Team Manager (MACPT)

Team Manager (Multi-Agency Child Protection Team)

PO7: £61,686 pa rising in annual increments to £64,938 pa incl. LW

Fixed Term / Secondment Opportunity for 12 months

Full Time, Hybrid Working 

Join Lambeth Children’s Services

Be part of an ambitious Children’s Social Care service improving outcomes for children and families.

The London Borough of Lambeth is embarking on an exciting period of change as we deliver a series of ambitious Children’s Reforms Programmes – including Families First, Best Start Family Hubs, Best Start in Life and SEND Reforms. We strive to help every child thrive and through the reforms we are reshaping our future support for children, young people and families across the borough.

As part of the Families First Programme, we are building a practice system where relationships are key, where we work alongside children and families encouraging family led decision making and offering multi-disciplinary help when its needed.  We are building on our strengths to further improve our approach to child protection, remodelling our system to create a dedicated Multi-Agency Child Protection Service (MACPS), to have the lead role in keeping children and adolescents safe.
Are you an experienced team manager with the expertise, confidence and professional curiosity to oversee a team of practitioners leading complex safeguarding decision-making? Lambeth Council is seeking  an experience team manager to join our Multi-Agency Child Protection Team and play a central role in strengthening statutory child protection practice across Children’s Services.

This is a specialist role for a qualified and registered social worker with management experience who can provide expert leadership across the team of 7 LCPP’s and 4 multi-agency leads (Health, Police, Education and ROTH), overseeing thresholds and supporting practice across Section 47 child protection enquiries, strategy discussions, child protection conferences and multi-agency safeguarding activity. Working alongside partners from police, health, education and wider children’s services.  You will help to lead and develop the team ensure that children and young people are protected from significant harm and that families receive clear, timely and proportionate intervention.

As the Team Manager, you will provide management oversight and assurances around safeguarding procedures, supporting the team in offering consultations, challenge and guidance to social workers and partner agencies, promoting high-quality analysis, defensible decision-making and child-centred planning. You will bring together the team of practitioners to support high quality work, consistent thresholds, support robust assessment of risk inside and outside the home, and ensure safeguarding responses are relational, trauma-informed, anti-racist, inclusive and proportionate.

About the role

You will manage the  Multi-Agency Child Protection Team, exercising the local authority’s statutory child protection duties in line with the Children Act 1989, the Children Act 2004, Working Together to Safeguard Children, the London Child Protection Procedures and Lambeth’s local safeguarding arrangements.
Key responsibilities will include:

•    Leading and coordinating the team of LCPP’s to oversee Section 47 child protection enquiries across Children’s Services.
•    Ensuring thresholds and consistency in LCPP’s chairing strategy meetings, child protection conferences and other complex multi-agency safeguarding discussions.
•    Ensuring the team is providing expert consultation, guidance and professional challenge to social workers, managers and partner agencies.
•    Supporting LCPP’s to ensure timely, evidence-informed and defensible decision-making where children may be suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm.
•    Ensuring the team is co-producing plans with families that increase protection and safety planning and improve outcomes for children and young people.   
•    Promoting high standards of recording, analysis, information-sharing and quality assurance across the child protection pathway.
•    Modelling relational, strengths-based, trauma-informed and culturally competent practice with children, families and professionals.
•    You will help shape the future of practice in Lambeth and influence how MACPT develops over time
•    Test new ideas and approaches and have your voice heard about what works in practice.

About You

We are looking for a confident and experienced practitioner who can bring professional authority, sound judgement and a strong commitment to child-centred safeguarding.

You will have significant operational experience in statutory child protection and a strong understanding of intra-familial and extra-familial harm, including adolescent exploitation and risk outside the home.

You will be able to demonstrate:

•    A recognised social work qualification and current Social Work England registration.
•    Significant management experience in safeguarding 
•    Detailed knowledge of child protection legislation, statutory guidance, the London Child Protection Procedures and relevant multi-agency safeguarding processes.
•    Experience of chairing or leading complex child protection meetings, including strategy discussions, child protection conferences or risk outside the home meetings.
•    Strong risk analysis, professional curiosity and the ability to hold complexity, uncertainty and multiple hypotheses.
•    The ability to work collaboratively with families and partners while providing clear professional challenge when needed.
•    Be committed to inclusive and culturally competent practice, ensuring anti-discriminatory engagement with children and families.

Closing Date: Sunday 4th October  at midnight 

Short listing will be 5th/6th October 

Interviews will be 12th and 13th  October

MACPT Team Manager  JD.PS

This post requires an enhanced DBS check, satisfactory health and work record, and the ability to travel for business purposes where required. We operate a hybrid working model with office base and work from home and this role requires the majority of time within the borough working closely with children, families, social workers, managers and multi-agency safeguarding partners.

If you are ready to bring expert child protection leadership to a role where your professional judgement, challenge and partnership working will make a direct difference, we would welcome your application.

Further reading: Lead Child Protection Practitioner Standards