Head of Family Solutions

Head of Family Solutions

**Directorate**:Children’s Services

**Post Number**:PS9

**Division**:Children’s Services

**Grade/Salary**:16

**Section**:Family Solutions

**Reports to**: Service Director for Early Help/ Schools and SEND

**Job Purpose**

Responsible for:

- Leading the delivery of a full range of effective, efficient and high-quality family support services and integrated youth provision including Youth Justice Teams.
- The operational and strategic management of early help services.
- Acting as an advocate of children and young people in all aspects of the work

Under the overall direction of the Service Director the post holder will be fully accountable for the operational management of a key Council service area(s).

The post holder will be accountable for the co-ordination and management of all available resources to provide or commission a high-quality service(s) to communities and individuals in
Dudley. He/she will provide effective leadership and management to the service area as well as making an effective contribution to the portfolio of service functions led by the respective
Strategic Director / Service Director.

The post holder will be expected to effectively manage service change designed to help achieve the Council’s overall strategic priorities and aims. She/he must be prepared to work flexibly and swiftly adapt to changing circumstances in respect of services provided or commissioned by the
Council.

He/she will be expected to develop working partnerships both within and outside the Council with key stakeholders and engage effectively with service users and their local communities.

**Specific Responsibilities**
- Leading the strategic development of early help and prevention services ensuring multi
- disciplinary child centred approaches that recognise and value family strengths and building on these to change behaviours and relationships to reduce risk, improve children’s family life, avoid escalation and allow them to remain in universal provision.
- Working closely with schools, CCG and other partners to implement a differentiated model of early help based on local need that identifies, assessing and providing targeted support to children, young people and families in need of help.
- Leading early help and prevention services to provide quality cost effective services which achieve the strategic aims of the Council.
- Providing leadership support for the priorities within the Children and Young People’s

Plan and the Health and Wellbeing Plan through effective partnership working which ensures better outcomes for children and young people living, learning and growing up in

Dudley.
- Providing professional clear leadership, support and development to service staff to ensure that relevant professional standards and statutory requirements are met.
- To develop with partners a coherent pathway from universal provision to early help to ensure that children and families receive right services right time right place.
- To improve the delivery, targeted and co-ordination of locality services to support the early help agenda.
- Working closely with providers of services to adults to address un-met need in adults that lead to increased risks to children.
- Lead, manage and co-ordinate a defined service area(s) or service function(s) with full operational responsibility and accountability.
- Effectively manage and control a range of resources (human, financial, technological) to provide and/or commission high-quality services that meet the needs of Dudley’s residents and provide excellence in client and customer service.
- Ensure effective and high-quality business and service planning processes, including setting, monitoring and recording of delivery against clearly defined objectives and outcomes and in accordance with corporate requirements.
- Ensure that the service(s) meet expectations and achieves service objectives through adopting a proactive, positive and effective approach to performance management at individual and service level.
- Exercise any delegated statutory powers allocated to the postholder in accordance with the Council's Constitution.
- Promote and implement good employment policy and practice ensuring that individuals are effectively performance managed; supported in their professional development and fully equipped to deliver service expectations. This also includes services not within the postholders remit, personally conducting investigations for grievance, disciplinary and redundancy cases and chairing decision-making panels
- Ensure the effective and efficient implementation and management of change across all areas of service responsibility.
- Liaise and work collaboratively with other service managers to deliver and/or commission services that help deliver the Council’s strategic aims and objectives, ensuring the best interests of the council are secured through the negotiation and monitoring of contracts with all relevant external service