Children's Team Manager Family Safeguarding (reference: SCC/TP/287946/4330)

Surrey County Council; Guildford; On-site; GBP 54,000 - 59,000; Part time

Job summary

A local authority in Guildford seeks a Team Manager for their Family Safeguarding Team on a six-month secondment. The position requires managing social workers, supporting their development, and contributing to service strategies. The role offers a salary range of £54,636 to £58,953, with additional benefits including relocation packages and professional development opportunities. Applicants must be registered with Social Work England and already work for Surrey County Council.

Benefits

Relocation package

Social Worker Registration fee paid

Annual leave up to 30 days

Car lease scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Wellbeing discounts

Referral bonuses

Qualifications

• Experience in managing a social work team.
• Ability to support staff development and training.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills.

Responsibilities

• Manage and support social workers in the Family Safeguarding Team.
• Contribute to service strategies and policies.
• Ensure safe practice and effective management of workloads.

Skills

Leadership

Social work practice

Team management

Motivational interviewing

Education

Registered with Social Work England

Job description

Children's Team Manager Family Safeguarding

Details

• Reference: SCC/TP/287946/4330
• Positions: 1
• Salary: £54,636 - £58,953 per annum plus an additional £5,000 supplement
• Category: Qualified Social Work - Children's
• Contract type: Secondment
• Working hours: 36
• Posted on: 19 December 2025
• Location: Guildford, Surrey

We are committed to the development of our workforce.This position is only available to applicants who already work for Surrey County Council. We thank you for your interest in our roles and would encourage you to review our vacancies which are open to all.

We have an opportunity for a Team Manager to join our Family Safeguarding Team based across West Surrey covering the Guildford area. This is a 6 month secondment contract. Please discuss with your Line Manager before submitting your application.

The salary range for Team Managers is£59,636 - £63,953 per annum. This is inclusive of a newly created market supplement of £5,000.

We also offer afinancial package of up to £6,000 which is payable in 3 instalments across your first 18 months in post.

Our Offer To You:

• A competitive relocation package of up to £8,000
• We pay your Social Worker England Registration fee
• 28days annual leave, rising to 30days after 5years' service (plus bank holidays)
• Access to our car lease scheme
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave and 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• Wellbeing and lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, and shopping
• A chance to make a real difference to the lives of our residents
• Refer a friend payment of £1,000 as a thank you for finding the right Social Worker

About Surrey

Our Surrey Children's Services are actively working towards becoming a high-performing local authority, evidenced by the fact we are now starting to realise the positive impacts of the Family Safeguarding practice model in action with reductions in the number of children subject to child protection plans. We are working hard to sustain and develop our progress and this is driven by the efforts of every member of our social care workforce from our business support and family support workers to our frontline practitioners through to leadership- all working together to create and sustain the right conditions for a positive culture and well-supported workforce equipped to deliver consistent and good quality social work practice for our children and families.

Our Progress

We are proud of our recentGood Ofsted judgement, which marks a significant milestone for Surrey. The report highlights that our social workers are "skilled at building relationships with children who are subject of children in need or child protection plans. Creative direct work helps them to build a rounded understanding of children's daily lives." "They also build positive relationships with parents, enabling honest and sometimes difficult conversations." Overall "Staff are well-trained and committed, feel highly valued and are proud to work in Surrey."You can read the full reportHERE.

If you are considering your next professional opportunity and looking for an ambitious and highly motivated employer who is continuously striving for better services for children and young people, then our Surrey Children's Services would love to hear from you.

About our Family Safeguarding Service

Our Family Safeguarding service are overseen by Assistant Directors- Catherine Watkins and Fiona Wraith who have co- responsibility for our Family Safeguarding Model, Child In Need, as well as pre and court proceedings.

Within Family Safeguarding we use motivational interviewing, multi-agency approach under the Family Safeguarding model, where Social Workers, Family Support Workers, Domestic Abuse Practitioners, Recovery Workers, Mental Health Practitioners, and Psychologists collaborate closely to address family issues efficiently, reducing the need for referrals to other agencies.

To help us achieve our ambitions for children and families we are looking for dedicated, and compassionate practitioners who are child focused and committed to relationship-based social work to join us.

As a Team Manager in Surrey you'll play a critical role in supporting social workers and helping your service manager to ensure the service you team provides is forward thinking, responsive and meets the diverse needs of our children and young people.You will do this by contributing to service strategies, policy and procedures as required and will be responsible for managing, motivating and developing your team by sharing your professional leadership and support to help them deliver safe practice and effective management of their workloads.

We strive to provide a supportive and dynamic work environment for our employees, that fosters growth, maintains work-life balance, and rewards efforts. We guarantee 5 days of CPD and have access to excellent research and development tools such as Community Care Inform, Care Knowledge and Research In Practice.

Why Choose Surrey?

Surrey is a large and ambitious local authority meaning we can draw from a range of available resources to support the delivery of our services to children and their families, but that's just part of it.It's our staff that truly make the difference day in day out and we'd like to share with you some of their insights as to why they choose to be part of Surrey Children's social care workforce.

Our staff highlighted that you can expect…

• Positive team and colleague relationships- You'll have the opportunity to be part of a team that thrives on positive working relationships, where collaboration with supportive colleagues in your team, across the organisation and with key partners will enable and enrich your practice.
• Flexibility and work-life balance- We are committed to agile working and trust you to adapt your schedule to suit your needs, balancing this against the need to visit your children and families. It is our expectation that staff attend the office at least 2 days per week.
• Opportunities and support for professional development- You can benefit from a structured environment that encourages growth and development.You'll have access to ongoing training opportunities via our Surrey Children's Service Academy, including our coaching and mentoring scheme, a well-structured progression pathway, learning opportunities and reflective and task focused supervision.
• A sense of belonging and familiarity- You'll be part of our welcoming and approachable social work family where you'll be able to draw on the knowledge of established team members to support your understanding of the local area and available resources, working for a team where your individual expertise are valued and where you can have fun together.
• A focus on wellbeing- We recognise that you are a valuable asset and key to unlocking the positive changes we aspire for with our children and families.The job you do is serious therefore we take your well being seriously and recognise the need for reflective supervision where wellbeing is front and centre of the conversation.

Our Inclusive Approach

To apply you will need to upload your CV and answer the following questions. (No more than 200 words per question):

• Please tell us what has motivated you to apply for this role?
• Please tell us about the key skills and experience you will be able to bring to this role.
• What is your understanding of Surrey's Practice Model for family safeguarding? Can you describe the strengths and challenges of this model?

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description & OurLife at Surrey handbook to get an insight into working at Surrey.

Next Steps

If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to a short first round virtual interview to explore your answers to the above questions (lasting approx. 15- 20 min). If successful following this, you will be invited for an in person interview, allowing you to meet the team, check out your potential office and get a feel for what your journey might look like.

We are committed to inclusive recruitment. That's why, if you're invited to a face-to-face interview, we'll share the themes of the questions with you in advance. This way, you can prepare and feel comfortable, allowing you to confidently discuss your skills and experiences.

Contact Us

Our friendly teams could talk your socks off when it comes to all things Social Work. We'd love to hear from you and find out more about what you're looking for so if you'd like to talk to us please just drop a quick message [e-mail] and we'll get a call arranged. We look forward to hearing from you!

The job advert closes at 23:59 on the 31st December 2025.

An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.

You will need to be registered with Social Work England.

Surrey has both urban and rural areas and locality based social workers will be expected to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK, access to a vehicle and be willing to travel across a wide geographical area. Reasonable adjustments where needed will be made for successful applicants who have a disability or long term health condition to enable them to fulfil the requirements of the job.

Local Government Reorganisation

Surrey County Council is preparing for Local Government Reorganisation which will allow us to implement the Government led policy of devolution, which is all about giving more powers to local areas.

Currently, Surrey has a two-tier council system, with 11 district and borough councils and a county council, all responsible for different services. All these councils will be reorganised into a smaller number of new unitary councils which will come into effect in April 2027. At this point, this role will be transferred, with all existing terms and conditions intact into one of the new unitary councils.

We are a disability confident employer which means if you have shared a disability on your application form and have evidenced you meet the minimum criteria, we guarantee you an interview.

Your skills and experience truly matter to us. From application to your first day, we're committed to supporting you with any adjustments you need, we value inclusion and warmly welcome you to join and help build a workplace where everyone belongs.