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Tameside
Tameside is one of the 10 local authorities that make up Greater Manchester, nestling between the buzz of Manchester City Centre and the beauty of the Peak District on our doorstep. In the last few years, the Council have also created an integrated management structure with our local CCG. However, with a manufacturing and industrial heritage, we face many endemic issues associated with poverty, a low-skills, low pay economy and inter-generational health challenges. Our vision for a new Tameside is captured in our shared plan – Our People, Our Place, Our Plan. This ground-breaking approach works for us and more importantly, is delivering the benefits of an integrated system for our people.
Our holistic approach to generational change at Tameside places a great focus on investing in all our children, through our schools, our early intervention work, our children’s social care, and by creating opportunities within the borough to thrive, be healthy and succeed. That’s why we are investing in our Children’s Services, with the resources, support and strategies to drive up the quality of outcomes for all our children and young people, including those that need specific support at different stages of their lives.
We have an improvement focused new leadership team in the Directorate, with a new DCS and refreshed AD team, and we’re continuing to invest in our leadership capacity. Our new Heads of Service will support our journey, bringing pace, drive, increased momentum and passion. We have clearly agreed plans and strategies that we’re convinced will deliver, backed by a strong team, corporate and political commitment. This is not about a radical re-set – it’s about calm, assured, confident leadership and management that keeps building, whilst picking up the pace of improvement and remains steadfast when needed. Learn more about Tameside via the links on the right side of this webpage.
Ongoing priorities for Children’s Social Care include:
- managing our high numbers of children in care and the associated costs,
- increasing the impact of our early intervention work,
- embedding a culture that views all we do through the eyes of a child and moves from reactive services to pro-active interventions,
- co-designing holistic, locality-based services to harness community assets,
- stabilising the workforce,
- getting our key partners more engaged with key services,
- working across Greater Manchester and
- developing our relationships with regulators.
Head of Service: Children in Need and Child Protection
We know what’s needed to improve the services we deliver to Tameside’s children, and we’ve already come a long way. Now we’re investing in strengthening provision for children in need and child protection, looked-after children and care leavers, and in our QA and safeguarding support across our services, so our integrated team can make sustained progress.
This is an outstanding opportunity for an experienced social worker to join us in this pivotal leadership role. You’ll take overall responsibility for the strategic management and development of social work and associated support services, so that we can deliver improved outcomes for children and young people. You’ll lead the full range of services which support children in need, those at risk of harm, and those who are subject to legal proceedings. This includes the provision of placements in substitute families and other settings.
Candidates will be experienced senior social workers, with a track record of team management and of working through challenging cases. You’ll bring a ‘whole system’ approach, with a nuanced understanding of field work, casework, court processes and assessment in both s. 17 and s. 47 scenarios. Additionally, we’re looking for evidence that you have a deep understanding of risk and have exercised consistently sound judgement through your career to date.
We want to hear from people who have experience of driving service improvement in similar environments focused on supporting and meeting the needs of vulnerable children, with experience of managing complex risks, building partnerships with other agencies, and mobilising all available resources in the service of a better future for our children.
