Sheffield is a great city and our Council Plan focuses on what makes Sheffield a unique, ambitious and inspiring city with a clear vision for Sheffield children and young people to be safe and supported to achieve their full potential. We are pursuing ambitious plans for transformation, facing the challenges of making efficiencies and modernising how we work, so that we deliver high performing, quality services to children and young people.
Great progress has been made with our fostering services and we are committed to investing in our priorities, so the Fostering Service Manager has a strong platform to continue to drive the required expansion and transformation of the service, deliver improved outcomes for children and young people, and deliver excellent support to foster carers.
With this in mind, we are seeking to appoint an outstanding Service Manager for the Fostering Service, who possesses strategic and operational leadership skills and experience to support the team leaders and team members to deliver and drive service quality forward, so that together we make a real difference to the lives of children and young people in Sheffield.
You need to be social work qualified and registered with Social Work England and have extensive experience of direct work with children and young people in a fostering service. You will have a thorough knowledge of relevant legislation including up-to-date knowledge of fostering regulations, policies and procedures. You will be creative and motivated to support service expansion and improvement and have significant management experience. You will be jointly responsible for: Supervisory Teams including Mockingbird Constellation teams, Recruitment and Connected Care Teams, Panel Advisor, SGO assessments and Holiday and Support team and Project work.
You will be joining a dynamic senior management team and working closely with other Provider Services such as adoption service, residential services and strategic contracts.
Key Benefits
Annual leave 26 days per year plus public holidays, rising to 31 days after 5 years’ service. Opportunity to purchase an additional 5 days per year leave.
- At least 3 days per year dedicated for Continuous Professional Development with excellent career progression routes including leadership and management University courses
- Up to 6 days paid carers leave is available for those with caring responsibility
- Relocation package up to £7,494 towards costs if you need to relocate
- Hybrid and flexible working
- Employee assistance programme providing valuable advice on a range of issues such as personal finances, counselling sessions and legal advice.
- Generous Local government pension scheme
- Discounts off Vodafone, Westfield Health and Public transport
- Salary sacrifice employee car lease scheme and city car club
- Cycle to work scheme and free eye-sight tests
- Affordable housing and within 10 minutes drive of the Peak District
Further information contact: Dean.Howson@sheffield.gov.uk
We are investing in our workforce and are promoting opportunities to our under-represented groups. We value equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on increasing the diversity of our workforce, particularly the number of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, Disabled and LGBTQ+ people, so that our teams reflect the communities in the city we serve. We are also supporting staff with unpaid caring responsibilities to work flexibly.
It is a great time to join us and we welcome your application.
Under the Guaranteed Interview scheme, applicants who are disabled, care leavers, or armed forces veterans will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the essential criteria and indicate their eligibility on the application form. Sometimes, if lots of people apply, we might not be able to interview everyone who qualifies for the Guarantee. In these cases, we’ll interview the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job.
Full-time employees work 37 hours for 52 weeks of the year and we offer a generous holiday entitlement. We are open to discussions about a wide range of flexible working opportunities which benefit you and the Council, including reduced hour contracts, working part time or as a job share.
If you are appointed to this role, your starting salary will be at the bottom of the grade. If you provide payslip evidence that your basic pay is greater than the bottom of the grade, we will consider starting you at the point of minimum advantage within the grade.
Equality of pay is extremely important to us. All roles at Sheffield City Council are going through an evaluation process which may result in changes to some pay arrangements from 2026. Find out more on our Sheff news page.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for everyone and where appropriate to the role the successful applicant will be required to undertake relevant safeguarding checks.