Salary: £56,475 to £61,133
Location: The Council House
Hours: 37 hours a week
Closing Date: 14 June 2026
Contract Type: Fixed Term for 12 Months
About the Role
Derby City Council is seeking an experienced and motivated Team Manager to lead a new, innovative team of Social Workers and Children’s Practitioners. This team will focus on safely:
- Reunifying children with their birth families, and
- Supporting children to exit care through legal routes such as Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs) and Child Arrangements Orders,
in line with the outcomes contained within the Children’s Social Care National Framework and reform programme (Families First for Children).
You will ensure that all practice meets regulatory requirements and is firmly rooted in Derby Children’s Social Care’s strengths-based practice model, placing children and families at the centre of all decision-making.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead, manage and support a team of Social Workers and Children’s Practitioners working with children who may return home or exit care through legal orders.
- Ensure high-quality assessment, planning and interventions which promote safe permanency and stability for children.
- Oversee work relating to care proceedings, i.e. discharge of Care Orders and applications for SGOs, Child Arrangements Orders and other permanency pathways.
- Drive a culture of strengths-based, solution-focused and child-centred practice.
- Maintain robust quality assurance and performance management systems, ensuring practice is of a consistently high standard and impact of the work of the team is clearly understood across the organisation.
- Provide regular, reflective supervision and support the professional development of practitioners within the team.
- Ensure compliance with statutory requirements, regulatory frameworks and local policies, including safeguarding duties.
- Work collaboratively with children, families, carers, partners and the wider children’s services system to achieve positive outcomes.
- Contribute to the implementation of Children’s Social Care reforms locally, developing and embedding new ways of working.
About You
You will be an ambitious, reflective and compassionate leader, committed to improving outcomes for children and families. You will bring both strong professional practice knowledge and the ability to inspire and develop others.
Essential qualifications and registration
- A recognised Social Work qualification (e.g. BA, MA, DipSW or equivalent).
- Social Work England registration.
Essential experience
- Substantial post-qualifying experience in front-line children’s social work.
- Direct experience of care proceedings and court-related work.
- Experience in a leadership and/or management role within Children’s Social Care (e.g. Senior Social Worker, Practice Supervisor, Assistant Team Manager, or equivalent).
- Experience of working to secure permanency for children (e.g. reunification, SGOs, Child Arrangements Orders, long-term fostering).
Knowledge, skills and attributes
- Strong understanding of safeguarding and key statutory guidance (e.g. Children Act 1989/2004, Working Together to Safeguard Children).
- Clear knowledge of regulatory frameworks, care planning and permanence planning.
- Demonstrable experience of quality assurance and performance management in social work services.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build effective relationships with children, families, carers and partner agencies.
- Proven ability to make sound, evidence-based decisions, balancing risk and protective factors.
- Solution-focused, resilient and able to manage complexity and competing demands.
- Strong commitment to strengths-based, child-centred practice and to working in partnership with families.
- Ability to lead and contribute to service development and innovation.
What We Offer
- The opportunity to lead an innovative and progressive team at the forefront of Derby’s Children’s Social Care reforms.
- A supportive management and peer network, with access to reflective supervision and professional development.
- Training and development opportunities to support your leadership journey.
- A commitment to staff wellbeing and a positive, inclusive workplace culture.
For an informal discussion about the role, please contact:
Johanna Barker Deputy Head of Service email
[email protected] to arrange a telephone call
Derby 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. Successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and other relevant pre-employment checks.
We value diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community.
Who We Are
Here at Derby City Council, we’re dedicated to delivering nearly 250 first-class services to citizens and businesses in the heart of the Midlands. People are at the centre of all that we do, and we have an outstanding track record of recruiting and developing talented individuals by providing them with varied and fulfilling career opportunities. Find out more about what it’s like to work for us.
What We Offer
You too could be part of something brilliant by becoming a colleague at Derby City Council; in addition to making a difference to the lives of people across the city, you’ll also receive:
- Flexible work/life balance scheme (depending on your role)
- Hybrid working (depending on your role)
- Modern office environment (depending on your job location)
- Continued professional development opportunities & career conversations
- 27 days annual leave (rising to 32 days after 5 years' service), plus bank holidays (depending on contract)
- Local Government Pension Scheme (depending on contract)
- Team Derby Rewards – retail and leisure discounts
- Tusker Car Benefit Scheme
- Cycle2Work Scheme & free cycle training
- Employee Assistance Programme, Wellbeing Calendar and Support
- Access to our Equality Employee Networks – LGBTQ+, Disabled Employee Network & Carers and our Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Employee Support Network and Neurodiversity Network
- Support for colleagues who are carers
Next Steps
If you would like to apply for this vacancy via an application form, please submit an application via the Derby City Council website.
The closing date for this vacancy is at midnight on 14 June 2026. Any applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.
Interviews will be held: 7th July 2026
If you would prefer to apply for this job using your CV, then please download the attached Declaration Form and send it to
[email protected]. Without a completed declaration form, your application will not be accepted. We also encourage you to download the Equalities Form and return this to
[email protected] however this is optional and will not affect your application.
Important Information
Links to the full Job Description and Person Specification are below.
As part of our safer recruitment checks the successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.
All employees will normally be appointed to the minimum of the grade for the job.
Before you complete your application, please read our guidance on filling in your application form.
Remember to align your personal statement to the essential criteria in the Person Specification.
Please be aware that where there are colleagues within the organisation who are 'at risk' of redundancy, requirements to redeploy to another suitable role will apply and take priority.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
We are a fair and inclusive employer and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds. We recruit for diversity and value difference. As many of our roles can now be home-based, we are able to offer more opportunities for people who need this facility.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. If you are a disabled person, you have the choice to apply under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme so long as you demonstrate that you meet the essential requirements for the job.
We feel it is essential that we recruit a talented workforce that is as diverse as the community we work for.
Please let us know of any individual requirements or reasonable adjustments you may have during the application, interview, or onboarding process and we’ll do all we can to help. We strongly believe in social understanding of disability and for us it’s all about removing barriers to equality.
If you have any questions regarding this vacancy or are having difficulty applying, please contact our Recruitment Team on 01332 640844 (Relay UK - 18001 01332 640 844) or at
[email protected]https://www.derby.gov.uk/signing-service/
