Are you an experienced service manager in children’s social care, able to inspire others to drive a sustainable improvement to the lives of children and families?

As Service Manager for Children in Care at Northamptonshire Children’s Trust, you will lead a social work team to deliver safe, stable, and ambitious care planning that improves outcomes for children. Reporting to the Strategic Manager of Children in Care, you will drive high-quality, relational and trauma-informed practice, working with partners to improve permanence, placement stability, education, health and wellbeing.

This is a key role within a collaborative, forward-thinking environment — and a genuine opportunity to shape services that make a real difference to children's lives.

Key responsibilities include:

• Delivering child-centred care planning focused on safety, stability, permanence and wellbeing
• Leading service improvement and embedding strong relational practice
• Ensuring strong performance, quality assurance, and statutory compliance
• Strengthening partnerships to support stability, family time, lifelong networks and better outcomes
• Ensuring support reflects children's voices and individual needs

Get in Touch

We welcome the opportunity to speak to interested candidates. Please feel free to email Dudley Foster, Strategic Manager -  dudley.foster@NCTrust.co.uk.

We are committed to continuous improvement, building a skilled, knowledgeable, and flexible workforce alongside promoting innovation and creativity whilst keeping children, young people and families at the heart of all we do.

We really value our workforce and offer you a great benefits package including:

• SWE Registration paid yearly (social care colleagues)
• Relocation costs of up to £8,000
• Retention bonus payments for established personnel
• 28 days annual leave, plus 8 Bank Holidays (pro rata for part time) and an additional 5 days, after 5 years
• Local Government Pension Scheme plus immediate life cover (3 times your annual salary from day one) and ill-health pension protection.
• Opportunity to purchase up to 25 days annual leave
• Employee Assistance Programme - We have an employee support programme run by Health Assured, an independent, external organisation. Health Assured is available for you and your immediate family members, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and includes telephone counselling, legal advice, bereavement support and medical information.
• Employee discounts with local and national retailers, days out, finance, health and beauty, travel and eating out plus lots more.
• Flexible and family working arrangements including enhanced maternity benefits
• A permanent, supportive and inclusive management team where you will be empowered to make good professional decisions
• Extensive Learning & Development and career development opportunities
• Subsidised town centre car parking scheme

You will offer leadership to Children in Care Service, developing a service plan for the Portfolio, and leading the production of team plans, in accordance with the Trust objectives. Systematically reviewing progress against these plans to ensure a consistently high standard of service which is in accordance with Trust objectives.

You will provide the professional lead in Children in Care Service, responsible for supporting and improving outcomes for children in care and their families.

You will ensure that budgets and other resources are used in accordance with NCT’s priorities and financial regulations, and that expenditure is accurately monitored and reported, and does not exceed budget.

The ideal candidate will be accountable for developing and implementing the service plan to meet objectives and attain performance targets.

 As the  ideal candidate you will:

• Be a qualified Social Worker, with current Social Work England registration, and ideally with a Level 5 NVQ Management qualification, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Have the ability to manage a service and ensure development and performance issues are addressed though support and coaching. 
• Have previous budgetary control experience, ICT skills 
• Have the ability to represent the service at a more senior level if required.

• Have senior leadership experience within statutory children's social care services
• Have experience of Family Safeguarding
• Be able to lead high-performing teams, leading change and manage complex services
• Have experience managing large budgets effectively
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of children in care and the importance of family and lifelong networks
• Have knowledge of statutory frameworks, Ofsted requirements and quality assurance
• Possess excellent communication, influencing and partnership skills

This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore subject to an enhanced DBS certificate. It is also a regulated activity and will be subject to a Barred List check

At Northamptonshire Children’s Trust, children, young people and families are at the heart of everything we do. Every decision we make and every action we take is guided by our commitment to delivering high-quality services that make a lasting difference to the lives of children, young people and families across Northamptonshire.

We know that our people are our greatest strength. Our workforce is at the centre of our success, and we are committed to creating an environment where colleagues feel valued, supported and empowered to do the best job of their lives every day. We foster a culture built on kindness, collaboration and trust, where achievements are recognised, ideas are welcomed and innovation is encouraged.

We are proud of the positive impact we make together and delighted that our work has been recognised by Ofsted, with an Outstanding rating for Leadership and Management and Good ratings across Help and Protection, Children in Care and Care Leavers.

At NCT equality, diversity and inclusion are part of us and in everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and thrive in our organisation.  We are a Disability Confident employer and have a commitment to care leavers, who we guarantee an interview if they meet the essential criteria.

If you are passionate about making a difference and want to be part of an ambitious, supportive and forward-thinking organisation, Northamptonshire Children’s Trust could be the place for you. 

Supporting Children – A Career That Matters