Service Manager (Shefford, GB) at Welcome to GOV.UK

Team: Integrated Front Door / MASH

Job Family: Enabling  - CBG14(M)

Salary: £55,585 - £59,163 per annum pro rata + standard MRS £4,650 per annum pro rata and enhanced MRS £10,350 per annum pro rata

Hours: 37 hours per week

Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per month. You will need to attend Priory House on a weekly basis (3 days per week), and as needed to carry out your role.

Contract Type: Permanent – Hybrid

Closing Date: 28th September 2025

Interview Date: Week commencing 6th October 2025

About the role:

Central Bedfordshire Council is excited to offer an opportunity for a Service Manager for the Integrated Front Door, which encompasses the MASH, Child Exploitation and Missing Service and Homeless and Mediation Service. As the Service Manager you will report directly to the Service Director and be a key leader in the strategic management and overseeing of the operational delivery of these teams.

We are proud to share that the IFD, in October 2024, won the National Children and Young People’s award for partnership working. The innovative way in which services work together and the way the MASH works alongside internal children’s services departments and partner agencies was recognised for helping to deliver better services to children and families. The judges said ‘The Integrated Front Door epitomises effective partnership working and serves as an amazing initiative bringing agencies together under one roof.’

As the Service Manager you will have line management responsibility, as well as strategic responsibility, for three teams:

• MASH - The MASH provides a single point of contact for reporting concerns about child safety and wellbeing, bringing together agencies and departments to enable ‘real-time’ sharing of information and support, helping families to access the right support at the right time. There has been significant development within this team through widening, strengthening, and embedding our integrated offer. This role offers the opportunity to continue this pathway of development and reviewing what work wells and best practice, whilst also being a key strategic partner in how the social work reforms are changing and shaping service delivery.
• Child Exploitation and Missing - The Child Exploitation and Missing service provides support to the whole of Children’s Services. The Child Exploitation Lead provides support, consultation, quality assurance and training to enable and promote best working practices for those working with children affected by exploitation. The Child Exploitation Lead also manages the Return Home Interview service, providing support to children who have had a missing episode.
• Homeless and Mediation - The Homeless and Mediation Co-ordinator provides standalone support to the whole of Children’s Services. The Co-ordinator’s role is to work with children and families, lead practitioners and other professionals to ensure all children ‘needing a home or at risk of needing a home’ are offered the right support and are helped to remain with their family or friends where this is possible.

As the Service Manager you will directly line manage the MASH Team Managers, the Child Exploitation Lead and the Homeless and Mediation Co-ordinator. You will provide and give strategic direction and guidance to all three services, while overseeing the operational delivery of these teams. This is a far-reaching role, with the opportunity to further develop the teams and to work within the Pans-Beds model (MASH and CE & Missing)

As a key requisite for this role, you will take the lead in strategically planning, developing and improving services and be empathetic and sensitive to the needs of those reporting to you. You will know how to measure and monitor practice and performance. This is to ensure individuals, and the teams operate to a consistently good standard while remaining diplomatic, fair and robust enough to deal with conflict. You will be an influential negotiator when dealing with potential challenge, both at managerial and strategic level. You will be able to use your excellent communication skills to convey complex messages in a straightforward way, both verbally and in writing. This will include producing reports for strategic and higher executive panels and boards to report on what is being achieved and what is still needed within the teams. Therefore, it is essential you are a problem solver and will not be afraid to think creatively to provide solutions to problems/issues as they arise.

Essential requirements for the Service Manager role include:

• A Social Work qualification.
• Management qualification/training.
• Substantial child safeguarding and child protection management experience.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary environment.
• Being used to making complex decisions at pace.
• Having substantial experience of utilising QA processes to shape service delivery.

This is a great time and opportunity to join Central Bedfordshire Council. In 2025 CBC had our full ILACS where we received a solid ‘Good’ outcome in ALL areas. We are, without doubt, on our way to achieving Outstanding and to do this we need outstanding people to provide an outstanding service to the children and families of Central Bedfordshire.