Date: 6 Jul 2026
Location: Taunton, GB, TA1 4DY
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Company: Somerset Council
Closing date: 20 July 2026
Salary: Grade 9, ranging from £41,771 - £46,142 per annum.
Fixed term until 01/07/2028. 37 Hours a week.
30 day’s annual leave (additional to bank holidays)
Role summary
As a Senior Team Leader you will lead the countywide delivery of Early Support for Children with Disabilities, ensuring timely and high-quality assessment, for children, young people and families. You’ll ensuring effective triage, clear thresholds and joined-up pathways that promote early intervention, positive outcomes and safeguarding.
Working closely with the Operations Manager, you’ll drive service development and continuous improvement, leading multi-disciplinary teams and building strong partnerships across education, health, voluntary and statutory sectors. You’ll provide professional oversight, quality assurance and governance, contribute to complex decision-making, and ensure services are safe, responsive and focused on outcomes.
What you’ll do - key responsibilities
This role leads the delivery of county-wide early help services for children with disabilities, ensuring high-quality assessments and responsive, child-centred support. Working closely with the Operations Manager, there is a strong focus on improving outcomes for children with disabilities through effective partnership working.
Responsibility includes overseeing the quality of assessments, referral pathways and triage processes, ensuring services are timely, well-evidenced and focused on safeguarding and positive outcomes. Complex situations are managed with sound professional judgement, developing robust plans that balance risk and need.
You will support high standards of practice through leadership, supervision and staff development, while ensuring services remain inclusive, accessible and shaped by the voices of children and families.
What we’re looking for – knowledge, experience & skills
Essential
Strong knowledge of early help and safeguarding frameworks, thresholds, and statutory responsibilities relating to children and young people
Significant experience working with children with disabilities (CWD) and their families in an early help, early support, or children’s services setting
Experience of leading or managing teams delivering assessment and intervention services
Experience of working with multi-agency partners to improve outcomes for children and families
Experience of contributing to service development, improvement planning and implementation
Relevant professional qualification in children’s services, social care, education, health, or a related discipline
Evidence of appropriate management or leadership training, or equivalent leadership experience
Ability to provide clear strategic and operational leadership to early support services for CWD
Ability to oversee effective triage of referrals, ensuring clear thresholds, pathways and timely decision-making
Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex information and apply sound professional judgement
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including representing the service in multi-agency forums
Ability to plan, prioritise and manage competing demands in a pressured environment
Desirable
Experience of managing countywide or large-scale services
Experience of quality assurance, audit activity or performance oversight within children’s services
Post-qualifying training in leadership, service development, early help or children with disabilities
Ability to influence practice and outcomes across partner agencies and systems
Experience of coaching, mentoring or developing staff to improve practice quality
Additional Information
Regretfully, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. We are only able to proceed with candidates who already have the right to work in the UK without the need for visa sponsorship.
For an informal chat about the role, please contact Mikayla Greedy, Operations Manager at
[email protected] 