Head of Service (Perm) - Adult Social Care - South Essex - (21232)

Contract: Permanent

Working Hours: Full-time

Salary: £57,000 to £65,000 P.A.

Primary Location: Basildon

Closing Date (Period for Applying) - External: 22/03/19 

Job summary and Responsibilities

Essex County Council (ECC) is one of the largest and most dynamic local authorities in the UK, serving a population of 2 million residents, and has a very successful track record of delivering transformational change.  ECC anticipated change was needed in the public sector and has worked to deliver better quality at lower cost.  We have an ambitious transformation agenda – one with the scope to reach every part of the council.  We are changing the way we think, the way we work, and the ways in which we deliver our services.  We are committed to becoming a place where individuals, partners and communities feel proud to play their role and genuinely want to belong.  We’re immensely proud of our flexible working options.

About Essex

Essex County Council recently won Social Work Employer of the Year at the 2018 Social Worker of the Year awards, and we are proud to be leaders in innovation and best practice. At Essex County Council we have a vision to be a county where innovation brings prosperity and we are dedicated to improving the lives of our residents. With a total workforce of around 7,500, Essex County Council is one of the largest county councils in the country and we truly believe our greatest asset is our people. They are fundamentally key to our current and future success.

The opportunity

We’re transforming how we deliver adult social care across the county to help as many adults live the life they want, now and in the future. In line with the Care Act, this means shifting our emphasis to prevention and early intervention. Being one of the largest councils in the country, we have an enormous responsibility but an even bigger opportunity to make a real impact on the people of Essex. We’ve redesigned our organisation structure to reflect our new approach (based on our 4 core principles; Prevention, Early Intervention, Enablement and Safeguarding) and we require committed leaders to deliver our ambitious vision and lead this change from the front.

 Head of Service – Adult Social Care – South Quadrant (Basildon, Brentwood, Billericay areas)

As the Service Manager, you’ll be responsible for operational delivery of Adults Social Care in our South Quadrant which covers Basildon, Billericay, Brentwood, Castlepoint, Rochford and includes two Hospitals (Southend Hospital and Basildon Hospital). You will manage either On-going Support teams or Hospital or Discharge to assess teams, so experience with either area would be beneficial. You will be responsible for teams in the service area, and each team will have a deputy and team manager, helping with operational responsibilities, giving you the necessary time to focus on developing innovative strategies for delivering the best possible outcomes. Each team is multi-disciplined, including social workers, occupational therapists’ senior social workers, senior occupational therapists and community support workers.

You will work with integrated commissioning teams to influence service design and collaborate extensively with a range of internal and external partners on the ground to create a cohesive journey for service users. Joining us now means helping shape a ground-breaking approach to adult social care and making your mark on a transformation that will improve the lives of thousands of people. 

Service/Functional Accountabilities

• Service Managers provide strategic leadership across a thematic/geographic area for delivery of best possible outcomes for vulnerable adults, enabling them to live healthily,  independently safely
• Develop and lead effective local approaches to integrated working with delivery partners and external agencies which achieve successful delivery of targeted services.
• Responsible for delivering change within complex environments to promote and implement new ways of working.
• Implement the Social Care objectives which support the wider aims of supporting adults to age well, measuring success through operational impact.
• Work collaboratively with external operational stakeholders and partnerships to develop innovative approaches through maximising potential opportunities for an integrated approach.
• Working collaboratively with statutory and non-statutory/voluntary agencies ensuring a joined up approach which facilitates the authorisation and purchasing of appropriate services.
• Accountable for working within the statutory legal framework, policy and guidance in line with legislative and organisational standards within the Care Act 2015 (e.g. MCA / DoLs / CHC etc).
• Responsible for the delivery of services within the agreed budget, highlighting risks and issues and non-compliance to agreed contract standards.
• Working collaboratively with Commissioners, external partners and stakeholders to ensure quality solutions meet customer needs / outcomes and use resources effectively.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

Knowledge, skills and experience

• Educated to degree level (i.e. Diploma or degree in social work, CQSW, CSS) or equivalent experience in a related Social / Health care setting and / or to be Qualified Social Worker, Occupational Therapist or Nurse
• Evidence of continuing professional development and demonstrable capability of practice in accordance with current professional standards e.g. professional capability framework, knowledge and skills statement. Current registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a registered social worker or equivalent role.
• Ability to work collaboratively with internal and external partners and stakeholders,  demonstrating breadth of thinking across social care, health, the wider council and system as a whole.
• Significant experience within a social care or health environment, deep understanding of current social care issues and implications for delivery at local level.
• Strong leadership and behavioural skills with the ability to focus on results forging a highly performing and motivated team from diverse backgrounds to achieve objectives.
• Experience of successful delivery within a rapidly changing and ambiguous environment while managing conflicting priorities.
• Proven influencing skills with an ability to pro-actively lead and deliver cultural change to improve quality of service.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency.  Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service.  The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate.  This is an annual subscription and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained.  For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success.

If you have any queries regarding this role, or require anything further, please contact the Essex Recruitment Team on 033 005 83330*

*Calls to this number are charged in the same way as calls to numbers starting 01 or 02, please check with your service provider