Service Director Adult Social Care

JOB PURPOSE:

Responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of delivery of adult social care and associated multi- disciplinary teams and services (oversight and signoff where relevant). This includes the process of first contact response, ensuring early help and preventive approach continues to be developed, the assessment/review, safeguarding, support planning, resource allocation into personal budgets, and commissioning link with independent sector providers through care standards.

You will communicate and deliver the achievement of a coherent vision, values, and culture to improve outcomes related to adult social care.

Your role is to be supportive across the corporate leadership team, ensuring that there is suitable political engagement and that you work with all relevant portfolio holders to provide clear and consistent guidance.

• As a Bedford leader, support the Council’s Leadership Team (CLT) and the wider Council in delivering against the Corporate Plan. Work with, support and communicate with elected members to enable appropriate challenge and innovation to take place.

• Make an active and positive contribution to shaping the Council’s strategic plans and policies, as well as to the process of implementing cultural change and organisational development and facilitate the creation of a common purpose.

• Take collective and strategic responsibility for ensuring that the Council’s decisions and policies are implemented.

• Support the Corporate Leadership Team and the Council in fulfilling its Community leadership role. Champion partnership work with other services and stakeholders as well as providing leadership, support and challenge as part of the Council’s community leadership and Place role.

• Communicate the Council’s objectives and priorities effectively, both internally to staff and externally to partners, agencies and the public. Act as an ambassador for and to promote the Council locally, regionally and nationally.

• Evaluate, contribute and ensure the delivery of targets as set out in the Council’s Performance Management Framework, the Corporate Plan and Service Plan. This includes working to enhance organisational expertise in performance and contract management.

• Lead on cross cutting issues, utilising matrix management to engage talent across the council breaking down internal boundaries to deliver a seamless service to customers (internal and external).

• Promote a culture of collaboration by sharing knowledge and resources across the council (one team approach).

• Demonstrate an entrepreneurial approach to identifying and pursuing as appropriate, all additional sources of funding or other resources, which could be used to augment those provided by the Council, ensuring that these are fully compliant with the Council’s financial regulations.

• Lead by example in championing and furthering equality, diversity and inclusion within the workplace and in the delivery of services. Promote an open and supportive culture which maximises the potential of employees across the council and encourages inclusivity, innovation and high performance.

• Contribute to the leadership of the organisation, ensuring a high calibre, motivated and effective and empowered workforce, and one that is nurturing the leaders of the future. Recognise and acknowledge good performance and tackle poor performance positively and effectively. Create an environment in which services/teams/individuals can develop, perform and feel valued as well as actively promoting a culture of employee wellbeing and support.

• Seek innovative and creative solutions to meeting the Council’s need to bring about continuous improvement within finite resources. Working collaboratively to own and drive forward a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring that effective budget, performance and risk management becomes embedded across all services/activities.

• Champion transformation across the Council in order to achieve the required efficiencies now and in the future. Promoting an organisational culture which is inclusive, forward looking and embraces change.

• Make an active contribution to the Council’s commitment to fulfil its corporate parenting responsibilities.

• Contribute to Emergency Planning and Business continuity within the Council which will include undertaking activities and responding to incidents as required.

• Act in the capacity of building manager for those assets (and relevant procedures) within your remit identified as part of the Building Managers Handbook and delegate responsibilities accordingly.

• Support the Council’s commitment to tackle the climate emergency and contribute to the target that by 2030, the Council’s own operations will be clean and efficient, and play a positive role enabling the wider borough to achieve net-zero emissions. To provide leadership in this area and ensure that any decisions taken forward are in support of this target and consideration is followed.