In H&F, we are on a successful journey of improvement with an Outstanding Youth Justice Services, and Children’s Social Care Services whose Ofsted report praised our ‘highly effective and committed leaders that have continued to make improvements. We are in a positive place with a strong and skilled Children and Young People’s management team, outstanding practitioners and a culture of care, openness and aspiration.
We are seeking to appoint a passionate, experienced, and committed permanent Head of Performance and Improvement with a strong focus on outcomes for children and young people, high practice standards and excellent service delivery. As Head of Performance and Improvement, you will ensure outstanding services are provided both to the department and to our partners that help us improve performance and secure quality and value for money in service delivery. Working as a key member of the Children’s Services senior team, you will be instrumental in the design and delivery of new policy and strategy that achieves the ambition that H&F is an outstanding borough for children to go to school and grow up.
You will provide professional leadership to staff, setting and embedding consistently high standards of practice through the Principal Social Work Role. You will be the first point of contact for children’s services policy, strategic planning, and performance management, providing advice to the Director, Assistant Directors and Heads of Service.
You will:
For an informal discussion about the role, please contact: jo.pymont@lbhf.gov.uk
Role Specific Qualifications:
Professional Social Work qualification CQSW, DipSW, CCETSW and registered with Social Work England.
Skills and knowledge:
You will bring in depth knowledge of the legislative and policy context for children’s services and a track record in leading performance, policy and strategy teams, working closely with senior managers, stakeholders, partners, and Elected Members. You will possess excellent analytical skills as well as the ability to lead successful projects and change programmes.
Your track record will include demonstrable improvement in outcomes based on delivering effective quality assurance and performance management. You will be able to evidence leadership, negotiation, and relationship management skills appropriate to delivering high profile, complex services that have a profound impact on the effectiveness, availability and value for money of services to the department and to children and their families.
Please refer to the Role Profile for more information
Hammersmith & Fulham is a vibrant and exciting London Borough to live, work and socialise in. Our borough is home to over 195,000 people from communities all over the world, all benefitting from some of the best public services and amenities in the country.
We strive to be a place where every child has the best possible start in life, grows up feeling cherished, loved and realises their full potential as young citizens. We offer our children's social workers:
An opportunity to work for an Ofsted ‘GOOD’ local authority with ‘Outstanding’ Youth Justice Service
Supportive, nurturing and friendly environment with a commitment to EDI initiatives
Manageable caseloads
Very competitive pay rates with well established social work career progression scheme
Access to the Local Government Pensions Scheme
Annual leave entitlement of up to 34 days
Cycle to work scheme
Season ticket loan scheme
Flexible and hybrid working
Employee wellbeing and assistance programme
Excellent learning & development opportunities
Staff benefits portal that gives you access to a wide range of local and national offers and discounts
People Values:
How we act defines who we are. At the heart of our organisation is a common approach to defining ‘who we are’. We are looking for people who can build this into everything they do.
We are fair
We treat everyone with compassion, dignity and fairness. We value the views and opinion of others, and promote benefits and opportunities for all.
We are caring
We care about our borough and doing things well. We focus on standards and continuous improvement; learning from our mistakes and celebrating success.
We are collaborators
We work together for a better society. We work with our residents, businesses, schools, third sector and others for better outcomes for everyone.
We are driven
We will only settle for the very best. We seek to continually improve and put our residents, customers and businesses at the heart of everything we do.
Recruiting for Attitude:
Your skills and ability are important however, we recruit as much for attitude as we do experience. We are looking for people who have the following attributes:
Complex problem-solving
The ability to work within a complex system and find simple solutions and outcomes that deliver real change.
Critical thinking
The ability to challenge the norms through evidence-based approaches using both numerical and critical reasoning and thinking. You can rationalise decision-making and form views quickly and soundly from a range of sources.
Creativity
You take approaches that demonstrate how doing things differently and creatively changes the dynamic in situations. You can apply creative solutions that deliver hard outcomes.
People management
You can get the best out of people. You have a coaching-style and drive through a commitment to personal and professional development. You are clear in your expectations and have exceptional feedback from your team about their working environment. You recognise and support people as individuals.
Coordinating with others
You have the knack of working well with others. You have an appreciation of your own presence and approach and can demonstrate how you have developed and continue to develop how you work with others. You can also recognise how others work, think, and feel to get the most out of collaboration.
Emotional intelligence
You have a high degree of self-awareness and self-regulation in a wide range of situations from one-to-one conversations to team and group dynamics. You can recognise motivating factors and demonstrate empathy appropriately applying a wide range of adaptive social skills.
Judgement and decision making
You can take rational and evidence-based decisions and take responsibility for your decisions and actions. Where there is ambiguity or a lack of evidence you can demonstrate the ability to understand the environment and show flexibility in applying your judgement.
Negotiation
You can demonstrate an understanding of the range of skills and techniques required to successfully negotiate with a range of other partners. This includes understanding how to structure and undertake successful negotiation on an organisational-wide level.
Service orientation
You must be unequivocal in your commitment and drive for outstanding service delivery. Both in terms of the quality of products and work delivered as well as the achievement of objectives. You and your team can demonstrate how your overall contribution to the organisation and service delivers to our organisational aims and objectives.
Cognitive flexibility
The ability to recognise the environment in which you work and adapt and shift to this environment to maximise your own personal achievement and lead others in the same approach. Applying cognitive flexibility to situations of significant change and transformation.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect this commitment.
Corporate Equalities Employment Policy: In order to combat discrimination, no unnecessary conditions or requirements will be applied which could have a disproportionately adverse effect on any one group. All sections of the population will have equal access to jobs. No applicant or employee will receive less favourable treatment because of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership and pregnancy or maternity, unless a Genuine Occupational Qualification (GOQ) applies.
We are a Disability Confident Employer – committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible.
If you have any questions about applying for roles within H&F Children’s Services, please contact via email CYPSrecruitment@lbhf.gov.uk