Salary: £53,460 – £56,681 a year plus £3,203 car benefit allowance and £5,000 market supplement
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Permanent

Make a difference that lasts – lead a truly multi-disciplinary team

We’re building a bold new Family Help model that wraps the right professionals around families at the right time. As our Family Help Team Manager you will coordinate social workers, psychologists, PCSO’s, CAMHS clinicians, housing officers, youth workers and many others to deliver joined-up early-help and child-in-need services that keep children safe and thriving in their own homes and communities.

What you’ll be doing

• Inspire and lead a diverse team of specialists, embedding a culture of high support and high challenge.
• Hold strategic oversight of all early-help and child-in-need cases, making decisive safeguarding judgements – including initiating Care Proceedings where necessary.
• Drive practice quality – champion evidence-based interventions, run reflective supervision, and track impact through robust QA and performance indicators.
• Forge strong partnerships with schools, health, police, voluntary and community sectors so families experience one seamless service.
• Manage resources wisely – set priorities, control a devolved budget and deploy staff and commissioned services for maximum impact.
• Promote continuous learning – coach, mentor and develop practitioners so that excellent social work flourishes across the service.

Interviews for this post will take place w/c 3rd November 2025.

Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.

You’re an experienced and confident social care professional with a strong background in Family Help, Safeguarding, and Child Protection. You lead with purpose, make sound decisions in complex situations, and are passionate about delivering high-quality services for children and families.

You bring:

• Significant experience in children’s social care, including early help and statutory work.
• A proven ability to manage, motivate and develop multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong decision-making skills, particularly in safeguarding and complex casework.
• A track record of supporting high standards through supervision, coaching, and quality assurance.
• Excellent communication skills – able to write clear reports and represent the service at all levels.
• Experience managing budgets and deploying resources effectively.
• In-depth knowledge of relevant legislation, guidance, and best practice in children’s services.
• A collaborative approach, with experience working across agencies to achieve better outcomes.

Essential:

• Social work qualification (DipSW, CQSW or equivalent)
• Registered with Social Work England

You’re driven, child-focused, and ready to lead meaningful change.

Luton Council has been selected to deliver the government’s Families First for Children Pathfinder programme.

Luton is one of seven new areas in the second wave to be chosen with the aim of protecting vulnerable children from harm and improving services to help more children stay with their families in safe and loving homes.

The programme is an amazing opportunity for Luton to shape future social care practice, which includes closer working relationships with our health, police, education and voluntary sector partners.

Children are at the heart of everything we do in Luton, and we are very proud of the tremendous work that is already taking place together with our partners, including the development of our Family Hubs and working towards making Luton a child-friendly town where our children and young people can grow up feeling happy, healthy and secure.

Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision – that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty – is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.

The people of Luton depend heavily on this council – and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?

Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person’s criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.

We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:

• From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
• Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
• Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
• Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
• Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
• Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
• Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
• Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
• Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
• Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
• Friday Funday Socials – One Friday every 2 months where we encourage our staff to get together to socialise after work