Lifelong Links Team Manager – Southwark Council

The role

Partnering with the Family Rights Group (FRG) and funded through the Department for Education’s (DfE) ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy, Southwark’s Family Group Conference Service is developing a new Lifelong Links Team.

The Lifelong Links Team Manager will lead on the promotion and development of the Lifelong Links Team in Southwark, collaborating with colleagues across children’s social care including in Care, Leaving Care, Fostering, the Clinical Service, and the IRO Service to ensure children and young people are identified and referred for timely, high quality Lifelong Links interventions.

The Lifelong Links Team Manager will line-manager a full-time Lifelong Links Social Worker a part-time (0.6) Clinical Practitioner and a full-time Lifelong Links Project Officer.

They will work with colleagues in the Leaving Care service to identify care experienced young adults with the potential to become Lifelong Links Coordinators for current children in care and care leavers, and with the Lifelong Links Clinical Practitioner, provide training, support and supervision for them.

The Lifelong Links Team Manager will also provide information, advice, support and consultation to the self-employed Lifelong Links Coordinators and will commence each Lifelong Links intervention through chairing a Lifelong Links Initial Planning Meeting for each child or young person.

They will also participate in local and national practice support groups with the FRG and DfE and liaise with the FRG Practice Adviser and the DfE’s evaluation team to produce quarterly reports to both organisations.

Main responsibilities include:

• Develop Southwark’s Lifelong Links Team and promote Lifelong Links across Children’s Social Care
• Manage the Lifelong Links Team, including the Lifelong Links Social Worker, Clinical Practitioner, and Project Officer
• Manage a pool of Lifelong Links Coordinators – providing information, advice, support & consultation
• Liaise with colleagues across Children’s Social Care to access information on behalf of the Lifelong Links Coordinators
• Manage the performance of the Lifelong Links Team and support the Project Officer to collect and track data on the progress of each Lifelong Links intervention
• Report to the Department for Education and Family Rights Group when required to do so (for quarterly reporting & evaluation purposes)
• Attend and participate in Department for Education practice development meetings and Family Rights Group peer support sessions

About you:

The role requires exemplary leadership and management to ensure that children in care, and care experienced young people, are helped to make lasting connections with family, friends and other important people they may have lost contact with.

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.

Additional details:

This post is being offered as a fixed term contract for 12 months. We encourage any internal staff to need to gain agreement from their substantive line manager before applying if considering this is as a secondment opportunity.

A satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check at an enhanced level is required.

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Daniel Woods, Family Group Conference Lead by email at Daniel.Woods@Southwark.gov.uk

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:

• A systemic framework of social work practice
• A vibrant place and Service to work with and a diverse community
• Strong commitment to partnership working with our Local Authority colleagues
• Commitment to Personal Development

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

SWCHTF

We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together programme. We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.