Location
London Borough of Lewisham, Ground Floor, Old Town Hall, Catford Road, SE6 4RU. Hybrid working approach with a requirement to work both in the office and from home regularly.

Hours
Full Time

Salary
£62,634 - £64,815 per annum (SWTM). All appointments will be offered at the minimum spinal column point (SCP) for the grade of the role, except where matching current salary (up to the maximum of the scale) is evidenced.

About the Role
Discover yourself in Lewisham where your work makes a difference to vibrant and culturally diverse communities. Lewisham is proud to be the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary, championing the rights of refugees and migrants.

An exciting opportunity exists as part of the DfE Pathfinder project for an experienced team manager to lead one of the newly established Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams. This team focuses on safeguarding adolescents at risk of or experiencing extra-familial harm, including child criminal exploitation, child sexual exploitation, serious youth violence, peer-on-peer harm, missing episodes, and other contextual safeguarding concerns.

The team works closely with Police, Youth Justice, Education, Health, and Family Help services to strengthen protection planning and improve outcomes for vulnerable adolescents.

Key responsibilities include chairing or attending all strategy discussions and child protection conferences, chairing the Daily Intelligence Briefing and Group Supervision, co-working all Section 47 enquiries, child protection cases, Public Law Outline cases, and early stages of care proceedings with Risk Outside The Home Team and Family Help. The role also involves providing quality assurance, consultation, and advice across all stages of child protection work.

The Multi-Agency Child Protection Team operates within the Integrated Adolescent Service and provides specialist oversight of safeguarding concerns involving adolescents. Daily partnership working with Child Exploitation Police, Serious Youth Violence Police, Youth Justice Services, Family First Contact Point, and Risk Outside The Home & Family Help Teams is a key feature of this role.

Lewisham Council offers excellent training and development opportunities and a range of benefits including generous holiday allowance, Local Government Pension Scheme, flexible working and family-friendly policies, season ticket and bicycle loans, staff discounts including local subsidised gym memberships, and supportive staff networks.

Experience
Proven experience supervising staff and working in frontline operational safeguarding practice. Thorough knowledge of child protection and Public Law Outline (PLO)/court processes and accompanying legislation. Experience leading practice involving adolescents at risk of exploitation, serious youth violence, and other contextual safeguarding concerns is highly desirable. Confident in managing complex risk, professional challenge, and multi-agency decision making. Skilled in building effective working relationships with key partner agencies such as health, education, and the police.

About you
A manager who understands adolescent development and the unique safeguarding challenges faced by teenagers. Committed to relationship-based practice, understanding risk beyond the family home, and ensuring young people are supported through coordinated multi-agency safeguarding responses.

Qualifications
A degree in social work or equivalent qualification is required. Must be registered with Social Work England. The role is subject to an enhanced DBS check.