Director of Children's Social Care and Early Help

Small enough to care, large enough to make a difference.

Thurrock is changing, and with change comes huge opportunity. Over the next two years, we will be going through Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) as part of the Greater Essex Footprint forming new larger Unitary Authorities, as well as seeing the creation of a Mayoral Combined Authority for the region in May 2026. Like all local authorities, we’ll also be working to implement changes following the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill as well as transforming our services as part of the Families First Partnership (FFP model). There has never been a more exciting time to join us.

At Thurrock we take a whole council approach to improving the lives of our children and young people, placing them at the heart of all that we do. We were recently graded as Outstanding across all areas by Ofsted, and are deeply passionate about delivering the very best outcomes that our children and young people deserve.

Reporting to Sheila Murphy, Executive Director of Children’s Services, you’ll provide strategic leadership, vision and direction across children’s social care and early help, ensuring practice and values deliver positive outcomes for children, young people and their families. The incoming Director will work closely with the Executive Director and the wider the children’s leadership team, to deliver innovative solutions to truly transform services, and further improve outcomes. You’ll also work closely with our key partners across education, health and police to influence across the system. Your key focus will be keeping our services at Outstanding, whilst navigating LGR and social care reform.

An experienced social care senior manager, you’ll be a collaborative team player with the ability to motivate and empower your teams. You’ll have broad experience across early help and social care, and have a track record of working closely with partners and elected members. We are looking for someone ambitious and resilient, with excellent leadership skills, comfortable with change and the ability to think creatively to tackle the complex challenges we face as a sector.

This a fantastic opportunity to join a local authority who will truly invest in your development and support you to reach your full potential. There will be opportunities to deputise for the Executive Director and operate outside your direct sphere of influence. Thurrock is a local authority where you can really get to know your staff and the children we serve - we’re small enough to care but large enough to make a difference.

If you possess the skills and experience we seek and share our passion for improving the lives of our children and young people, we would love to hear from you.

To Apply
For an informal discussion about the role, please contact:

• Anita Denton (07725 554802 / anita.denton@tile-hill.co.uk)
• Zarvesha Rasool (07551 392696 / zarvesha.rasool@tile-hill.co.uk)
• Chris Barrow (07437 839048 / chris.barrow@tile-hill.co.uk)

To find out more about the role, the place and how to apply, please visit: www.leading-thurrock.co.uk
  
Closing date: midnight on Monday 26th May 2025

To apply:
To apply, please submit an up-to-date copy of your CV (three sides of A4 maximum), along with a supporting statement (three 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 anna.shepherd@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);
• Details of your current salary and notice period
• Notification of any dates when you are not available for an interview.

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.