Operational Lead

About the team we are recruiting to
Do you want to work for a ‘Good’ service that offers an excellent career development opportunity through an award-winning Academy? Are you a passionate social work practitioner who thrives to continually achieve best outcomes for children, young people, and their families?

We are thrilled to share that Coventry Children’s Services has been judged ‘Good’ by Ofsted. This has become such an exciting time to join Children’s Service and be part of journey that has ‘children and young people at the heart of everything we do’.

In Coventry, we are working hard to build something special. Children and families are at the heart of everything we do, and we believe they deserve the best outcomes. Children’s Services provides a wide range of statutory and non-statutory duties, from Early Help Services, through to children who are looked after.

The service reflects and responds to the changing needs of children and their families. It works to enable a reflective and flexible approach, with a strong Early Help offer and a real focus on Relationship Based Practice and Signs of Safety, which focuses on intervention and keeping families together.

Coventry Children’s Services values a working culture that is relational and restorative in nature, the service understands the impact of behaviours as practitioners and managers on others. The launch of the Coventry Family Valued Programme in April 2021 aims to re-think practice in the best interests of children, as a result the Coventry Family Valued Programme has developed three Spires:

- A Child Friendly City
- Family Led Decision Making
- The Coventry Way

It is under the umbrella of “The Coventry Way” spire which demonstrates the values and commitment the workforce hold, the spire which represents the support to embed the organisational values into the culture and practice with children and families

Children’s Services is proud of its achievements to date and is continuing to ensure children and families remain at the heart of all it does. We will provide you with an environment where social work can flourish, with high support, high challenge and manageable caseloads. Children’s Services is proud of its workforce, who are committed, dedicated, and work to a high standard. We are seeking other like minded practitioners who would like to join us. We pride ourselves on building relationships with families and partners and hold respectful practice at the centre of all we do. Coventry believe children and families should have limited change of worker where possible to enable relationships to be built.

What is the job role?
We are currently recruiting to 2 x Operational Lead posts in Help and Protection, with one post as Operational Lead for East Area Team and the other post as Operational Lead for Responsive Services.

These are senior manager operational roles, managing the delivery of high quality, inclusive services for children who require help and protection.

**Operational Lead - East Area Team**

You will be responsible for social worker practice in Coventry City Council Children’s Child in Need & Child Protection social work teams as well as the Family Hub teams & Early Help services.

**Operational Lead - Responsive Services**

You will be responsible for the management and delivery of the City Councils’ children’s Multi Agency Service Hub (MASH) & Initial Contact Team (CICT), the City Councils’ Emergency Duty Team (EDT), the City Council & Police Child Exploitation team

As an Operational Lead you will be responsible and accountable for the operational performance of the responsive services through line management, performance management and quality assurance arrangements.

You will ensure the effectiveness of screening and social work activity, including early help support to children, young people, parents, carers and families in their family and community life to enable them to maximise participation in family and social life and achieve their life chances.

You will ensure the effectiveness of agency and partner support to children in need in reducing the incidence of harm and the need for referral to children’s social care and to enable disabled children and families to access dedicated support to maximise their well-being.

You will ensure the effectiveness of agency and partner collaborative early help advice & guidance to professionals and parents; child in need or safeguarding ‘triage’ assessment activity to ensure alternative support or early intervention by specialist services and the provision of effective out of hours responses to vulnerable people and partner agencies.

Who are we looking for?
If you are passionate about social care, passionate about good practice and dedicated to developing and delivering a good service, we would love to hear from you.

This role will be responsible for planning and implementing a programme of continuous improvement work.

Interview dat