Suffolk County Council
Assistant Director for Corporate Parenting (Internal)
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- Suffolk County Council
Address: Endeavour House, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 2BX
Salary: £91,136 per annum
Hours: 37 hours per week; flexible working options available
Contract: Permanent
Role Overview
As Assistant Director for Suffolk Cares, you will be the strategic leader for children and young adults who are in our care or have left our care. You will be responsible for improving practice, strengthening partnerships, and ensuring children and young adults receive the right support at the right time.
Key Responsibilities
This is a senior leadership role with direct accountability for the quality, performance, and impact of corporate parenting services. You will:
- Lead services for children in care and care leavers, including fostering, adoption, and residential children’s homes.
- Act as the champion for children and young adults who are in, or have left, our care, ensuring their voices shape services and decision-making.
- Lead and influence complex partnerships across the Suffolk system to improve outcomes for our Care Experienced Community.
- Drive continuous improvement, ensuring services are effective, high quality, and focused on achieving the best possible outcomes.
- Provide strong leadership across people, performance, resources, and governance within a large and complex service area.
- Champion a culture of collaboration, innovation, and co-production, working alongside children, young people, families, carers, and partners.
- Be a critical part of achieving a good inspection outcome.
We support hybrid and flexible working, however, in this role you’ll be expected to provide visible, accessible leadership across the organisation and with our partners. This means you'll regularly work from our offices and across Suffolk.
About You
We are looking for a senior leader who understands children’s social care and can lead improvement across a complex system. You will need:
- A strong commitment to improving the lives of children and young people.
- A Social Work qualification and registration with the relevant Social Work regulatory body.
- Significant senior leadership experience within social care, children’s services, or a related field.
- Strong knowledge of social care practice, statutory responsibilities, and Ofsted inspection frameworks.
- Experience leading service improvement or transformation across multiple agencies.
- Experience of leading large, multidisciplinary teams and managing complex budgets.
- Strong communication and relationship-building skills with senior leaders, elected members, partners, staff, children, young adults, families, and carers.
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You can view a full list of requirements in the Job and Person Profile (JPP), which you can find in the ‘How to apply’ section towards the bottom of this advert.
Empowering Everyone
We’re big believers in potential, possibility, and the power of different ideas. We’re always searching for ways to encourage, respect, and enable everyone to be the best they can be. We want to represent the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all individuals, especially those from groups that are currently underrepresented in the organisation, as shown in our Workforce Equality Report [https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/our-aims-and-transformation-programmes/the-councils-equality-and-inclusion-commitment-to-you].
For More Information
Please contact Hayley Griffin for a conversation about the role. You can reach her by emailing Hayley.Griffin@suffolk.gov.uk.
How to Apply
Step 1 - Read the Job and Person Profile (Word) [https://sccrecruit.blob.core.windows.net/assets/SCC/24331-AD-Corporate-Parenting-JPP.docx] and Role Addendum (Word) [https://sccrecruit.blob.core.windows.net/assets/SCC/24331-AD-Corporate-Parenting-Role-Addendum.docx].
Step 2 - Click ‘Apply Now’ to start your online application.
Step 3 - Upload an up-to-date CV and supporting statement:
Please upload an up-to-date copy of your CV together with a supporting statement explaining your motivation for applying for the role and demonstrating how your experience, achievements, and leadership approach equip you to deliver the role's key priorities and responsibilities. Please use specific examples to demonstrate the outcomes and impact of your work.
- You should use the Supporting Statement template (Word) [https://sccrecruit.blob.core.windows.net/assets/SCC/Other-Docs/SupportingStatementTemplate.docx].
- Please use Arial font size 11 and keep your statement to a maximum of two sides of A4.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
For guidance on completing your application, please see our How to Apply page [https://www.suffolkjobsdirect.org/#en/sites/CX_3001/pages/657088].
Planning to use Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Please ensure your application still reflects your own skills, experience, and ideas. If used inappropriately, your application may not be processed. Please read our guidance for using AI [https://www.suffolkjobsdirect.org/#en/sites/CX_3001/pages/764097] to understand what’s acceptable.
Do you need any reasonable adjustments to help you to apply? If you are disabled and/or have additional support needs, you can request reasonable adjustments. You can do this by contacting our Recruitment Team at recruitment@suffolk.gov.uk or 03456 014412. You can find examples of possible adjustments on our Reasonable Adjustment pages [https://www.suffolkjobsdirect.org/#en/sites/CX_3001/pages/757078].
Closing date: 12:00pm, 14 August 2026
This authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks or police vetting will be required for relevant posts.
Benefits
In return, you’ll enjoy:
- up to 29 days annual leave entitlement (pro rata), plus UK bank holidays and two paid volunteering days
- membership of a competitive Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
- travel, lifestyle, health, and wellbeing benefits
- performance-related annual pay progression, in addition to an annual cost-of-living pay increase
- training and encouragement to expand your knowledge
- a variety of career development opportunities across our organisation
- diverse and active staff networks
- flexible working options, with the right to request flexible working from your first day
Plus lots more!
If you want to know more about our benefits, values, and equality commitments, please visit our Suffolk County Council careers website (careers.Suffolk.gov.uk) [https://careers.suffolk.gov.uk/].
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