Service Manager, Children’s Residential

Permanent, Full Time

£69,241 to £78,950 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Working Style: Fixed-base worker

Closing Date: 15th November 2026

Interview Date: 7th December 2026

This role will require some out of hours on-call responsibility. There will be an 8% on- call allowance applied and paid, in addition to the annual salary.

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity, and compassion; promoting development and wellbeing of children, young people and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse. Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future.

Service Managers are accountable for performance and delivery of a lead service area. This leader will have extensive social care experience; an understanding of current issues and the ability to ensure the innovative use of resources to improve productivity and quality outcomes. Contributing to the development of policy and strategy, this leader will build strong, credible working relationships with internal and external partners, driving and shaping service improvements.

This is a specialist role within the area of children in care placement services – specifically the delivery, commissioning and quality assurance of children’s residential care. The postholder will be able to deliver the objectives of the job within these specialist areas.

Roles at this level will be focused on delivering results in a specific functional area. They will hold expertise on the application of policy and improvement of service delivery. These roles have clear team budgets and targets set within the overall service requirements.

Accountabilities

Children’s Residential Care

• Integrated Working: Develop local approaches with partners and agencies for effective service delivery.
• Change Management: Promote new ways of working in complex environments.
• Vision & Values: Implement Children & Families’ vision to support early life success.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Work with external partners to innovate and maximise opportunities.
• Compliance: Ensure adherence to regulations and maintain links with governance bodies.
• Budget Management: Deliver services within budget, highlighting risks and contract issues.
• Business Continuity & Safety: Lead on continuity and health and safety, updating plans and policies.
• Cost-Effective Solutions: Collaborate to ensure quality, cost-effective solutions.
• Performance Targets: Define and achieve annual targets and objectives.

Skills and Knowledge

• Recognised social work qualification (Diploma, degree, Master’s, CQSW, CSS) with Social Work England registration (SWE).
• Ongoing professional development aligned with competency frameworks or Knowledge and Skills Statements.
• Collaborative work with internal and external partners, demonstrating broad thinking across social care and the wider system.
• Significant social care experience with an understanding of current issues and local delivery implications.
• Strong leadership and behavioural skills to build a high-performing, motivated team.
• Experience managing change in rapidly evolving, ambiguous environments with conflicting priorities.
• Proven influencing skills to lead and deliver cultural change for service quality improvement.
• Experience of working and/or managing within the children’s residential care

To read more about our business area, please visit: Children & Families

Please take a look at our ‘No Magic’ Children & Families video

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we are dedicated to making a positive difference for residents, communities and businesses across the county. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, Greater Essex was accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site .

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles , including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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