Assistant Head Of Service Internal

At the London Borough of Barnet we are ambitious for our children and families. We are committed to delivering an integrated childcentred and relational approach to Family Help and safeguarding focused on improving outcomes through excellent practice strong partnerships and a culture that values innovation learning and reflective leadership.

The Assistant Head of Service for Assessment Intervention and Planning will play a key role in supporting Barnets delivery of the Childrens Social Care Reforms and the development of an integrated Family Help model. Working collaboratively with the Head of Service and other senior leaders the postholder will contribute to the realignment of Assessment Intervention and Planning into a single coherent Family Help service that provides the right help at the right time through consistent relational practice with children and families.

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team in Family Services you will provide strategic and operational leadership across these functions supporting the transition to a unified Family Help service. You will ensure practice is proportionate restorative and inclusive with a strong focus on strengthening families reducing unnecessary escalation and improving timely outcomes for children.

In collaboration with senior colleagues you will support the delivery of highquality costeffective social care services by contributing to clear standards and promoting effective joint working with partners and other agencies. You will provide strong relational and system leadership across multiagency partners to embed a shared Family Help approach including effective thresholds pathways and joint decisionmaking that improve the experience of children and families in Barnet.

You will be a qualified and registered social worker with experience of managing complex services including oversight of projects and budgets. This is an opportunity for an aspiring senior leader who can build on strong foundations drive highquality service delivery compliance and create the conditions for the childrens workforce to thrive.

You will have a strong track record of achieving positive outcomes for children and young people and be passionate about working alongside families. You will value childrens lived experience actively seek feedback and promote coproduction in the development of services policies and plans.

You will be comfortable leading services through change maintaining strong operational grip whilst contributing to longerterm transformation. You will understand the direction of travel for childrens social care and be motivated to translate reform ambition into sustainable highquality frontline practice working collaboratively across the Barnet Family Services system and other partners.

You will:

• Have excellent knowledge of relevant legislative frameworks government guidance policies and procedures relating to Children and Families.

• Have a clear understanding of the purpose and direction of the Childrens Social Care Reforms including the evidence values and practice principles that underpin them and how these translate into effective frontline practice.

• Have experience of driving workforce development activities leading to improvements in the quality of practice.
• Have detailed knowledge of government guidelines and standards that support the delivery of safe high quality service.
• Have knowledge of professional codes of practice that underpin the Childrens Workforce in statutory and early help settings.
• Have a track record of effectively delivering safe services within a multi-agency framework which has delivered excellent outcomes.
• Have a proven track record of working collaboratively with senior managers in childrens services and in partnership with other agencies.
• Be passionate about engaging children young people and their families obtaining feedback listening to their ideas and promoting co-production of services policies and plans.