Duty Manager - Emergency Duty Service

Sandwell Children's Trust rated as a Good Provider.

At Sandwell Children's Trust, we firmly believe thatthe voice of the child should be at the centre of everything we do. We are on an ambitious journey to ensure that children and families in Sandwell are safe and empowered to thrive.

Our 'Sandwell Deal' brings together our new improved offering that makes Sandwell Children's Trust a great place to work; it also sets out our expectations of you as a member of staff.

What we can offer you

• Generous annual leave of up to 31 days, plus 5 additional days for long service recognition.
• Your birthday off paid in addition to annual leave entitlement and 8 Bank Holidays, plus a concessionary day at Christmas.
• You will receive a generous local government career average pension scheme with employer contributions of 21.6%.
• We recognise individual loyalty with service awards from 2, 5, 10 and every 5 years onwards.
• Flexible working patterns that suit you and all of our roles have well-defined career progression.
• We provide competitive expenses for both mileage (55p per mile) and subsistence, plus access to a comprehensive employee benefits scheme.

12 months fixed term contract - 37 hours

Band H (SCP 38 - 43) £49,282 - £54,495 per annum dependent on experience

EDS operates a ROTA system with varied shift patterns for weekdays, weekends and bank holidays. The current Duty Manager's shifts are Monday to Thursday from 5:30 pm to 9:00 am, Friday from 5:00 pm to 7.00 am, Saturday and Sunday from 7:00 am -7:00 pm and 7:00 pm to 7:00 am and on a bank holiday where there would be a day shift starting 9:00 am to 5:30 pm.

• EDS provides a service for Sandwell Children's Trust and Sandwell Council, Adult Social Care out of hours.
• The primary responsibility of EDS is to respond to out of hours referrals where intervention from the local authority is required to safeguard a child or adult, and where it would not be safe, appropriate or lawful to delay that intervention to the next working day.
• EDS may also deal with referrals, which are not assessed as emergencies but where delay before intervention by day staff could cause deterioration in the welfare or safety of the subject of the referral.
• EDS is an emergency service so is not intended to provide the same level of service that is available during normal office hours.

As a Duty Manager you will

• Work as part of the Emergency Duty Team working out of hours on a ROTA system, weekdays, weekends and bank holidays.
• Be the single point of contact for Sandwell Children's Trust and Adult Social Care, out of hours during your shift, as a single duty manager covering the whole of Sandwell Children's Trust and Sandwell Council Adult Social Care - at any given time, out of hours.
• While on duty you will assess and prioritise incoming work ensuring that you provide the appropriate response in line with procedure and using your professional judgement.
• Manage complex case work, while on duty and will develop and share the specialist knowledge of other qualified professionals.
• Be required to work on a rota system which includes days, nights, weekends and bank holidays.
• You will be required to be flexible and be able to work as part of the team to cover additional shifts when needed. Know when to seek advice/support from the Team Manager/on call Senior Manager.

Main responsibilities

• Work with children and young people, families, adults with care and support needs, carers and communities to help them make informed decisions, enabling them to clarify and express their needs.
• Organise and chair urgent child protection strategy meetings where appropriate.
• Directly receive, triage and respond to all calls to SCT Emergency Duty Service out of hours in a timely manner.
• Assign work to sessional social work staff and retain responsibility for the quality of work provided.
• Identify risk of abuse and investigate concerns of alleged neglect, abuse or ill-treatment of children; undertake assessments and, where appropriate, arrange accommodation for children, young people.
• Updating case notes and other records, write reports and maintain records as required.
• Operate effectively within multi agency and inter professional partnership settings and meetings.
• To ensure that the team provides a service that meets the needs of all the different statutory requirements and also acts within the various policies and procedures of each discipline.
• To ensure adult and child safeguarding processes are adhered to appropriately.
• Ensure professional decisions are made according to the highest standards, using an evidence base and stand up to scrutiny. Provide appropriate challenge to the decisions of other professionals if required.
• To ensure the provision of effective and efficient services for all Sandwell residents who make contact with EDS outside core working hours.

Required skills & experience

• Social Work qualified and registered with Social Work England.
• Have at least 4 years post qualifying experience working in a statutory or voluntary organisation with children & young people.
• Have a minimum of 2 years' experience of working in a frontline service, which includes lone working.
• Proven experience of directly supervising social workers and other professionals from a variety of backgrounds.
• Have the ability to work independently under pressure.
• Ability to prioritise, be organised and methodical in managing case load.
• Substantial experience of handling challenging and difficult behaviour/situations.
• Experience/understanding of children and adult safeguarding.
• Working knowledge of various legislation, policies and procedures relating to working with children and adults; including Working together 2026, Children Act 1989/2004, Care Act, Mental capacity Act 2005, Mental health act 1983 etc.
• Excellent knowledge of local services and resources. Considerable knowledge of issues and legislation surrounding 'homelessness'.
• Considerable knowledge of police powers including Police Protection, PACE transfer request, etc.
• Ability to present, explain and negotiate the services' activities and objectives in a wide range of contexts.
• Ability to access/use a number of recording systems, i.e. children/adults liquid logic, YOS recording systems, etc.

Sandwell Children's Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable groups including children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Completion of an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check is a requirement for working with children and young people.