Help us write the next chapter for the children and families in Cheshire East.
We’re reshaping the children’s services from the ground up – investing in people, embedding restorative and relational practice, and building a system shaped by the Families First reforms. These are rare senior leadership opportunities to make a real and lasting difference.
“We really are building something special that will last – and we’d love you to be part of it” - Dawn Godfrey, Executive Director of Children’s Services
Together for Families has an exciting opportunity for a Head of Service – Integrated Front Door, based at Delamere House, Crewe.
Every child's journey through our system begins here. This is your chance to lead the front door with the clarity, compassion and conviction that sets the tone for everything that follows.
In a social care landscape shaped by Families First reform, the Integrated Front Door has never mattered more. You will lead a high-performing, co-located multi-agency function that puts conversations before forms, consent before compliance, and relationships at the heart of every first contact. The goal is simple — and profoundly important: that no family has to tell their story twice.
About the Role
You will oversee a diverse portfolio spanning the Integrated Front Door, Emergency Duty Team, Contextual Safeguarding and Domestic Abuse services. With Cheshire East's bespoke Families First model taking shape, you'll be instrumental in implementing a seamless Family Help offer — from targeted early help through to child protection — so that families experience a genuinely joined-up system, not a series of hand-offs.
You'll bring a strong understanding of multi-agency decision-making, threshold consistency, and what outstanding looks like at first contact. You'll also bring the leadership presence to model restorative, strengths-based practice every day — creating a culture where colleagues are confident, curious, and compassionate in equal measure.
The successful candidate will lead on:
Embedding the One Assessment and Family Help pathway from the very first contact — seamless, relational and needs-led.
Building multi-agency working with police, health, education and social are where we work as one with shared thresholds, shared language and shared accountability.
Restorative practice being at the heart of how we work and in the front door it will be conversational, consent-based and strengths-focussed – creating safety and trust from the first contact.
What you’ll bring
- Qualified social worker registered with Social Work England
- Extensive IFD or MASH leadership experience
- Proven track record in multi-agency safeguarding
- Experience embedding Families First or equivalent reform would be ideal
- Contextual safeguarding and youth services expertise
- Strong data literacy and quality assurance skills
- People management experience and strong budget management skills
To find out more about the essential and desirable criteria for the role please view the attached job description specification document.
In return we are able to offer:
- Enhanced annual leave - Start with an impressive 34 days of annual leave (including bank holidays) from day one, and watch it grow to 39 days after just five years of service
- Purchase of annual leave – Want more time off? You can purchase up to 10 extra days of annual leave each year, giving you the flexibility to balance work and life just the way you want (Pro-rata for part-time staff)
- Flexible working pattern - Enjoy a 37-hour standard full-time work week with the added perks of flexi-time and hybrid/remote working arrangements where possible. Your work-life balance just got a whole lot better
- Salary sacrifice green car scheme - Drive green and save green! Lease a brand-new electric or hybrid car through our salary sacrifice scheme. There’s no credit checks, no deposits, just significant savings and exclusive offers on a three-year lease
- White goods salary sacrifice scheme - Upgrade your home with ease. Purchase home and electronic items through our salary sacrifice scheme, spreading the cost of big-ticket purchases like appliances, computers, and tech gadgets directly from your salary
- Enhanced public pension - Secure your future with our career average pension, where contributions are built at a rate of 1/49th of your yearly pensionable pay
- Cycle to work scheme - Save up to 25-39% on the retail price of bikes and safety equipment through Income Tax and National Insurance savings. Get fit and save money!
- Employee assistance programme - Access a completely free and confidential assistance service to help manage, reduce, and overcome life’s challenges, both at work and in your personal life
- Discounted gym membership - Stay active and healthy with corporate membership prices for Everybody Leisure, including:
- Gym, Swim and Group Fitness at all 16 facilities
- Off-Peak Racket Sports
- Athletics Tracks
- Sauna/Steam/Spa
Join us and experience a workplace that truly values and supports you!
Organisation
Cheshire East Council
Job Category
Children and Young People Services
Grade
Senior Management (JNC/Chief Officer) - Senior Manager
Salary Min
£78,788 per annum
Salary Max
£91,556 per annum
Employment Type
Permanent
Cheshire East is an amazing place to live and work. As one of the largest employers in the borough, we are able to offer you a wide range of challenging and rewarding career opportunities.
We are working for a brighter future – together and our commitment to you is that our workplace culture will provide a shared purpose, a well-led organisation with valued people succeeding together as one team and one council to deliver the best service for our customers and communities.
If you want to be part of our award-winning council and contribute to our ongoing success, have the flexibility and drive to enable us to innovate, are committed to working as part of a team and striving to deliver exceptional service wherever you can, we would especially like to hear from you.
As an equal opportunities employer, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and want our workforce to reflect the diversity of our local communities so that we can all work for a brighter future - together.
Applicants should ensure all sections of the application form are completed as failure to do so will result in their application being rejected. Please ensure you check the email account (including junk/spam boxes) from which you apply regularly as we will use this to contact you regarding your application.
If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date then it is likely that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion, however, please do not be discouraged from applying again.
For any technical enquiries please email [email protected]
Please quote job reference number in all correspondence.
To arrange a confidential conversation about this post prior to application, please contact Caroline Tote by email [email protected].
Cheshire East Council is committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults across the Borough. As such, any cautions, convictions, reprimands or final warnings that are ‘not protected’ as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) order 1975 (as amended in 2013) relating to the non-disclosure of spent convictions do not apply to this job. You must therefore, disclose whether you have any previous convictions where prompted to do so within the application process.
