Team Manger - Children's - Social Care Qualified - London

Team Manager – Young People’s Team (YPT)

Service: Children’s Social Care – Young People’s Team
Role: Team Manager
Service Area: Looked After Children / Young People
Age Range: 14–18 years

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced and established Children’s Social Care Team Manager to lead a Young People’s Team supporting young people aged 14–18 who are looked after.

The successful candidate will provide strong professional leadership, management oversight and practice guidance to a team working with young people with a range of complex needs. The team also undertakes joint 16+ homelessness assessments and works with Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC).

The role requires a confident manager who can provide effective oversight of safeguarding, risk, care planning and outcomes while ensuring high-quality social work practice.

Key Responsibilities

Provide effective leadership and management to a team of Social Workers and social care professionals.
Provide regular supervision, case management oversight and professional support to team members.
Ensure high-quality assessments, care planning and interventions for looked-after young people aged 14–18.
Monitor the quality and progress of cases, ensuring statutory duties and timescales are met.
Provide management oversight of safeguarding concerns, risk assessments and complex cases.
Support practitioners to develop effective relationships with young people and promote their voice, wishes and feelings.
Ensure young people receive appropriate support and planning as they prepare for adulthood and independence.
Oversee and contribute to joint 16+ homelessness assessments, working collaboratively with housing and partner services.
Provide management oversight and support in cases involving UASC, ensuring their needs, welfare and safeguarding are appropriately addressed.
Promote effective partnership working with education, health, housing, immigration services, police and other agencies.
Provide professional oversight of cases involving contextual safeguarding and extra-familial harm, including risks within communities and peer groups.
Ensure appropriate responses to risks such as exploitation, criminal exploitation, gang affiliation, missing episodes and other forms of harm outside the home.
Chair and contribute to relevant meetings, reviews and multi-agency discussions.
Monitor team performance and ensure service targets and statutory requirements are achieved.
Support staff development through supervision, reflective practice, training and performance management.
Contribute to service development, quality assurance and continuous improvement.
Ensure accurate recording and case management in accordance with local authority procedures.
Escalate and manage significant risks appropriately, ensuring senior management is kept informed where required.

Essential Experience

The successful candidate will ideally have:

Established Team Manager experience within Children's Social Care.
Experience managing a team working with Looked After Children / young people.
Strong knowledge of safeguarding, risk assessment and statutory children's social care practice.
Experience working with young people aged 14–18.
Experience of 16+ homelessness assessments or working alongside housing services.
Experience working with or managing cases involving UASC.
Strong understanding of care planning and preparing young people for adulthood.
Excellent supervision, leadership and performance management skills.
Experience managing complex and high-risk cases.
Strong multi-agency partnership-working skills.

Desirable Experience

Knowledge and experience of contextual safeguarding.
Experience managing cases involving extra-familial harm.
Understanding of risks associated with child exploitation, county lines, gangs, missing children and peer-on-peer harm.
Experience working with UASC and young people experiencing homelessness.
Experience within a specialist Young People's or Leaving Care Service.
Social Work England registration and a recognised Social Work qualification.

Key Skills