Dorset Council
Family Help Team Manager (Social Work Qualified)
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We are pleased to have opportunities for Team Managers and aspiring Team Managers to join us at an exciting time as we shape the future of Family Help in Dorset.
You will play a central role in leading excellent practice, supporting confident and restorative social work, and making a lasting difference for children and families. Are you a reflective, values driven leader who is passionate about supporting children? Are you committed to restorative, high support, high challenge practice and inspired by working in an Outstanding authority? If so, we would love to hear from you. Join us in building a system where children can thrive, practitioners are valued, and strong relationships are at the heart of everything we do.
We’re proud that Dorset Council is a rated Outstanding authority by Ofsted for our work with children, young people and families. This reflects our strong commitment to high quality, child centred practice and the positive culture we’ve built across our services.
Leading national change
The Families First Partnership (FFP) Programme sets out a major national reform of family support and child protection in England, aiming to shift the system toward earlier, more joined up help for families.
Dorset was selected as a national Pathfinder local authority for the Families First for Children programme, placing us at the forefront of developing new ways of working with children, families, and communities. Now aligned with the national guidance: The Families First Partnership (FFP) Programme Guide, we are bringing together a more blended model to support our families to receive the right support and intervention, at the right time.
Family Help Teams
As a Social Work Qualified Team Manager, you will manage a team consisting of an Assistant Team Manager, Social Workers and Family Workers, supporting the continuum of need from targeted early help, child in need right through to care proceedings and adoption.
We are bringing together our Family Help and Child Protection teams to support families in telling their story, only once, focussing on building and sustaining relationships with practitioners supporting them. Social Workers within the Family Help teams, support our children and families as one integrated team, supporting families from Targeted Early Help right through to care proceedings and adoption, promoting continuity and consistent relationships.
As part of the reforms, we are developing our multi-agency child protection teams. We are introducing Lead Child Protection Practitioners within the Multi‑Agency Child Protection Team (MACPT) and you will work closely with these practitioners and the MACPT to support the needs of our children.
Our approach keeps families at the centre having redesigned child protection conferences to encourage genuine collaboration and reduce jargon. Our Lead Child Practitioners will also work directly with families, helping explain processes, build understanding, and maintain regular contact in readiness for Child Protection conferences and you will work collaboratively with the LCPP to provide clear leadership and drive positive outcomes for our children.
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A culture of development
We take professional development seriously and have an extensive training offer, including motivational interviewing, restorative practice and strengths-based approaches. We also have a commitment to leadership training and have a leadership pathway for our managers to access.
What You Will Be Doing
We are looking to recruit experienced, dynamic, energetic and strengths-based Team Managers and aspiring Team Managers to lead and manage work with our children and families using and promoting a strengths-based and restorative approach. The successful applicant will have experience of managing Social Workers, Social Work Students and/or Family workers with experience of reflective supervision. You will be required to manage the intake of referrals from our Family Support and Advice Line (FSAAL) alongside the other Team Managers (on a rota) and will be working as part of a multi-agency partnership to co-ordinate and meet the needs of children and families.
The Social Workers who you will manage undertake Assessments, Child protection work, pre proceedings, Court work through to permanence, including adoption, if this is the plan. We are a high performing, motivated, enthusiastic and reflective authority, offering high support and high challenge. We work to a restorative Thrive model, with a focus on building trusting relationships, within which children and their families can thrive. We want Dorset to be the best place to grow up, where children are safe, receive high quality education and opportunities in line with their needs.
About You
You will be an experienced leader and supervisor with experience of managing/supervising staff and performance.
You will be strengths-based with excellent communication skills. Your communication style should be restorative demonstrating your ability to offer high support and high challenge.
You will have experience in interpreting data and using this to drive performance and practice development.
You have significant skills in building and maintaining relationships and commitment to multi agency working.
You will have experience in reflective supervision and developing reflective practice to ensure robust and
See Person Specification For Qualifications, Experience And Skills.
Our Localities teams are Chesil (Weymouth & Portland), Dorchester & West (Office base: Dorchester), North (Office bases: Blandford and Sturminster Newton) and East & Purbeck (Office bases: Wareham & Ferndown).
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Further Information
For an informal discussion, please contact Head of Locality & Strategy - Chesil, Kelvin Connelly on [email protected]
This role is full time at 37 hours but flexible working will be considered subject to service needs.
This post requires significant travel. You must have a vehicle (or transport we deem suitable) available for use as needed.
This post involves working with children and/or vulnerable adults and/or having access to significant information about them. It will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check. See our policy on the employment of ex-offenders.
See our policy on safeguarding children and young people.
See our adult safeguarding policy.
The friends and family referral scheme applies to this post. If an employee recommended this post to you, mention them when asked on your application form.
Employees can share this advert by using the button links alongside the job title.
You Must
- have a degree in social work / Occupational Therapy or equivalent
- be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
- be able to fulfil the travel requirements of the post
See the children’s social worker framework.
About Us
At Dorset Council, it's not just about the work we do, it's about how we do it. Hear directly from our employees about what makes Dorset Council special in this short video:
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At Dorset Council, we are working together to create a fairer, more prosperous, and more sustainable Dorset for everyone, now and in the future.
We
- provide essential services that support over 300,000 residents
- work in partnership to make a real difference
- value every role and the impact it has on our communities
- support our employees to grow, develop, and thrive
We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation where different skills, perspectives, and backgrounds strengthen both our council and the communities we serve.
We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. If you declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role, we will offer you an interview. We also want our recruitment process to be accessible, if you need any reasonable adjustments, just let us know on your application.
This role is UK-based, and we will need to confirm your Right to Work as part of the appointment process. We use generic job descriptions and person specifications, so the job title in any attachments may differ from the advert. If needed, we will provide additional details in a context statement.
If you’re passionate about making a difference, we’d love you to join us.
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