Service Director - Children's Provider Services

As the Service Director for Children's Provider Services, you will be responsible for providing inspiring leadership of the direct service provision within Children's Services, including children's homes, fostering, and the Regional Adoption Agency. You will also be accountable for the development and delivery of the expansion of Buckinghamshire's residential provision. Some of your tasks and responsibilities will include:

• Leading the expansion of children's homes and the enhanced foster care recruitment and retention offer in Buckinghamshire.


• Providing ongoing leadership and management oversight of 17 children's homes.


• Managing the Local Authority Designated Officer, coordinating responses to allegations of abuse by professionals on children.


• Providing leadership management and continuous improvement of fostering recruitment and retention.


• Contributing to the Children's Services leadership team's ambition to be good for children in Buckinghamshire.
  
  Are you ready to make a significant impact on the lives of children and families? We are seeking a dynamic and experienced leader for the role of Service Director - Children's Provider Services. This new exciting pivotal position will drive transformational change across the county. Responsibilities will include spearheading the expansion of our Children's Residential Home Programme, leading and championing our recently launched fostering retention and recruitment campaign and driving forward the work of our recently established Regional Adoption Agency.


This role offers an outstanding opportunity to be part of something bigger. We are seeking an individual who possesses a unique combination of experience in children's services and proven expertise of delivering at pace within a large, complex local authority. This is more than a job; it's a chance to make a difference and shape the future of our current and future generations in Buckinghamshire., We are looking for a candidate with substantial experience of leading Children's Services for Looked After Children, experience of working as a Senior Leader in a large local authority, and experience of managing a large budget and managing conflicting priorities. The successful candidate will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to innovate in a complex and challenging context. You should also have extensive and comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the national policy context, regulatory environment, financial legislation, and major issues facing the functional.

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally., We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are - Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture


• the chance to really make a difference to those around you


• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops


• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group


• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us


• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events


At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that's why we're working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it's important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Buckinghamshire is a successful, growing place with fantastic natural assets, a highly productive economy and many resourceful and thriving communities. However, we are far from complacent and our new and ambitious unitary authority is well placed to tackle the challenges associated with growth, an aging population, climate change and inequalities in both opportunities and outcomes - particularly for our children and young people.

Children's Services is on an improvement journey and as our very recent Ofsted report shows, we have continued to improve despite the pressures of the pandemic and have built solid foundations for future success. Relationships with partners are strong and our collective response to the pandemic has strengthened and deepened our work together.

We have a big, ambitious agenda for Buckinghamshire, and our teams work collaboratively and at pace to make a positive difference to the lives of children and young people across the county.

We are looking for talented and driven individuals to help us achieve the best outcomes for our children, young people and families in Buckinghamshire. Our key priorities include continuing to protect vulnerable children and young people from harm, whilst sustaining an environment where social work practice can thrive. Through our vital work with our partners, including The Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Childrens Partnership, we continue to improve our collective response to children and young people who have been exposed to domestic abuse, exploitation, substance misuse and mental health issues.

No matter what role you take on in our Children's services, you will be part of a team who is dedicated to supporting children and their families to achieve their full potential.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions


• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).


For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled 'Exceptions Order')., Hard work and success deserves recognition. That's why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. We also offer a salary sacrifice personal car lease scheme to those who are eligible and have passed their probation period. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.