Job Details:
Salary range: £54,684 - £60,795 per annum
Work location: 101 Orchardson Street, London, NW8 8EA
Hours per week: 36
Contract type: Permanent
Vetting requirements: Enhanced DBS Check
Closing date: 12 February 2025
Interview date: 14 February 2025
About Us:
THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF KAKOLI’S PASSION AND DRIVE
Children’s Services in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where inspirational people like Kakoli are dedicated to encouraging everyone they work with to be the very best they can be.
Ever since she was a child, Kakoli has believed that children are the ones who’ll change the world for the better. Who’ll create the future we all wish for. And she always knew her calling was to get on the front line and help those who might not be as fortunate as herself.
Driven and passionate about making a difference, she first joined Westminster as a Social Work Assistant, and her managers immediately saw she had huge potential, so they encouraged her to apply to study for a degree in social work. She passed with flying colours, and over the next fourteen years worked as a frontline Social Worker, a Senior Social Worker, a Deputy Service Manager and is now one of our Service Managers.
Kakoli’s vision is as clear now as it was all those years ago – to encourage and support children, and help them grow in safe, vibrant communities. Her achievements are many, but she’s most proud of the fact that these days Westminster doesn’t ‘do things for families’ but ‘does things with families’. And she believes this huge but subtle difference to the way we work has allowed thousands of children in Westminster to fulfil their potential and live their dreams.
The Role:
As a Deputy Service Manager with our Looked After Children and Leaving Care Service, you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster’s success. Focused on making a positive difference to the lives of everyone we look after, you’ll help to deliver compassionate, high-quality and focused services that empower children and young people to thrive, both in care and as they move towards living fulfilled, independent lives.
Championing best practice as you work collaboratively with a number of multi-agency partners, your responsibilities will vary according to the children’s service area you’re appointed to. However, you can expect to lead and inspire a core group of social workers, senior practitioners and other specialist staff and support workers in the day-to-day delivery of our vital services. And you’ll also take overall responsibility for safeguarding, care planning and case management in line with local and national policy and statutory guidance.
Committed to providing strong leadership, assisting with the development of policy and strategy, and ensuring the service we provide is effective, adapts to change and delivers positive outcomes for the people we work with, you’ll also ensure we deliver good value for our communities. In addition, we’ll expect you to take responsibility for the performance and sickness management of the colleagues you line manage, as well as their personal and professional development.
Please refer to the Job Description for more information.
About You:
With a CQSW or post graduate Diploma in Social Work, or an equivalent professional qualification, you’ll have an enhanced DBS check, and a systemic practice and/or systemic supervision qualification would be desirable. We’ll expect you to have managed social work services for children, young people and families, and possess well developed experience of financial management, leading multi-disciplinary teams, the strategic planning of services and good knowledge of legislation, guidance and research as it relates to looked after children and care leavers.
Your analytical and strategic skills will allow you to understand the requirements of relevant legislation and guidance, and translate these into a service suited to local circumstances. Capable of setting targets and monitoring your team’s achievements, and of managing and implementing change for each team member, you’ll be skilled at establishing, monitoring and controlling operational budgets, and of establishing systems of quality assurance.
You should be ready to use your superb interpersonal abilities as you develop and motivate everyone in your team, and you’ll be able to communicate articulately and confidently with people at all levels. It’s important that you have well developed analytical and numeracy skills, and be capable of developing and using an appropriate information system. Committed to our equal opportunities policy, you may be required to attend occasional evening meetings, so you should be prepared to occasionally work outside normal office hours.
Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role.
The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a Global Majority (GM), people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities' (formally known as B.A.M.E, Black, Asian and multiple ethnic) background and, while the role is open to all applicants, we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.
What We Offer:
Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster.
Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.
At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit
As a forward thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.
The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.