Head of Service (Looked After Children and Care Leavers)
| Posting date: | 11 August 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | Competitive |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 10 September 2025 |
| Location: | Bolton, BL2 2JW |
| Company: | inploi |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 75725896 |
Summary
Grade: Senior Head of Service £62,443 to £65,663 per annum plus Essential Car User Allowance up to £963
Contract: Permanent
Essential Requirement: Full Driving Licence
Essential Qualification: Social Work qualified and registered with Social Work England
Unfortunately, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.
If you have completed the GM Elevate (Leadership Development) Programme, please indicate this within the ‘About You’ or ‘Supporting Statement’ section of your application
Ask us about flexible working options to fit with your work/life balance - #HappytoTalkFlexible
The Role
As the head of service for looked after children and care leavers you will be responsible for the line management of the looked after children team managers, staying close team manager and the care leaver team manager. You will deliver against the strategic priorities for all looked after children in Bolton and as the senior lead you will have direct responsibility for monitoring the performance and quality of services delivered to our looked after children
About You
We are on a journey to excellence in Bolton and are investing in additional leadership capacity across Children’s Services. We understand that to deliver excellence for the children of Bolton we require excellent leaders. You will be an experienced manager and able to evidence an ability to translate strategy into delivery, supporting and leading the operational managers to deliver excellent outcomes for children. You will understand the performance data and exceptions for your services and be able to articulate and report on the achievements and challenges facing the teams. You will understand what good practice looks like especially in the fundamentals of assessment and care planning and be able to develop this approach across your management team.
You will need to demonstrate that you are a good communicator both verbally, including through presentation, as well as written skills
You will be abreast of the current national drivers and legislation which will underpin your rationale for service delivery.
You will have relevant management experience including experience of transforming services to deliver better outcomes for children and young people.
In Bolton we value leaders that are kind, reflective, assertive and empathic and above all else we want leaders who care deeply for children and young people and who are driven to create the conditions for them to thrive.
About Us
This is your opportunity to join us at an exciting time as we have strong ambitions for the borough.
Bolton is a great place to work. We are a welcoming organisation that wants to contribute to a place where people feel active, connected and prosperous. We are passionate about improving the outcomes and experience of Bolton people. We want Bolton to be a vibrant place built on strong cohesive communities, successful businesses and healthy, engaged residents.
As an employer we want to thank our employees for their hard work and commitment, by giving them the opportunity to access a range of exclusive rewards and benefits, including discounts and exclusive gym membership prices and salary sacrifice schemes. In addition, we offer a generous annual leave allowance, flexible work opportunities, access to a Pension Scheme, as well as a range of employee wellbeing and support services.
Our Values are really important to us, read all about them below, along with all our great staff benefits, the job description/person specification for the role and the important legal bits, and our Top Tips too.
Ready to apply? Then please click Apply and upload your anonymised CV and supporting statement discussing your relevant skills and experience and explain how you believe they make you a strong fit for this role.
Within Greater Manchester, local authorities have made a commitment to improve the employment opportunities for people with disabilities, care leavers, carers, and ex-military personnel. Please see greater.jobs for further information before you apply.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable adults and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. An Enhanced DBS with check of relevant barred list is therefore required for this post.
This post is a designated customer facing role under the fluency duty and requires a specified level of spoken English as per the person specification.
This organisation has signed up to the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment. That means we will recognise your continuous or ‘unbroken’ service in any Greater Manchester local authority or NHS organisation that has signed the comitment, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service or Greater Manchester Combined Authority, giving you access to our service-related benefits. Please see the home page of greater.jobs for more information.
For more information about working for Bolton Council, please see greater.jobs; for advice and support with your application, contact recruitment@bolton.gov.uk
↗ Documents for DBS
↗ Privacy Notice
↗ Social Worker Benefits
↗ Top Tips
↗ Our Values & Behaviours
↗ Job Description + Person Spec
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