Service Manager - Safeguarding and Exploitation
Salary - £64,863 - £68,104 (Grade 10)
Hours – 37 hours per week
Contract type - full time, permanent.
Location – Various
About the Role:
The City of Wolverhampton Council is seeking a dedicated and experienced Service Manager to lead our Safeguarding and Exploitation team within Children's Services. This pivotal role involves managing a multi-disciplinary service area to ensure effective, high-quality outcomes for children and families. The successful candidate will play a key role in the strategic development of Children's Services and contribute to the continuous improvement of safeguarding practices.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead and manage the Safeguarding and Exploitation service area, ensuring the provision of effective services responsive to assessed needs and the voice of the children and families we work with.
- Oversee the performance of Independent Reviewing Officers, Child Protection Conference Chairs, Independent Foster Home Reviewing Officers and the exploitation hub.
- Participate in wider meetings e.g. Serious Case Reviews and ensure dissemination of learning.
- Influence policy development and priority setting within Wolverhampton's Safeguarding Children Board.
- Ensure quality standards for safeguarding responses and support child protection services.
- Manage services within allocated budgets and ensure high standards of performance against local and national expectations.
- Support transformation and change across the organisation, focusing on delivery, quality, and flexibility to meet customer expectations.
Person Specification:
- Substantial managerial experience, including responsibility for professional and complex services.
- Understanding of the needs of service users within a diverse community.
- Proven track record in managing change and providing sound advice for policy formation.
- Experience in partnership working with other organisations and agencies.
- Expertise in managing statutory and legal responsibilities.
- Excellent oral, interpersonal, and written communication skills.
- Educated to degree level or equivalent, with relevant professional qualifications including Social Work England Registration.
- Commitment to continuous personal and professional development.
For your valued contribution, we offer:
- A career development pathway and substantial training offer. Over 85% of our workforce are happy with the learning and development offer and 90% say there is a positive learning culture.
- Reimbursement of Blue Light card membership costs and Social Work England renewal fees
- Four vibrant and active employee networks including four staff equality forums (Race Religion and Belief; Disability and Age; Gender Maternity and Paternity and LGBT+)
- Well embedded strengths-based practice framework which supports us to build strong relationships and connections to help people find long lasting solutions using the Three Conversations© approach.
- A commitment to eliminating discrimination and supporting employee wellbeing to ensure a good work/life balance, which includes a strong employee assistance scheme and access to numerous wellbeing resources.
- Supportive and flexible working arrangements, which includes some home working.
- Retail, leisure, legal and ethical savings and loans through our competitive rewards portal
For more information: Working for us | WV Jobs | City of Wolverhampton Council
This post is subject to a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
As part of the interview process, candidates will be required to undertake:
o A presentation
o A panel interview
Representatives from child in care council will be a part of the selection process.
For further information on these posts please contact:
Celia Payne (Head of Service) via email to Celia.Payne@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Interviews will take place 23rd or 24th June 2025
Closing Date: 13th June 2025
For full details of the responsibilities and requirements of this role please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification.
Our working arrangements
All council roles are allocated to either a fixed, field or flexible work style. Some roles are agile which enable and empower employees to maximise their performance and productivity, whilst maintaining a healthy work life balance. Roles with a fixed workstyle work in a fixed permanent council location. Roles with a field workstyle are usually allocated where employees are required to be out working in the community with a minimum requirement for 'touch down' space at any council location. Roles with a flexible workstyle have a flexible base location to meet the needs of the business and employees can work from a mixture of home or any council office, partner/client, or external location, as required to meet service requirements.
Please refer to the Job Description for further information on the workstyle assigned to the role you are applying for.
For more information about working for our organisation including the culture of the Council, the Council plan and vision, staff equality forums, core HR policies and much more please click here.
Diversity
We are committed to building a workforce that is reflective of the diverse community we serve. We want to attract the best applications from people of all backgrounds and underrepresented groups because we strongly believe in adding value through diversity, inclusion, and equality. Our employees enable us to deliver services that are accessible, inclusive, and reflective of Wolverhampton residents.
Our status as a Disability Confident Employer showcases our commitment to people with disabilities or health conditions, advocating for their opportunities and potential.
We've received the Stonewall Gold Award, emphasising our dedication to the LGBT+ community by nurturing an inspiring, inclusive, and equal workplace.
As of March 2023, the RACE Code Quality Mark signifies our active engagement with racial equality. These recognitions validate our continuous efforts towards fostering an inclusive work environment that respects and values our diverse employees.
As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the essential criteria for the post.
We encourage, inspire and value an inclusive culture here at the council where employees can flourish, thrive and be themselves. We have four staff equality forums for employees to join. These help to ensure our employees have a voice, they feel empowered to speak up and where everyone is treated with respect - Learn more about the staff equality forums here
Recruitment of Ex-Offenders
We are committed to the fair treatment of all our employees, potential employees, or users of our service regardless of offending background. The Council uses the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for any vacancies that require a DBS check to obtain information about applicants to assess their suitability for employment in positions of trust. We do not discriminate unfairly against any individual on the basis of a conviction or any other information revealed as a result of a DBS disclosure - Learn more here
Employment Information & Support
If you are considering applying for an apprenticeship or a role where the salary is (Grade 2-5), and would like to visit us to learn about the application, interview process and what it is like to work for the council, please click on this link to find out more - Learn more here
Attached documents
Job Description and Person Specification
