Equality Statement

We want our staff and management teams to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve in Walsall, and in Children’s Social Care we are committed to promoting equality and anti-discriminatory practice.

We welcome applications from people of all cultures, races, ethnicities and religions, of different genders, ages, sexual orientations, disabled applicants, and recognise unique perspectives and contributions.

Working for Walsall Children’s Social Care

Walsall is a great place to practice Social Work. We strive to provide the best services and outcomes for our children, young people and families, and this has just been recognised by Ofsted who have graded us as GOOD!

Ofsted told us that: ‘There is a strong corporate commitment and investment in children’s services from the chief executive, lead member and other members to implement Walsall Council’s priorities for children. As a result, there is tangible progress and benefits for children, their families and the workforce. There has been a significant reduction in social work caseloads so social workers can spend more time with children and their families. Workforce stability is good and results in fewer changes of social workers for children’.

To achieve this we try to keep a resolute focus on workloads. Our current workload average is 13.3% per full-time Social Worker.

We have introduced Family Safeguarding Model, where Social Workers work alongside specialist adult practitioners with the aim of keeping children safe in their families through providing timely help, protection and support. The model has been in place for over a year and we are really starting to see the difference, with Ofsted reporting that they saw exceptional practice from social workers, which helps children’s experience improve and supports families to make positive improvements in their lives.  As a result of this, our numbers of children supported by a child protection plan have reduced by half and children entering care have reduced by 30%. This is just one of a number of new and innovative approaches we are implementing to do things differently.

We have significantly improved our workforce stability, and we would like you to join our increasingly settled, permanent staff group. Our staff tell us things are improving, in our 2021 Health Check Survey 93% of staff said they feel positive about working for Walsall. Feedback was that this was especially because we have a small community feeling here in Walsall, and staff feel part of a team and supported by their managers and Senior Managers.

For our Social Workers to be able to support children and young people and keep them safe, they need feel safe and supported. We have just launched a new Workforce and Wellbeing Strategy to put wellbeing at the heart of everything we do. As part of this we are trialling clinical supervision for our Social Workers and Team Mangers in partnership with The Child Psychology Service, as part of an enhanced wellbeing programme for all staff.

We have a comprehensive career development offer; from our ASYE programme which is considered an example of good practice, to our core offer for all Social Workers and our Practice Educator and Team Manager Programmes, there are lots of opportunities to develop and progress your social work career. As practitioners gain experience, they are also able to access specialist training: for example in becoming Practice Leads with the Centre for Expertise in Child Sexual Abuse, completing Achieving Best Evidence training, or ongoing Restorative Practice coaching.

We offer flexible working, with a hybrid approach of home working and office based working to maintain our team support and culture.

We also have a comprehensive career development offer: from our ASYE programme – considered an example of good practice, to our Core Offer for all Social Workers, Practice Educator and Team Manager Programmes. As practitioners gain experience, they are also able to access specialist training: for example in our Practice Leads with Centre for Expertise in Child Sexual Abuse, Achieving Best Evidence training, and Restorative Practice coaching.

This is a great time to join us – get in touch to find out more: PracticeDevelopmentHub@walsall.gov.uk

Read our full Inspection Report and feedback here: Ofsted | Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council

The Role – Group Manager for Quality of Practice

We are looking for a Group Manager for Quality of Practice. This role is integral to the development of practice across Children’s Social Care, and will play a key role in managing the Safeguarding and Review Service as well as leading on the continuing development of Walsall’s Quality of Practice framework.

As Group Manager for Quality of Practice you will be the responsible manager for the Safeguarding and Review Service. You will work closely with the Principal Independent Reviewing Officer, and together will provide line management for the Child Protection Conference Chairs and Independent Reviewing Officers, as well as managing the work undertaken by the service. You will lead on making sure that the work undertaken by the Safeguarding and Review Service drives outcomes for children, young people and families. To do this, you will develop effective working relationships with other services whilst offering restorative, respectful challenge and scrutiny of practice. Further, the role is about using the understanding of practice held by the service to inform wider practice and service development and strategic thinking across Children’s Services.

This Group Manager post will be the professional lead for the quality of practice framework in Children’s Social Care. You will lead on the continuing development of the Child’s Journey Audit Framework, and the sharing of the learning and development activity which follows from these audits. This will be part of a wider approach that draws together different types of audit, feedback and learning activity to provide a holistic framework for understand the ways we work with children, young people and families, and using this insight to improve the practice and outcomes. You will also be responsible for identified key areas of audit and learning, and providing regular reports to Children’s Social Care SMT and Children’s Services Performance Board.

The post holder will also hold key areas of responsibility for service and practice development, including the promotion of children’s and young people’s voices and feedback, participation, advocacy and Independent Visiting.

Walsall Council takes seriously the responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all the children and young people entrusted to our care and it is our expectation that all staff will share this commitment. Completion of an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check is a requirement for working with children and young people. Applicants appointed to posts that require an enhanced DBS clearance must declare any periods of time that they have lived, studied or worked abroad and be prepared to provide an Overseas Criminal Records Certificate (OCRC) or a Statement of Good Conduct (SOGC) relating to anytime they were overseas.

The post holder must have a social work qualification or equivalent and must be registered with the Social Work England.

For a discussion about this role please contact antony.schaffarczyk@walsall.gov.uk

View Job Description & Employee Specification

This post is covered by the Government’s Code of Practice on the English Language Fluency Duty for public sector workers.  The post holder will be required to communicate verbally with customers and provide advice and/or information in accurate spoken English.