of the three teams dependent on business need.

You will play a key role in the Early Help wider leadership team in bringing your and your team’s knowledge and expertise into the development of services. You will work alongside peers across the directorate to ensure there is a joint system wide approach.

You will have passion for working with young children and their families with the ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines whilst managing demand. You will be able to focus for lengthy periods over a range of different activities in order to determine how to meet future needs of children, develop procedures, or analyse information/statistics.

You will be committed to raising standards in practice that will directly lead to better outcomes for children, young people and their families. You will be inspired by the opportunity to work in an environment focused on continual improvement, working closely and collaboratively with colleagues to secure these best possible outcomes for children.

Key Skills:

• Ability to anticipate problems, plan solutions and make sound pragmatic problem-solving decisions which will have a wider service impact, particularly in relation to providing a varied service, resource issues, partnership building (internally or externally) and the day-to-day management and direction of the team.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence the actions of others and communicate information which may be complex and contentious. Including the ability to negotiate solutions across wide areas of the business, manage conflict and successfully convince others of the need to take a specific course of action with a child first approach.
• Effective people and performance management skills and the ability to provide direction and motivate and inspire the team to deliver quality professional practice.
• Able to manage self, is self-aware and understands impact of work on self and others and responds constructively to situations. Understanding the need for emotional intelligence/resilience. Ability to respond calmly and appropriately to situations where others are in a stressful or anxious situation. Thorough understanding of the range of needs presented by children and families.
• Ability to organise/prioritise work, co-ordinate a variety of tasks in a clear and logical way and meet agreed deadlines and outcomes without supervision.
• Analytically minded with the ability to judge, analyse and interpret varied and highly complex situations to produce strategies over the long term e.g. interpret and solve issues by coordinating with multiple agencies across the county, such as schools, CAMHS, Adult Services, Social Care, Police, etc.

Qualifications and/or experience:

• Post graduate professional qualification relevant either to management or to a professional service specialism (e.g. Social Work, Health, Early Education and Childcare, Community Development, Family Support); or equivalent level of significant experience demonstrating comprehensive application of the above levels of knowledge in a relevant setting.
• Relevant chartered status of a professional body or equivalent high-level experience of involved practices.
• Advanced theoretical knowledge of systems, procedures and policies in specialist areas e.g. child protection, data protection, relevant law, national guidance, risk management, health and safety, safeguarding, evidence-based practice of what works within family support.
• Valid and full driving licence and access to a vehicle/ability to travel around the county independently.

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do.

In addition to working within a great team and a brilliant opportunity you will receive:

• A competitive salary
• A generous pension scheme
• Training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• Flexible working
• A range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers with the opportunity to save over £1,000 (Including: Argos, Samsung, Asos, B&Q and many more)
• Free access to employee assistance programmes
• Discounted membership at selected local sports and fitness centres
• A range of commuting and business travel discounts and initiatives

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

The reference number for this role is CAFHE04497 .

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Laura Pett Richards at [email protected] for issues or queries regarding your application please contact [email protected].

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and cover letter. In your cover letter outline your motivations for applying and explain how you meet the key skills listed in full and the experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to an enhanced SWE Registration, DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran’s Guaranteed Interview Scheme, this can be found on our application help page.