About Us

Assistant Director (Family Help)
£96,014 – £113,225 per annum
Permanent
Full Time (36 hours)
Wandsworth, London
Ofsted rating: Good

Hear from our young people on what we are looking for:

Are you an inspirational leader with a proven track record of delivering and leading complex Children’s Services?

Why Wandsworth

Our journey never stops, and we continue to foster and develop the conditions to ensure transformational impact for our children and families.

Your role as the Assistant Director of Family Help will play a central part of our ambition to ensure all children and young people can thrive and reach their full potential. Under your leadership, the Family Help Service will be the first interaction for families, with a key focus on early intervention, ensuring that families get the right help at the right time. You will be responsible for the ongoing development our existing offer to keep children at home and keep families together wherever possible.

Being chosen as the London Borough of Culture for 2025, these are exciting times to join us at Wandsworth and explore the new opportunities that will be available for our families and young people.

About the role

Reporting to the Director of Children’s Social Care, you will be part of an experienced senior leadership team, leading and managing operational teams to support children and their families, including children experiencing risk outside of their homes and in contact with the youth justice system. You will create the right culture and environment for the workforce to flourish, and ensure strategic plans enable the best operational delivery of the services our families need.

You will lead our Family Help service as we implement the social care reforms and embed the national practice framework, putting children at the heart of all we do. You will work collaboratively to lead and embed a practice focused culture to deliver high quality outcomes for our most vulnerable children and young people.  

Essential Qualifications, Skills and Experience

• Degree in Social Work and active Social Work England registration.
• Proven experience of operating at Head of Service or Assistant Director level.
• A proactive and creative approach with the ability to inspire and take a service through a period of change.

If you meet the above criteria and would like the opportunity to lead a stable, knowledgeable and creative team – we encourage you to apply for this opportunity.

For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Elizabeth Souter – Director of Children’s Social Care by email Elizabeth.Souter@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

Closing date: 9th March 2025
Shortlisting date: From 10th March 2025
Interview date: From 17th March 2025 - Interviews will be held in person.

We may close this vacancy early once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Richmond and Wandsworth Better Service Partnership is committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services. 

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, please let us know. 

 We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Some posts may be exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to these posts will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to attract, develop, and reward our employees such as 40 days annual leave (including Bank Holidays), flexible working and a generous pension plan.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils