Children & Families Head of Service – Families First (Quality & Performance)

Children & Families Head of Service – Families First (Quality & Performance)

About the Team:

Now is an exciting time to be part of Warwickshire’s Children & Families team as we continue to embed the Families First approach across our teams to support the young people in our County. Our approach is about locality working, multi disciplinary and multi agency teams that support the whole family. Building strong partnerships with local services, Health, Police and Education.

About the Role:

We are seeking an experienced and ambitious leader to join our Children & Families leadership team as Head of Service – Families First (Quality & Performance).

This is a key strategic role within Warwickshire County Council, responsible for driving forward our Families First approach, strengthening quality assurance, and ensuring strong performance across Children’s Services. The postholder will play a central role in delivering continued system-wide improvement, working closely with partners across the safeguarding system.

You will provide strategic leadership, ensuring services are delivered and commissioned effectively, proportionately, and with a clear focus on improving outcomes for children and families. You will lead on quality assurance, performance management, inspection readiness and continuous improvement, supporting the delivery of our wider charge ambitions.

We are looking for a senior leader with:

• Significant experience in children’s social care and safeguarding.
• Social work qualification and registration
• A strong track record of leading improvement and transformation.
• Expertise in quality assurance and performance.
• The ability to work effectively across complex multi-agency partnerships.
• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to inspire and deliver through others.

This is an exciting opportunity to shape and influence the next phase of our Families First programme and make a real difference to children and families across Warwickshire.

Key Requirements:

This is a fixed term position to 31 March 2028

The role will be based at Shire Hall, Warwick but will require commitment to travel around the County to support best practice across our teams and partner agencies.

Applicants for the role will need a professional Social Work qualification and Social Work England Registration.

If you want to build strong relationships and connections with families, join Warwickshire’s Children and Families service.

Click here to download our Why work for Us Brochure

For further information please see the Job Description and Person Specification below:

https://api.warwickshire.gov.uk/documents/WCCC-434952789-8505

Working for Warwickshire – This is the difference you make:

Warwickshire County Council is a place where everyone feels valued, included, safe, supported, and welcome. Our people are at the heart of this vision, could you be one of them!

At Warwickshire County Council we are committed to ensuring Warwickshire’s economy is vibrant and supported by the right jobs, training, skills and infrastructure.  Our people vision for Warwickshire County Council is a great place to work where diverse and talented people are enabled to be their best.

Your future matters to us, we provide a generous pension scheme which includes an employer contribution rate of typically around 19 percent per month, to help support your financial security during retirement. The scheme also offers a valuable package of benefits for members and their dependants. To find out more please visit: Warwickshire Pension Fund homepage – Warwickshire Pension Fund.

The benefits we offer include agile working, a valuable part of the pay and reward package for employees working in local government, generous annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays and an additional day at Christmas, and access to Vivup benefits and discounts platform.

Click here to view the benefits at Warwickshire County Council.

Additional Information:

Warwickshire County Council are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. Please be advised successful applicants will be subject to a range of pre-engagement checks, including a relevant Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS). In accordance with the DBS code of practice and our own policy, should an individual have a declared criminal offence an individual assessment will be completed. Warwickshire County Council adheres to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

For an informal discussion contact by email: John Coleman Executive Director Children & Young People JohnColeman@warwickshire.gov.uk  or Sharon Shaw Director Children & Families sharonshaw@warwickshire.gov.uk

Closing Date: Monday 6th July 2026

Interview Date: Week of 13th July 2026

Should you require application forms in an alternative format / language or any adjustments to be made throughout the application process or upon appointment, please contact hrandpayroll@warwickshire.gov.uk and we will make every effort to meet your specific requirements.

Warwickshire County Council is committed to equality of opportunity for all employees and is keen to address areas of under representation in its workforce. See more