The Opportunity
To provide management and leadership of senior and service support coordinators taking overall responsibility in any given service portfolio area to lead and drive delivery of consistent high-quality support within the practice system embedding an agile and flexible working culture to ensure adequate and robust support arrangements across.
Providing a context of high support and high challenge, service leaders will be responsible for the oversight, scrutiny, and accountability of support services including having an overview of staffing systems.
Ensuring the implementation of best practice and service standards whilst building effective working relationships and supporting collaborative ways of working with service coordinators, practitioners, social workers, and managers.
Leading the development and implementation of service improvements, ensuring compliance with statutory guidance and policies, provide guidance, support, and expertise to service coordinators.
Ensure that processes, systems, and governance arrangements are followed and fit for purpose the role will also provide efficient and effective support to the Head of Service in the delivery of service functions.
About You
We are looking for a confident individual, who also has:
· Knowledge of common service support systems used throughout the council.
· Good knowledge and understanding of the customers’ service support requirements.
· Knowledge of national legislation, policies, standards, and initiatives relevant to this role within a local government environment. Delivering customer service expertise
· Ability to prioritise own workload and that of a large team to meet deadlines in a fast-changing environment.
· A clear appreciation of the demands of working within a multiple stakeholder, fast-paced, highly political environment.
· Ability to work in a large complex, political organisation and to understand and operate within national and local frameworks of accountability.
Home to 94,000 children, Croydon is a truly unique place to practice social work. We are a borough with big ambition, grit, and determination. Children's social care was judged ‘good’ in our last Ofsted inspection.
Our systemic practice framework places emphasis on relationships as key to supporting change for families. We make sense of the world through relationships, focusing on the whole family system and thinking about our own part in that too – what we bring, our own family stories and beliefs, how we use ourselves in the work that we do. Our practice model is all about collaboration - with our families, networks and partners; being open to challenge and ensuring our practitioners are highly trained in a variety of intervention approaches. Our established clinical service will support you to grow your own systemic practice within the service, providing accredited training, co-working and direct work with families.
For an informal chat about working in Croydon, contact Agata Stolowska at agata.stolowska@croydon.gov.uk