Head of Service

**Additional details**
Please note a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is required at enhanced level.

**About Southwark**:
We are the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes lived in by 40% of Southwark’s residents. We are home to over 18,300 businesses including iconic London venues and social enterprises and we have a young, diverse and growing population.

At Southwark we are committed to making our borough just and fair and are taking positive action to tackle inequalities. Our residents and communities are our greatest asset and the passion we have for Southwark is shared by millions of Londoners who enjoy our outstanding cultural offer, use our hospitals and attend our universities. Our refreshed borough plan and focus on Southwark Stands Together, (which is our work with Southwark’s communities and the council’s staff to tackle racism, injustice and inequality) underpins all that we do.

**Benefits and more information**:
In your role, we want you to feel supported, challenged and rewarded. You will benefit from our family-friendly policies including flexible working, home working, and a local government pension scheme, plus many other staff benefits. You will join a motivated, driven and supportive team that strives for excellence and values its members. You will also be part of a successful and high-achieving development team that is making a real difference to the lives of residents in the borough. Our offer includes:

- Substantial training and development is provided including an offer of bespoke coaching and mentoring
- Modern technology including laptop, Apple iPhone and iPad

For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit our **Staff Benefits** page.

**Guaranteed Interview Scheme**:
As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:

- Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
- Are currently in care, or have previously been in care
- If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

**The role**

We are looking for a Head of Service who is ambitious to develop our front door with practitioners and families to ensure it moves from good to outstanding. To help achieve this ambition we are well resourced with an embedded Clinical Service, an internal Family Group Conference Service, Parent Advocates, A Family Council and Family Support Workers working directly with families to provide help and support to keep children safe within their families. We also have an excellent Quality Assurance offer with a dedicated Audit and Learning Partner for the service and a quarterly celebration of Learning which we call _Learningfest._

It will be critical for the post holder to champion and embed the Southwark Practice Principles across Southwark in this key leadership role. These principles are to be Child Centred, Family Minded, Relationship Based, Outcome Focussed, Strength Based, Evidence Informed, Fair and Reflective. A key aspect of the role will be to lead the strategic development of the division as a whole, to ensure children and families get the right help, at the right time, in the right place. So while the post holder will have key responsibility for their area, they must work beyond the boundaries of their service, with other services, agencies, and groups that represent the voice of children and parents, to continue to develop the best possible help and protection for children.

It is vital the post holder can show how they stand up to all forms of discrimination and are committed to standing up to racism and actively seeking to understand and challenge disproportionality. This role is challenging and at the heart of Children’s Services, it is an opportunity to make a massive life changing difference.

Our most recent Ofsted inspection was graded as ‘good’ in all areas.

**_ Ofsted, November 2022_**

At Southwark Children’s Services, we pride ourselves on doing our vital job differently. Our systemic, holistic, family-centred approach sits at the core of our values. Our endlessly supportive, collective, people powered culture underpins everything we do to protect vulnerable children across our borough.
- “Children are at the heart of practice in Southwark.”_
- “Staff have time to work intensively with families when needed, and to reflect and consider ways to improve children’s lives”_

**About you**:
This role requires a visible leader with high expectations, results-focused approach which is supported by well-developed analytical planning, excellent practice knowledge and strong organisational skills; all of which will be used to best effect in helping to instil a reflective, restorative and open culture where there is an environment of high support but also high chall