Service Leader Youth Justice and Complex Safeguarding

Stockport

Full Time

Temporary

Expires 06/08/2025

About the Role

Service Leader Youth Justice and Complex Safeguarding
MB2 (£59,395 - £67,990)
37 hours, Full-Time
Temporary (up to 12 months)
Hybrid: Central House Offices and homeworking around the needs of the service.

Application Deadline: 6th August 2025 11:59pm
Please be aware that we may close this vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Shortlisting Date: 7th August 2025
Interview Date: w/c 11th August 2025
Interview Type: Face to Face Interview

While we embrace the use of AI as an innovative tool to maximise our services at Stockport Council, we are looking for authenticity in applications we receive. We therefore ask you to think carefully if choosing to use AI when completing your application and ask that you ensure you read all instructions carefully and that your application is written by you and reflects your skills, knowledge and enthusiasm.

Join us at Stockport Council MJ Local Authority of the Year 2025

Your Role

Stockport Council is seeking a dynamic and experienced Service Leader to join our award-winning team, recently named MJ Local Authority of the Year 2025. This is a pivotal leadership role within our Youth Justice and Complex Safeguarding Service, part of the integrated Stockport Family model.

You will provide strategic leadership and management oversight for Youth Justice, Complex Safeguarding & Missing from Home within Stockport Family, ensuring that a multi-agency integrated approach delivers improved outcomes for children, young people and their families improving participation, family functioning and resilience.

You will lead a multi-agency team delivering high-quality, evidence-based services to prevent offending and reoffending among children and young people and be passionate about keeping children safe.

You will be creative and ambitious working with partners to deliver Stockport’s Youth Justice Plan, preparation for HMI inspection and contribute to Greater Manchester’s strategic initiatives.

About You

• Recent experience of leading and managing youth justice, exploitation and/or equivalent services at a strategic level.
• Experience of managing, motivating and leading multi-agency services building on the strengths of different disciplines, competing priorities and driving forward good practice, whilst maintaining resilience and focus.
• Significant recent experience of oversight and response to regulation and HMI inspections.
• Experience of service planning and of leading change/redesign programmes.
• Extensive knowledge of relevant legislation, policy and guidance in relation to youth justice services, complex safeguarding, managing risk and delivering intensive services to complex families.
• High level of communication skills, both oral and written, with the ability to analyse and interpret information and data and to present to a wider audience.
• Ability to think and operate strategically, be skilled in negotiating, influencing, and sustaining effective strategic relationships with partnership agencies, elected members, other local authorities, government departments.
• Experience of co-production and involving children and families in planning and delivery of services.
• Social Work qualification with registration from the relevant regulatory body.
• Management and leadership qualification/training in a relevant field
• Can work flexibly, including out-of-hours as part of a management duty rota.

About Us

• Working to the Council’s values and behaviours by:
• Keeping the people of Stockport at the heart of what we do
• Succeeding as a team, collaborating with colleagues and partners
• Driving things forward with ambition, creativity and confidence
• Showing value and respect to our colleagues, partners and customers.
• Flexible and hybrid working
• Strong leadership team
• Access to the councils’ benefits, wellbeing and support services
• Opportunities for training and professional career development
• Working to the Council’s values and behaviours by:
• Keeping the people of Stockport at the heart of what we do
• Succeeding as a team, collaborating with colleagues and partners
• Driving things forward with ambition, creativity and confidence
• Showing value and respect to our colleagues, partners and customers.

At Stockport Council we are one ambitious team on a mission to create opportunities for everyone who lives, works and spends time in the borough. Working at Stockport Council means contributing to one of the most thriving towns in the North. We’re keen to recruit people with the right values and behaviours that can help us ensure our workplace values are at the heart of everything we do.

We are proud to be recognised under the Good Employment Charter as an organisation committed to the wellbeing of our colleagues. As members of the charter, we have been recognised as a great place to work for all colleagues and pledge to pay the real living wage, engage staff in key decisions and endorse fair and flexible working conditions.

If you would like to find out more about the role please contact Jeanette Warburton [emailprotected] for an informal discussion about the role.

The successful applicant’s appointment will be subject to satisfactory pre-employment clearances including a Disclosure and Barring Service check.

This post is politically restricted under the terms of the 1989 Local Government and Housing Act. This dictates that you must seek the council’s permission before taking up any additional appointments or positions.

Stockport Council holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not currently qualify.

Please note that we have made a commitment to improve the employment opportunities for people with disabilities, care leavers and ex-military personnel. As part of the Guaranteed Assessment Scheme you will therefore be guaranteed to be shortlisted for Assessment if you meet both the criteria for the scheme and the essential job role criteria.

Follow our recruitment team on X , Instagram and Facebook for updates on our vacancies and recruitment events.

Stockport Council is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce culture - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and communities to join our workforce.

We want our employees to have a good work life balance and in many job roles we can offer a range of flexible/hybrid working arrangements. We also have inclusive employment policies and staff engagement forums to support our diverse workforce. We will listen to, learn from, and develop our workforce.

Grand Central, Stockport, SK1 3TA, United Kingdom

A generous annual leave allowance, up to 30 days annual leave dependent on grade and length of service, plus bank holidays with the option to purchase additional annual leave

Work and personal life balance. Many jobs include part time working, flexi-time and homeworking

Employee engagement networks to support colleagues and create opportunities to feed into both workforce and borough strategies

Support for volunteering by allowing up to 4 hours per month (pro rata) to carry out any duties associated with this

Learning and Development

A suite of learning and development opportunities, from important data protection training to all level apprenticeships

Discounts

A huge range of discounts via an easy to use portal, including: Gym memberships, restaurants, events, travel, cycle to work scheme, home electronics and more.

Access to an employee support hotline, available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

Pension Scheme

Option to join the Local Government Pension Scheme and give your pension a boost by enrolling into a salary sacrifice scheme.

Our Recruitment Journey

Seen a job you’re interested in but want to understand more about our recruitment process?

1

Application stage

When you have seen a job, you are interested in you can submit your application online by clicking ‘Apply Now’, some vacancies will ask you to complete a supporting statement where you should address the About You section of the Job Profile for the role. Other vacancies will ask you to upload a CV.

2

Shortlisting

In keeping with our commitment to inclusion, recruiting managers take an anonymised approach to recruiting when shortlisting your application form. They will use the supporting information section of your application and your work history to assess your suitability for the job. You'll be notified of the outcome of your application form via email and if successful you'll be invited to book an interview slot.

3

Interviews

When preparing for the interview, you should familiarise yourself with the job profile. The About You section of the job profile contains the criteria that will be assessed at interview stage. You can prepare for interview by ensuring that you have clear examples relating to how you have met these criteria. If you require any reasonable adjustments because of a disability under the Equality Act, to assist you during the selection process we would be pleased to discuss them with you on [emailprotected]

4

Offer stage and pre-employment checks

Offer stage and pre-employment checks If you're offered the job after interviewing, you'll be sent a conditional offer detailing your new role. Along with the conditional contract and offer letter, our team will be in touch regarding your pre-employment checks.

The pre-employment checks that you will need to undertake will depend on the role that you've applied for. These checks may include:
• right to work in the UK
• Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

The information provided will be dealt with in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice
• gaps in employment
• reference checks. We will request references prior to issuing your conditional contract
• pre-employment health declaration
• qualification checks