Job Title: Head of LAC

Grade: SM2
Salary: Circa £71k and a relocation package of up to £8k
Location: Within North Yorkshire County. The service very much promotes flexible working with the ability to work remotely from other bases, as well as working from home. Exceptional technology, providing all the equipment to support home based working

Hours: Full-time

Contract: Permanent 

To achieve a children and young people’s centred approach we have an employee centred approach to learning, professional development and transparent leadership. As a result, North Yorkshire has a reputation for delivering high quality services. Our Children and Young People’s Service is nationally recognised for excellence. 

We are proud of our successful Ofsted outcomes and award winning innovation programmes and we take a lead in sharing best practice nationally. A recent Local Government Association peer review referred to our Children’s Services as outstanding and providing a beacon for other authorities grappling with the challenges of delivering excellent outcomes for families and children while operating under a constrained budget. 

We are an authority which is financially stable as a result of our grip on performance and resources. Our ability to spend the Yorkshire pound astutely allows you to forge forward with innovative practice. Beyond having a strong track record and national recognition, we are a learning organisation and we truly understand the importance of evolving and creating an inclusive environment for social work to flourish. 


About the role 

You will be passionate and aspirational for the children and families throughout North Yorkshire and providing an outstanding service to all.

You will be a key member of an ambitious and experienced strategic operational management team within the Children and Families Service and be responsible for (but not limited to):

• Ensuring delivery of the functional service area in accordance with current legislative requirements, all relevant policies and procedures and to agreed performance targets;
• Communicating to diverse stakeholder groups (internal and external i.e. internally, Children’s Social Care Teams, Education, Adult Social Care externally PCT, CAMHS, Ofsted) to influence and persuade in order to build continuous commitment to service development and performance;
• Work effectively to promote best outcomes for Children and Families and ensure effective collaboration with other stakeholders such as schools;
• Work closely with other senior managers to ensure the Children and Young People’s Service works seamlessly to deliver the best possible outcomes to Children & Families through a shared vision, strategy and practice
• Be responsible for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people that you are responsible for and come into contact with
• Drive a culture of “working with” families through a strengths based model of practice 

You will be welcomed and supported by a truly inspirational team and you can be safe in the knowledge that you have a rock solid foundation to make your mark and enjoy both personal and professional success. 

About you

We are now looking for an insightful leader, who is ambitious, confident and resilient in challenging practice and holding staff and each other to account within a supportive learning culture. Working successfully with key stakeholders is second nature to you and your personal drive will take key service managers with us; to realise our ambition. As you already know what excellent practice looks like, you exude confidence in using your personal professional practice to effect any change required. 

You will constantly strive for the highest quality, cutting edge children’s social care to be delivered across North Yorkshire, supporting and protecting children and young people in the best possible way. You can work at scale, adapt to the challenges and ensure consistency when working at a distance, maintaining visibility across your teams.  Your career with us will mean much more than just a salary. There is great opportunity here to get to grips with some really exciting, innovative, high impact and ground breaking work. 

You will receive the very best support, working alongside some talented and inspirational people. Benefits - we will provide you with training and learning in areas such as systemic practice, signs of safety and the internationally recognised model of family finding. We will support you with over £5,000 of development in your first year with us. Investment in your continuous professional development continues throughout your career with us. A number of Heads of Service across North Yorkshire have used their experience to transition into senior regional and national roles.

What we can offer

As well as the above, we can also offer an attractive benefits package. This will include; flexible working hours, a local government pension scheme, family friendly leave, salary sacrifice, learning and development packages, employee discount benefits, opportunities for career progression working across a diverse client base and access to a range of technologies to support modern and agile ways of working. 

The role has a flexible base; as a council we are very much committed to encouraging flexible working for our employees, arranged around the demands of the role. You can work from bases across the county as well as working from home. Our head office is in Northallerton, therefore visibility here and throughout the county is required in this leadership role. If you share our passion to deliver improved outcomes for children, we would really like to hear from you. 

Visit our dedicated Campaign page for further details on our service.

Contact us 

For an informal discussion, please contact Martin Kelly, Assistant Director - Children and Young People's Service, on 01609 536425 / 07568 132 999 or email Martin.Kelly@northyorks.gov.uk


Key dates 

Closing date: 13^th December 2020