Children S Centres Strategic Manager

Appendix 3

Role Profile

Job Title: /

Children’s Centres Strategic Manager

/ Grade: / Spinal column point range:
Department: / Children & Families, Early Years Childcare & SAFE / Post no:
Directorate: / Planning, Commissioning and Partnerships / Location: / PH
Role reports to: / Head of Early Years Childcare and SAFE (0-12)
Direct Reports: / Core Children’s Centres team (6)
Promotions Officer x 1, Administrators x 2, Training Strategy and Projects Manager x 1, Monitoring Officers x 2
Indirect Reports: / Children’s Centre heads x 27 (4 maintained, 9 LA, 9 schools, 1 NHS, 4 voluntary sector)
Commissioned services - £5m
This role profile is non-contractual and provided for guidance. It will be updated and amended from time to time in accordance with the changing needs of the council and the requirements of the job.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Recruitment practices to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and/or vulnerable adults apply to this post in addition to the possible requirement to obtain a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. (Delete if not applicable)

PURPOSE OF ROLE:

To take a strategic and operational management lead on delivering high quality children’s centres services across the borough as defined through statutory duties and good practice guidance.

To manage the central children centre team and the children centre budget allocation so as to ensure the effective commissioning and co-ordination of services from internal and external providers.

To co-ordinate delivery of children’s centres services with the wider universal, preventative and statutory service offer across the borough so that children and their families experience joined up support.

To take a strategic leadership role in the joint redesign of statutory social care and health services so that the shared aims of more effective preventative intervention takes place in a co-ordinated way between services.

To provide the leadership and strategic management to ensure that a cost effective and appropriate integrated ICT system is in place to manage and evaluate children’s centres services by all key stakeholders. This ICT solution will help manage professional intervention and also shape the future delivery of services.

To ensure that professional supervision and safeguarding arrangements are in place for staff delivering services within or linked to children centres. This will be achieved in partnership with Children and Families Service, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, the Primary Care Trust and other providers where relevant to ensure the most effective use of the resources available and risk is managed robustly.

To take full responsibility for ensuring that all policy, procedures and interventions are effectively managed so that children and their families do not slip through the net but receive the support and protection from harm that is needed.

To develop and implement record keeping and evaluation tools to measure the success of piloted approaches at an individual and service level. Providing regular reports against agreed outcomes for the service within the accountability framework encompassed by the Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership.

To contribute to the development of innovative and relevant ways to involve service users in the design and delivery of the service through the adoption of an outcome based accountability approach drawing on national and international research into effective practice.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Service Delivery

To manage the provision of an integrated early intervention service from pre-birth to 5 years covering the whole borough, providing services for children and their families within available resources, developing and monitoring a creative range of area based support and purchasing services from other providers when necessary.

To take a strategic leadership role in the design and implementation of Ealing’s Triage service to ensure that children under five and their family’s needs are identified correctly and that vulnerable children receive the help they need.

Design and review children centre service delivery so that the response to children and their families needs is proportionate and that those children most at risk receive the most structured and intense support.

To take a leadership role in supporting the expansion of provision for vulnerable 2 year olds, by ensuring that there are sufficient places available in children centres to meet the needs of children identified as vulnerable.

To ensure phase and service transitions are planned for and supported. The key transitions being within and between universal, early intervention and statutory services.

To be responsible for in consultation with children centre leaders, practitioners, parents and children for determining priorities, assessing needs, agreeing priorities and ensuring the efficient delivery of high quality services.

To manage, monitor and ensure high professional standards of practice and performance in all areas of service delivery, both by the team and from providers under agreement or contract.

To promote innovation and research good practice in integrated delivery and to deliver effective services in line with statutory duties and good practice guidance, in particular with regard to the children’s centres ‘core offer’.

To contribute, as appropriate, to the process of identifying gaps in service provision and developing new service providers. This will include developing partnerships with other local provision, such as Primary Care Trust neighbourhood teams, and voluntary and community sector groups.

To take a strategic leadership role in supporting the delivery of the Healthy Child Programme and the planned changes to public health and health visiting services.

To be responsible for commissioning and managing Service Level Agreements and all other contractual arrangements linked to the delivery of children’s centres services.

To lead on meeting the requirements set out within the government’s proposed outcomes based funding framework by commissioning accredited programmes of support which deliver a demonstrable impact on meeting community needs.

Ensure that the authority meets or exceeds all requirements set within regulatory or funding frameworks to maximise benefit to the community.

Staff Management and Development

To demonstrate effective leadership and managerial qualities at all times, helping team members deal with delivering services in unfamiliar ways, and to cope with a fast changing demographic and policy landscape.

To lead on the development of joint staff training for team members with diverse professional backgrounds and experience, helping to ensure the team has common goals and has an understanding of each other’s area of expertise.

To supervise the day-to-day functions of team members as required, carrying out appraisals against agreed aims and objectives and ensuring the effective management of the team’s workload. This will involve prioritising level and urgency of service user need and allocating work according to intensity and length of intervention required.

To ensure all members of the team receive an excellent induction and regular professional supervision to ensure compliance with relevant legislation and professional codes of practice.

To develop and provide leadership and incentives to encourage the team to work in a multidisciplinary way using joint assessment and planning structures as well as supporting all the skills, abilities and professional development of staff.

To lead on and/or be involved in employee industrial relations, including matters of application of conditions of service and working arrangements, undertaking investigations into grievances and producing reports of the appeal process.

To provide appropriate expertise and knowledge in meeting statutory and other guidance and to ensure the team are kept informed of new and proposed legislation, contributing to ensuring that change is managed effectively in conjunction with other agencies, the service group and within the division.

To take on additional duties within the senior management team from time to time to ensure continuity of the wider strategic objectives of the Early Years, Childcare and SAFE section, including acting up as Head of Service as and when required.

Strategy and Partnership

To ensure strategic planning sets out a clear vision for the delivery of integrated children’s centres services, pre-birth to 5 years across the borough. This planning will identify clear outcomes for the service within a strong outcome based accountability structure.

To lead and be accountable for the team’s business/action plans and report to the Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership on a regular basis. This will include preparing complex reports within tight deadlines and may involve recommending changes in financial and staffing arrangements, policies and procedures.

To keep up-to-date with emerging good practice and developments in integrated working and to initiate, chair and participate in, as requested, working parties, project teams and task groups relating to departmental, divisional and interagency service provision and activities.

On behalf of the team, service group and division, to negotiate with, represent their views and offer guidance to statutory bodies, national and local voluntary and private organisations and to individuals and to respond to enquiries from members of all relevant agencies with advice and information when requested.

To attend relevant courses, seminars and conferences and keep up to date with developments in services, particularly emerging good practice in working in integrated teams.

Monitoring and Evaluation

To develop and implement, in conjunction with others, methods of data collection and evaluation against which achievement of objectives can be measured, both for the whole service and for individual service users. This will include collecting baseline data.

To be responsible for establishing and monitoring performance indicators, financial and staff audits, and health and safety audits as required, and to ensure that the team carries out its responsibilities with due attention to good customer care practice.

To ensure good quality case records and management information is collected, including reporting on performance indicators and unmet need, and providing special reports as required.

Participation

To ensure all staff are involved in decision-making processes through agreed formal routes and to ensure that accurate and up to date public information is available, understood by staff and presented to service users at the appropriate time.

To ensure that the views of service users and carers are sought and incorporated where appropriate in the commissioning and delivery of all children’s centres services.

In conjunction with team members, service users and other organisations look at innovative ways of increasing the participation of service users and implement practical strategies for improving community engagement

Budgets

To take responsibility for capital and revenue funding (approximately 5 million) within the Children’s Centres strategy ensuring that each project has an approved and robust budget allocation to deliver on the services identified within the wider strategy taking into account the terms and conditions of grant and the requirements of audit.

To be responsible for ensuring the delivery of cost effective and delivered within budget to agreed standards, maximising external funding sources and outcomes based funding where applicable.

Policy and Procedures

To develop, in conjunction with others, ways in which information can be shared and stored in line with confidentiality protocols from all professions involved, and to pilot these approaches.

To ensure compliance with child protection procedures, ensuring staff undertake child protection training and are familiar with local child protection procedures. To inform senior management of cases where there is a danger to life and those cases most likely to cause public concern.

To plan and implement services within an anti-discriminatory framework.

The post holder must at all times carry out his/her duties with due regard to Equal Opportunities Policy.

To undertake other duties and responsibilities of a similar professional nature and at similar responsibility level to those described above, which may be allocated from time to time.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

Children’s Centres Ofsted inspections to be good or outstanding

Children’s centres judged through wider inspection frameworks as good or outstanding

Meeting local and national outcomes to secure maximum funding

Ensure that no child accessing children’s centres services experiences significant harm as a result

KEY RELATIONSHIPS (INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL):
Health (particularly midwifery and health visiting services)
Supportive Action for Families in Ealing (SAFE)
Commissioned providers linked to the children’s centres offer
Triage and locality social care teams
Family Information Service
Two year old childcare offer
AUTHORITY LEVEL (PEOPLE, POLICY, FINANCIAL):
Person Specification
Recruitment practices to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and/or vulnerable adults apply to this post in addition to the possible requirement to obtain a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. (Delete if not applicable).
ESSENTIALKNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES

Service Delivery

Ability to adhere to and promote Equal Opportunity Policy.

A well developed understanding of Early Years Childcare and Play and experience of consulting with families and children to deliver improved services.

Experience of leadership and managing a defined service, including allocation of resources, management of budgets and prioritisation necessary within these services to ensure that they are compatible with and facilitate the service delivery aims.

Ability to effectively organise a range of diverse functions with differing priorities and to demonstrate creativity and innovation in their delivery.

Ability to work systemically in a variety of contexts and proven skills in intervening effectively to address emotional and behavioural problems experienced by children and families.

Understanding of and interest in developing a strengths based approach to solving problems and building capacity.

Staff management and development

Ability to manage change, including leading and managing within a customer care framework.

Good experience of managing, supervising and supporting the work of those staff accountable to the post holder, including ensuring the professional development of those staff in line with the overall strategy.

Ability and knowledge of leading a multi-disciplinary team and involving them in the design and delivery of innovative services.

Strategy and Partnership

Ability to liaise and co-ordinate activities and resources with a wide range of people and agencies and ability to work in partnership with a number of diverse groups.

Ability to write clear concise, jargon free reports, business plans and strategy documents and excellent face-to-face and written communication skills.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Experience in setting up systems to evaluate achievements against outcomes

Ability to assemble, analyse and disseminate information, including the maximisation of information technology in that process.

Ability to work to deadlines and agreed performance targets.

Participation

Knowledge of, or interest in, the development of innovative ways to involve staff and service users in the ongoing development of the service.

Skills in communicating with children and parents.

Policy and Procedure

Knowledge of the statutory duties set out in the Childcare Act 2006 and a detailed understanding of all guidance relating to the delivery of high quality integrated children’s centres services.

Knowledge and understanding of Every Child Matters and the Change for Children agenda.

Experience in carrying out risk assessments on children and young people and managing risk.

ESSENTIALQUALIFICATION(S), EXPERIENCE AND REGISTRATION (e.g. HCPC)

Educated to degree level with a relevant postgraduate qualification.

Significant senior management experience, including evidence of responsibility for large budgets.

Experience of managing capital and/or revenue projects to successfully meet objectives

Competency levels
The list below states the level needed in each competency for effective performance in a role.

Role requires a generally low level of competence. It may only require an awareness of this competency, or may provide experience to operate at a higher level.
Role requires a moderate level of competence, the ability to cope with standard problems/common situations, and competence at day-to-day application.
Role requires a high level of competence, the ability to cope with unusual/non-standard problems and issues, and awareness of alternative options and approaches to situations. Requires ability to guide or advise others in this area and is able to look ahead and anticipate future needs.
Role requires an exceptional level of competence and advanced application. Requires ability to develop innovative approaches, stretch others’ thinking and challenge them to excel by setting exceptional standards.

Results focus: Sets and delivers stretching targets, in line with the Corporate Plan & Priorities and with Ealing’s standards and procedures; seeks and takes responsibility for enhancing performance; does what is necessary to achieve the required output, rather than just performing a set of tasks. Level ….
Customer focus: Actively seeks to identify, understand and give priority to meeting customer needs. Acts in accordance with the needs of customers (external or internal), partners and the wider community. . Level ….
Job expertise: Has the necessary technical and professional knowledge and expertise, and uses it effectively. The areas of job expertise required vary significantly between services and between roles. The areas required in any specific role must be discussed with individuals. . Level ….
Communication: Uses clear language that can be understood by mixed audiences. Communicates effectively (speaking, listening, in writing and when presenting), as required. . Level ….
Change orientation: Looks for and proposes ways to improve service and will, if necessary, challenge the status quo to produce improvement. Shows initiative, and adapts to change requirements, by continually striving to improve processes, activities, and own performance. . Level ….
Managing self: Effectively organises self and projects as required, using Ealing systems, processes and policies. Can describe own strengths, development needs, impact and approach. Takes personal responsibility for own role and own development as a result. . Level ….
Working in teams: Co-operates with others, by working together, supporting and influencing colleagues, and being a part of a range of teams as appropriate. Shares information with colleagues and partners to enable them to carry out their roles more effectively. . Level ….
Managing people and business (For managers only): Manages the performance and development of all staff who report to them in a way that supports the Ealing vision and values. Encourages and supports staff and colleagues to develop to their full potential. Demonstrates sound financial, business and resource management. . Level ….
Leading in the organisation (For managers only): Leads change and ensures effective implementation through programme and project delivery. Provides direction for the organisation and individual departments. Gains commitment from stakeholders to the vision, strategy and the resources required. . Level ….

January 2013