Service Leader - Family Support & Safeguarding
| Posting date: | 02 December 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £60,906 to £68,200 per year |
| Additional salary information: | Competitive |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 31 December 2025 |
| Location: | Civic Offices, PO1 2AL |
| Company: | Portsmouth City Council |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | pcc/TP/659/1040 |
Summary
The Service
The Children & Families Service provide social work/care support and intervention with children, young people and their parents/carers. This includes Children in Need of Support, Protection and Care, including Care Leavers, Children with Disabilities and Young People who offend and/or are at risk of exploitation.The service also provides a range of placement options for children who are in the care of the local authority including foster care and residential care, adoption and other care arrangements with Special Guardians and Connect Persons.
About the Role
As Service Leader, you will:
Lead and manage a service of team leaders and social workers working with Children in Need, Child Protection, and Public Law Outline cases, including Children We Care For.
You will ensure all team requirements are met regarding:
- Overseeing statutory compliance, workforce development, performance management, and quality improvement.
- Supervising team leaders and support complex decision-making, including initiating child protection enquiries and considering removal from home when necessary.
- Working collaboratively with partner agencies such as Health, Education, Police, Housing, and voluntary services to deliver integrated support for vulnerable children and families.
- Promoting timely, evidence-based assessments and cost-effective intervention plans that improve safety and well-being.
- Driving service development, budget management, and staff well-being initiatives.
- Championing a restorative, strengths-based, “think family” approach and embed the Family Safeguarding Model across the service.
This is a high-autonomy leadership role requiring strong judgment, creativity, and the ability to influence practice and culture change.
The ideal candidate
We’re looking for an inspirational leader who is passionate about improving outcomes for children and families.
You will need to:
- Hold a Social Work qualification (Diploma/Degree/MSc) and be registered with Social Work England.
- Have substantial experience in children’s social care, including safeguarding and care proceedings.
- Be a confident and competent leader with proven experience in managing teams and driving performance.
- Demonstrate excellent organisational, communication, and analytical skills, with the ability to manage budgets and resources effectively.
- Be collaborative and skilled at bringing together different disciplines and agencies to achieve common goals.
- Have a strong understanding of statutory guidance, local policies, and evidence-based practice.
- Be committed to continuous professional development and able to coach, mentor, and support others.
- Show resilience, creativity, and a “can-do” attitude, with the ability to manage stress and promote staff well-being.
Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.
Working Arrangements:
The expectation is that role is primarily office based
Interviews will be held in January 2026
Application process
We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.
As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the'Who is the Person'points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience.
We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal
We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under our corporate commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.
You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.
About Portsmouth City Council
What we can offer you:
Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.
Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our careers portal homepage: Careers Portal - Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council
Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
DBS Disclosure at Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.
Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk. or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616800