Deputy Service Manager WCC622157

Job Details:

Salary range: £62,742 - £66,084 per annum. Salary negotiable depending upon experience
Work location: 4 Frampton Street, London, NW8 8LF
Hours per week: 36
Contract type: 2x Permanent and 1x Temporary up to 12 months
Vetting requirements: Enhanced DBS Check
Closing date: 19 September 2025
Interview date: 29 or 30 September 2025

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF KAKOLI’S PASSION AND DRIVE

Children’s Services in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories. Where inspirational people like Kakoli are dedicated to encouraging everyone they work with to be the very best they can be.

Ever since she was a child, Kakoli has believed that children are the ones who’ll change the world for the better. Who’ll create the future we all wish for. And she always knew her calling was to get on the front line and help those who might not be as fortunate as herself.

Driven and passionate about making a difference, she first joined Westminster as a Social Work Assistant, and her managers immediately saw she had huge potential, so they encouraged her to apply to study for a degree in social work. She passed with flying colours, and over the next fourteen years worked as a frontline Social Worker, a Senior Social Worker, a Deputy Service Manager and is now one of our Service Managers.

Kakoli’s vision is as clear now as it was all those years ago – to encourage and support children, and help them grow in safe, vibrant communities. Her achievements are many, but she’s most proud of the fact that these days Westminster doesn’t ‘do things for families’ but ‘does things with families’. And she believes this huge but subtle difference to the way we work has allowed thousands of children in Westminster to fulfil their potential and live their dreams.

The Role:

As a Deputy Service Manager working with one of our Child Protection teams, you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster’s success. We currently have three vacancies – our North West Safeguarding Locality Team, Looked After Children & Leaving Care Team and the Assessment Team (temporary up to 12 months) – but whichever one you join you’ll assist with the development of policy and strategy, working to ensure the service is effective, adapts to change and delivers good outcomes for the children, young people and families we support.

Supervising a group of social workers, senior practitioners and another specialist staff in the day-to-day delivery of the services we provide, you’ll be responsible for their performance and professional development, and the safeguarding, care planning and case management of the service users in your care. You’ll also work as part of the management team, providing leadership and support in all relevant aspects of the service such as development, quality assurance and ensuring best value for the council and the diverse communities we serve.

You’ll have a number of additional responsibilities – these include helping to manage the team’s budgets, contributing to the divisional, departmental and City Council budget management processes, and ensuring that high-cost cases are managed to minimise risk to the service user, the public and budgets. We’ll also expect you to alert the Service Manager to significant risks to the service, the reputation of the City Council or any other area, and be responsible for developing a plan to respond to risk.

Please refer to the for more information.

About You:

To be a success in this significant and vital role, you’ll have well developed experience of working with children and families in a statutory setting, and the ability to collaborate with professional networks, chair meetings and resolve conflict. It’s important that you’re capable of using systemic practice and similar models of change, and in addition to possessing experience of working with agencies such as CAMHS, therapists, adult services, housing and schools, you should also have a good understanding of the courts and how they work.

An inspirational manager and developer of students and your colleagues, and ready to role model effective assessment, intervention and engagement skills with families, children and young people, you’ll be open to both receiving and providing constructive feedback. Reflective and reflexive in your own practice, and capable of helping others develop these skills, we’ll also expect you to integrate sound professional knowledge into your social work and managerial practice.

Your good workload management skills will allow you to manage the fluctuating demands of your caseload, while your excellent communication and interpersonal skills will see you inspiring and motivating everyone you work with. A confident user of IT software applications, you should also possess a good understanding of the statutory framework of the Children Act 1989 and 2004 and other relevant legislation. When it comes to formal education, you should have a degree in Social Work or an alternative recognised qualification, be registered with Social Work England and hold an enhanced DBS check.

Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role.

The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a Global Majority (GM), people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities' (formally known as B.A.M.E , Black, Asian and multiple ethnic) background and, while the role is open to all applicants, we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe. 


At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit


As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.


The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.