Director of Children and Families

Take our Children’s Services from good to great
  
Central Bedfordshire Council has been on an incredible journey since its formation in 2009. Alongside enviable service improvements we have become a leaner and more efficient organisation, with an agile and empowered workforce. We’ve built and grown sustainably and put the Council on a firm and stable footing, which will allow our communities, businesses, and people to thrive. Our strategic plan reaffirms our values and focus, and we are now seeking three inspirational leaders who share our ambition.
  
There has never been a greater need for us to work corporately across the council, with other local authorities, wider partnerships, and with our communities. Our children’s services are performing well, and as a wider council we are implementing a bold plan to reset how we operate internally and how we engage with our customers, making the best use of technology to free up our skilled workforce to focus on what they do best; making a real difference. We’ve also made a lot of exciting capital investments, and been very successful in bringing external funding which is opening up a diverse set of opportunities and which will help to define our future growth.

About the role
We’re incredibly proud of our children’s services here in Central Bedfordshire. Our latest Ofsted ILACS rating was ‘Good’ across the board, and we have had a very positive focussed visit earlier this year.   
  
As statutory DCS, your key priorities will be to build on our good practice to deliver outstanding outcomes for our children and young people – ensuring we keep them safe and helping them to thrive. We have similar challenges to most local authorities around our children’s services budget, so there will be a focus on ensuring services are high performing whilst also sustainable. Other priorities include delivering the programme of change from 3 tier schools to 2 tier, and managing the demand for SEND services through investment, innovation, and policy development. To achieve this, you’ll work collaboratively with corporate colleagues, partners, and our children, young people and their families. It is crucial that we maintain our child and family centred services, with the voice of children at the very centre of everything we do. 

About you
We’re looking for a Director of Children and Families to build on the strong foundations in place to take us from good to great. A Director who empowers the workforce to achieve the very best for all children, young people, and their families in Central Bedfordshire.
  
You will be joining an ambitious council, with a friendly and collegiate culture, who have been successful in delivering innovation and different ways of working. If you share our ambition to truly put Central Bedfordshire on the map, then we would love to hear from you.
  
To find out more and to apply, visit www.shapingcentralbeds.co.uk  or, for a confidential conversation, call our retained consultants at Tile Hill, Anita Denton on 07725 554802 or Chris Barrow on 07437 839048.

To view the full job description click here.

Closing date: midnight on Sunday 2nd June 2024

To apply:
To apply, please submit an up-to-date copy of your CV (four sides of A4 maximum), along with a supporting statement (four sides of A4 maximum) detailing your experience, and achievements and addressing the key criteria for the role set out on this site and using examples to demonstrate how you meet the requirements. Documents should be uploaded via our website, please include and upload the below information in two documents only. If you experience any issues whilst applying, please contact abbie.hamilton-grant@tile-hill.co.uk

Applications should include:

• Full contact details;
• Names, positions, organisations and contact details for two referees (we will ask your permission before contacting referees);
• Notification of any dates when you are not available for an interview.

Recruitment Timeline:

• Closing date: Sunday 2nd June at midnight 
• Longlist Meeting (no candidate involvement): Monday 10th or Tuesday 11th June (Date TBC)
• Preliminary Interviews (virtual): w/c 17th June
• Shortlist Meeting (no candidate involvement): Monday 1st or Tuesday 2nd July (Date TBC)
• Assessment Day (in person): w/c 15th July 
• Final Panel Interviews (in person): w/c 22nd July 

At Tile Hill, we are committed to inclusion and accessibility. We champion and support all individuals to ensure everyone feels valued, listened to and motivated to get the very best out of each recruitment process and that processes are designed to meet the needs of individuals. If you have any specific requests and would like a confidential discussion with the Tile Hill team, then please email inclusion@tile-hill.co.uk.