Adolescent Services Team Manager

Job Introduction

“Our service quality and ‘comprehensive improvement programme’ is having an improved impact for children in need or children who are the subject of a child protection plan in Surrey.”- Ofsted- April 2024  

We have a great opportunity to join us as a Team Manager supporting our newly reshaped Adolescent Safeguarding Service based in Weybridge and covering the North Surrey area. 

The salary range for Team Managers is £57,942 - £62,125 per annum. This is inclusive of a market supplement of £5,000.  

We also offer a financial package of up to £6,000 which is payable in 3 instalments across your first 18 months in post for anyone new to Surrey.  

Rewards and Benefits:

• We pay your Social Worker England Registration fee  
• 28 days annual leave, rising to 30 days after 5 years' service (plus bank holidays)  
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave  
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing  
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year  
• Paternity, adoption and dependent's leave  
• A generous local government salary related pension  
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more  
• 2 paid volunteering days per year  
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• Refer a friend payment of £1,000 as a thank you for finding the right Social Worker

A New Way of Working:

Following a recent reshaping of our services, our newly reformed Adolescent Teams have been developed around a partnership model of working, bringing together a range services for young people including those who have challenges with their mental health, have additional needs, go missing, may be involved in serious youth violence and are vulnerable to exploitation including criminal and sexual exploitation.  

Our Adolescent service comprises of 3 locality hubs focused on delivering targeted adolescent services. You will have support from a range of teams in a newly created central adolescent hub to complement the work that you do. This includes Youth Justice, Missing, Edge of Care, Intervention Support, Risk and Intelligence and Youth Offer. The Hub will work flexibly to ensure that incoming work flows to the correct service area and will use data to underpin operational and strategic tasking.   

As part of the latter phase of the safeguarding adolescents model, partnership colleagues from Education, Health, Police and other agencies will join the hubs as part of the commitment towards adolescent services in Surrey.   

Our re-modelled service represents a 21st century opportunity to deliver innovative ways of working to address adolescent risk outside of the home, building relationships with our families and partners so the voices of our young people are heard.   

About the Role:

As a Team Manager within our Adolescent Service, you will:  

• Provide professional leadership and support to ensure the safe practice of your social workers and social care practitioners
• Provide effective workload management in line with service key performance indicators
• Ensure your team are forward-thinking, responsive, and meet the diverse needs of the young people we safeguard, working with them in a strengths-based way.  
• Manage, motivate, and develop your team
• Deputise for your service manager when required to ensure operational effectiveness and consistency in line with service strategies, policies, and procedures
• Help to develop a respectful culture recognising diverse experiences, promoting partnership working, and encouraging family-driven solutions

 Shortlisting Criteria:

To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your application will clearly evidence the following:   

• That you are an experienced social worker with Social Work England Registration.  
• That you are an experienced manager or established senior social worker looking for first team manager role.  
• Skills and experience of supporting adolescents who have significant challenges around their mental health, additional needs, are at risk of exploitation, serious youth violence or other contextual safeguarding risks.  
• How you have supported or developed staff to deliver high quality assessments and interventions with families.      

Surrey Children’s Service provides training to ensure competence and professional development. We will ensure that you receive a full induction and monthly supervision.   

We are motivated to continue with the good work already being done in Surrey as mentioned by Ofsted following their recent visit. We are looking for others who share our ambitions to join us in ensuring children in Surrey are effectively safeguarded and receive the right support at the right time. 

Our Inclusive Approach:

To apply you will need to upload your CV and answer the following questions. (No more than 200 words per question): 

1. Please tell us what has motivated you to apply for this role?  
2. Please tell us about the key skills and experience you will be able to bring to this role.
3. What in your view, are challenges that young people face today? Please tell us how you see the role supporting with them.

Next Steps:

If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to a short first round virtual interview to explore your answers to the above questions (lasting approx. 15- 20 min). If successful following this, you will be invited for an in person interview, allowing you to meet the team, check out your potential office and get a feel for what your journey might look like.

We are committed to inclusive recruitment. That's why, if you're invited to a face-to-face interview, we'll share the themes of the questions with you in advance. This way, you can prepare and feel comfortable, allowing you to confidently discuss your skills and experiences.

Contact us:

Our friendly teams could talk your socks off when it comes to all things Social Work. We'd love to hear from you and find out more about what you're looking for so if you'd like to talk to us please just drop a quick message to cflworkforceteam@surreycc.gov.uk and we'll get a call arranged. We look forward to hearing from you!

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 12th May 2025.

An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.

Surrey has both urban and rural areas and locality based social care workers will be expected to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK, access to a vehicle and be willing to travel across a wide geographical area. Reasonable adjustments where needed will be made for successful applicants who have a disability or long term health condition to enable them to fulfil the requirements of the job. 

Our Values:

Our values are as important as our abilities and shape who we are as an organisation. Discover more about our values.  

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description. Our Life at Surrey handbook also provides insights of the culture at Surrey and how as a valued employee, you can help shape our Council.  

Our Commitment:

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:  

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application  
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form  

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.  We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups. We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

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