Quality Assurance Service Manager WCC620228

Job Details:

Salary range: £60,795 - £74,487 per annum
Work location: 4 Frampton St, London, NW8 8LF
Hours per week: 36   
Contract type: Permanent
Closing date: 11 May 2025
Interview date: 15 and 16 May 2025

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF KAKOLI’S PASSION AND DRIVE

Children’s Services in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where inspirational people like Kakoli are dedicated to encouraging everyone they work with to be the very best they can be.

Ever since she was a child, Kakoli has believed that children are the ones who’ll change the world for the better. Who’ll create the future we all wish for. And she always knew her calling was to get on the front line and help those who might not be as fortunate as herself.

Driven and passionate about making a difference, she first joined Westminster as a Social Work Assistant, and her managers immediately saw she had huge potential, so they encouraged her to apply to study for a degree in social work. She passed with flying colours, and over the next fourteen years worked as a frontline Social Worker, a Senior Social Worker, a Deputy Service Manager and is now one of our Service Managers.

Kakoli’s vision is as clear now as it was all those years ago – to encourage and support children, and help them grow in safe, vibrant communities. Her achievements are many, but she’s most proud of the fact that these days Westminster doesn’t ‘do things for families’ but ‘does things with families’. And she believes this huge but subtle difference to the way we work has allowed thousands of children in Westminster to fulfil their potential and live their dreams.

The Role:

As a Quality Assurance Manager working across Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea you can make your own powerful contribution to the lives of vulnerable children and their families. You’ll join our Children’s Services Safeguarding Review and Quality Assurance Service where you’ll provide expert guidance and support, and collaborate with professionals and agencies as we work to assess risk and develop plans that promote wellbeing and protection. Working to establish an effective practice which meets needs, you’ll build strong relationships across our safeguarding partnership, hold colleagues to account, and contribute to a range of innovative operational and strategic projects.

Supporting the delivery of a learning and improvement programme which enables our partners to work together as we create systems that produce positive outcomes for all the children we work with, you’ll oversee planned thematic quality assurance work that identifies the strengths and weakness of our practice. We’ll also expect you to bring together existing strands of Quality Assurance activity in the learning and improvement framework, identify key trends and ensure that this results in fully evaluated improvement plans.

You’ll have a wide range of additional tasks – these include leading, supporting and monitoring an annual audit plan, and seeking out new ways to work that draws on existing research and systemic thinking. You should also be ready to contribute to our quarterly learning and improvement report, ensure that procedural guidance for operational staff is up to date, coordinate internal reviews and serious case reviews, and take a lead role in preparing for OFSTED inspections.

Please refer to the Job Description for more information.

About You:

To be successful in this vital role you’ll be an experienced and confident social work leader or manager with excellent knowledge of relevant legislation and statutory frameworks. Thanks to your proven track record of working with children, families, communities and partners, you’ll be ready to constructively challenge colleagues, partner agencies and senior management on matters of safeguarding, while you’ll use your superb communication, presentation and influencing skills as you chair complex meetings and conferences.

Capable of balancing organisational and service-led demands and working under pressure, you’ll possess the skills to negotiate service development issues with senior partners, and analyse and plan strategically to ensure the service we provide meets changing needs. It goes without saying that you’ll have well developed knowledge and experience of complex casework, risk management and care planning, as well as the ability to analyse management information and provide strategic reports.

When it comes to qualifications, we’ll expect you to be educated to degree level and hold a CQSW, CSS, Dip SW or their equivalent. You should also be committed to our equal opportunity policies and the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion, and possess a good understanding of the implications of child protection policies for specific user groups. This should also include substantial knowledge of legislation and government guidance in relation to child care policy a protection.

Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role.

The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a Global Majority (GM), people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities' (formally known as B.A.M.E , Black, Asian and multiple ethnic) background and, while the role is open to all applicants,  we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.

We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants.

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties

As a forward thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.

The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application , we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.