Childrens Assistant Transformation Manager

Job Introduction

This starting salary for this role is £40,296 per annum, based on a 36 hour working week.

We have an Assistant Transformation Manager (Assistant Consultant) role available which is offered as 12 month fixed term contract to support our Childrens, Families and Lifelong Learning Directorate with focused programmes of work, working with services to understand problems, identify root causes and design solutions.

This role offers hybrid working with an expectation that at least two days per week will be spent in locations across Surrey. This includes one day a week with the team who are based in our Woking office, with another spent in Surrey dependent on business requirements.

Rewards and Benefits

• 26 days’ holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years’ service. 
• Buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave 
• Up to 5 days of carer’s leave per year 
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) supporting health and wellbeing 
• 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 
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave 

About Us

Our guiding principle, ‘No One Left Behind’, is at the heart of everything we do in Surrey. It shapes our priority objectives and the way we deliver services. The Children, Families and Lifelong Learning (CFLL) Directorate is committed to investing in internal transformation teams. These teams are crucial in driving high-impact changes in Children’s Social Care (CSC) and will spearhead various projects aimed at improving service delivery and efficiency, ensuring we stay true to our guiding principle. 

The transformation teams are dedicated to shaping, driving, and facilitating sustainable change and improvement for children in Surrey. By partnering with, challenging, and supporting our stakeholders, we strive to achieve better outcomes for children and young people, against a challenging financial context.

We are looking for a transformation professional with previous experience / understanding of  financial and management consultancy tools and techniques in Children’s Social Care. The Assistant Transformation Manager (Assistant Consultant) is a new role in our transformation structures and has been developed so that we can directly utilise consultancy skills and expertise within our existing teams of programme and project management professionals. This inclusion enables us to have a blended skill set in our service and work with operational and front line teams directly with best effect. 

Our Children’s Social Care programme supports early interventions to prevent the escalation of need and aims to place children within 20 miles of Surrey for better outcomes through in-house residential and fostering provision.

To support you in your overall insight into our transformation role with Surrey please see below some helpful links for further reading and context:

• Corporate Parenting Strategy- Corporate Parenting Strategy 2023-25
• Continuum of support- Item 5 - 25-26 Final Budget Report and MTFS.pdf
• Surrey Safety Valve Agreement - Surrey safety valve agreement 2021-2022 updated 
• Surrey Local Area SEND Partnership Improvement Plan - Local Area SEND Strategic Improvement Plan 
• Surrey Inclusion and Additional Needs Partnership Strategy Response to Local Area SEND Inspection Report – Improvement Plan | Surrey Local Offer 

About the Role

As an Assistant Transformation Manager (Assistant Consultant) your role will be supporting the Transformation Manager in a consultancy capacity with identifying the root causes of problems within the service and working to form and implement solutions to these issues. 

Through your consultancy work and approach, you will create outcomes that are owned by the service and fit for purpose. For Children’s Social Care transformation, this means ensuring that we are working with our partners to intervene at the earliest opportunity to prevent escalation of need and where it is appropriate for a child to come into our care, that we have suitable residential and fostering placements within Surrey.

A key part of the role will be relationship building, influencing and negotiating. We’re looking for strong influencers to develop and maintain strong and effective relationships across departments, programme teams, customers and key external partners. Our external partners include health, schools, police, District and Borough councils and the Voluntary and Community Sector. 

Whilst you will mainly be supporting the Transformation Manager there may the opportunity to lead on more focused projects within larger transformational programmes making this a great opportunity for someone looking for that next step in their careers. We are looking for motivated individuals who can bring their consultancy and transformation expertise in leading large scale and complex change for the Children’s Social Care.

Shortlisting Criteria 

1. Relevant project management qualification and/or able to evidence knowledge and understanding of project management. 
2. Strong research skills, able to use innovative ways to access data and information required. 
3. Numerical skills including but not limited to basic arithmetic and percentages, ratios and proportions and data interpretation.
4. Experience of identifying, collating and using best practice and benchmarking complex data to improve services. 
5. An ability to analyse and present complex data to individuals and groups in a way that makes it relatable and delivers the intended impact.
6. Good interpersonal skills and communication with an ability to tailor your delivery depending on stakeholders. 

To apply you will need to upload your CV and answer the following questions:

1. Please provide an example of a transformation project you led in a consultancy capacity, detailing the challenges you faced, any strategies you used, and the measurable outcomes achieved?
2. Can you describe a time when you used data to support a change to a service? Please include the changes you proposed, the consultancy skills you used and the impact your changes had. 
3. Can you give an example of a time you used your interpersonal skills to work with diverse stakeholders, tailoring your communication to meet their needs? What was the intended outcome, and did you achieve it?

Contact Us

Please contact us for any questions relating to role requirements, flexible working requests, transferable skills or barriers to employment. 

For an informal discussion about these roles please email Hayley.maspero@surreycc.gov.uk

The job advert closes at 23:59 on Sunday the 27^rd of April 2025.

Interviews are planned for the 6^th, 7th and 8th of May 2025 and will be held in person at our Woking office.

There will be a numeracy and scenario assessment as part of the interview.  It is anticipated that the assessment and interview process will take approximately an hour and thirty minutes. 

 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. You will be expected to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK and access to a vehicle and be willing to travel across a wide geographical area to attend stakeholder meetings as required. Reasonable adjustments where needed will be made for successful applicants who have a disability or long-term health condition to enable them to fulfill 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 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 applicants 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.