Be the Champion our Children and Young People need

Service Manager – Children in Care and Care Leavers (Future Directions)

Responsible for: Children in Care Teams x 2 and Future Directions Teams x 2

We are looking for an individual with strong leadership skills to lead and motivate staff, you will have strategic planning skills to drive forward services and a passion for improving the lives of children in the care system and care experienced young adults.  You will always question ‘would this be good enough for my child’.  The post holder will be solution focused and have significant experience of working in a children in care / care leaver service in a management capacity, including with senior leaders and multi-disciplinary partner agencies.    Other key responsibilities include managing staff, overseeing budgets, performance management, ensuring quality of care in all forms of homes for children and overseeing the day to day running of the two service area’s ensuring it meets and exceeds national standards.  If you are committed to the highest standards of Social Work practice in supporting our managers and social workers to achieve the best outcomes for children, young adults and families we want to hear from you. 

If you can provide visionary leadership and want to work in an environment which enables you to focus on the things that matter most to children and young people, and that made you want to become a social worker in the first place……then Barnsley could be the place of possibilities for you.

We have tremendous ambition for our children and young people in Barnsley as a place of possibilities and are making  £multi million pound investment into their future.  Whilst we are proud of our current Ofsted rating of ‘Good’, we are far from complacent and recognise the increasingly challenging context in which we operate.  Barnsley’s real political and corporate commitment to children’s services has been recently demonstrated by a multi-million recurring investment into the service to further develop our workforce, improve our model of practice, create a new social care academy and deploy greater use of technology.  

As well as that we offer:

• A highly competitive salary
• A visible, friendly and supportive senior management team
• Regular supervision
• Generous annual leave entitlement including the option to buy even more, as well as flexible working arrangements
• IT equipment and technology to support agile working
• Professional development with a clear Social Work Career Pathway
• The full range of benefits including cycle to work, parking permit, reimbursement of Social Work England fee’s, mileage expenses and employee discounts
• A culture where we recognise and celebrate our colleagues’ achievements
• Free refreshments

To apply please read the Job Description & Person Specification and complete the online application form.

If you would like to discuss the role further then please email Lisa Vaux, Head of Service for Children in Care on Lisavaux@barnsley.gov.uk to arrange a mutually convenient time for a telephone call. 

Closing Date: 7^th November 2025

Interview Date has been scheduled for 19^th November 2025