Corporate Director - Care & Protection

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About The Role

Dorset Council is at the forefront of innovation in local government, taking bold steps to transform public services. We are a forward-thinking local authority committed to delivering exemplary services for children, young people, and families.

As part of our ambitious journey, we are focused on strengthening Dorset's position regionally and nationally while creating a sustainable, inclusive, and vibrant environment for our residents. We are committed to delivering outstanding public services, building a dynamic economy, and ensuring Dorset is a place where people can live, work, learn, and thrive. We believe in the potential of our people to positively impact both our organisation and the communities we serve.

Our integrated model unites services across 6 locality teams, supported by a central team of specialists. This structure allows us to deliver on key priorities, which include:

• Best Start in Life
• Young and Thriving
• Good Care Provision
• The Best Education for All
• Delivering Locally
• Best Place to Live
• Safe at Home and in the Community

The Opportunity

We are seeking an inspirational leader to join us as the Corporate Director - Children's Care and Protection. In this pivotal role, you will lead and shape Dorset's Children's Care and Protection Service, driving innovation and ensuring that all services meet the needs of children, young people, and families

Reporting to the Executive Director of People - Children, you will ensure high-quality services for children and families in alignment with national legislative frameworks and promoting a culture of continuous improvement and excellence.

This includes key areas such as safeguarding, social work, adoption services, and early help. Your role will also cover:

• Birth to Settled Adulthood: Seamlessly integrating with Adult Services and the Integrated Care System to improve service delivery.
• Children in Care: Keeping children within Dorset wherever possible and providing leadership to our residential teams.
• Care Leavers: Nurturing innovative projects to meet the needs of care leavers and ensuring robust support.
• Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC): Leading a specialist team to provide the highest quality care.
• Children's Advice and Duty (ChAD): Managing our multi-disciplinary 'front door' service to assist with safeguarding enquiries.
• Dorset Combined Youth Justice Service: Offering leadership and oversight in partnership with external agencies.
• Aspire Adoption: Promoting exceptional partnership services in adoption.
• Locality Teams: Inspiring East and Purbeck, Dorchester, and West Locality teams to foster an aspirational culture for children and families.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic development and delivery of the Children's Care and Protection Service.
• Ensure effective safeguarding and protection for children and families at all levels of need.
• Collaborate with health, education, and police partners to deliver integrated services.
• Work closely with the Directorate Leadership Team and Elected Members to deliver our vision and strategic direction.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and diverse culture of excellence, enabling flexible and responsive ways of working.
• Act as a strategic change maker, driving service transformation.
• Manage budgets effectively, ensuring resources are allocated efficiently and aligned with service goals.

About You

To excel in this role, you will be a visionary and experienced senior leader with a strong background in children's social care and protection. You will have extensive experience of managing complex safeguarding services, as well as a deep understanding of SEND and and multi-agency collaboration.

Essential Qualifications and Skills

• Degree level education. Relevant professional qualifications or certifications in social work, or a related field
• Qualified Social Worker with registration or eligibility for registration with Social Work England.
• Significant strategic experience in a leadership role within Children's Services Social Care.
• In-depth knowledge of relevant legislative frameworks and statutory requirements.
• Proven track record in strategic planning, operational management, and stakeholder engagement.
• Strong budget management skills and experience in delivering efficiencies.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate teams.

Why Join Us?

This is an exciting opportunity to join a forward-thinking, dynamic council, committed to improving outcomes for children and families in Dorset. As part of our team, you will help shape the future of public services in Dorset and make a lasting impact on the lives of children and young people.

Further Information

Application Process:

Please contact Lateefah Sulaiman, HR Business Partner, [email protected] or 01305221621 to arrange a short telephone conversation with Paul Dempsey for more details regarding this role.

Interview Date:

Interviews will be held on 28th October 2024.

About Us

This position involves working with children and/or vulnerable adults and will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check. Please see our policy on the employment of ex-offenders.

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 .

Dorset Council: A great place to work.

We're passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.

At Dorset Council we:

• provide more than 450 services to over 380,000 residents

• have ambitious aspirations

• are excited about our future

• care about Dorset and all the people who live here

• know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success

You will:

• have access to a range of employee benefits

• be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed

• have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression

We are challenging ourselves to become a more diverse and inclusive organisation. We recognise that recruitment and inclusion of individuals with diverse skills, perspectives and backgrounds will bring real strength to the council and our communities. We have a commitment to equality and welcome applications from everyone.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.

We are keen to make our interviews accessible. Let us know on your job application if you have a disability and need any reasonable adjustments.

We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours . We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.

If appointed, the personal information we collect from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found at https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn .

This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.

We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.

Find out more about how to apply .