Job Description

About the Borough
In Sutton, there is much for us to be proud of both as a council and as a borough. This includes high levels of resident satisfaction, the quality of our services, our success in addressing our financial challenges to date, the way that we involve and engage with residents on key issues facing the borough, and the enthusiastic and motivated staff that we employ.
Looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed, while the Council is also seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment.
All of this demonstrates a good track record and an authority that is ambitious and set to deliver more improvements for the borough. We've set out our vision for the future of Sutton in our corporate plan - Ambitious for Sutton. This strategic plan will shape the outcomes we achieve, the services we provide, and the impact we have on residents, to make Sutton a great place to live, work and raise a family.
Situated in Zone 5, Sutton is less than 30 minutes by train from central London, and south and south west London are easily accessible by public transport. There are 10 train stations which serve key neighbourhoods within the borough providing direct connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars and St Pancras International. Sutton also has direct rail connections with Epsom, Dorking, Guildford and Horsham, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and West Croydon for the London Overground. There's also an extensive road network which provides close and easy access to the M25 and M23.
About the Service and Team
The London Borough of Sutton "is uncompromising in its focus on improving quality of frontline social work" - Ofsted
London Borough of Sutton works closely with Kingston University and regional partners as part of the Developing Together Social Work Teaching Partnership (SWTP). The partnership offers staff a wide range of pre and post qualifying education opportunities to promote continuous learning and development. This includes staff being encouraged to support the practice education of Social Work students and those in the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE). Staff are also given the opportunity to attend conferences, workshops and have access to research and practice resources to support their ongoing professional development.
Children's Social Care is going through an important change to meet the growing needs of the children and families we support. We are making many improvements to ensure that care for children is better and to create positive working environments for our staff. With committed leaders and experienced managers, we are bringing fresh ideas to our work and are helping to make real improvements in how we support children and families. Our aim is to provide high-quality care that helps children thrive while also creating an inclusive, diverse, and supportive environment for our staff to develop their careers.
About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate
We have an exciting opportunity to join us as a Domestic Abuse Lead and Commissioning Manager within Children's Social Care at the London Borough of Sutton. This opportunity is available on a secondment for 12 months, with a view of extending. Our objective is to support those experiencing domestic abuse and to ensure support is visible to all. Reporting to the Service Manager, you will lead on the development and implementation of strategies to address domestic abuse, ensuring the safety and well-being of children and young people. You will also oversee the commissioning of services aimed at supporting victims and their families, working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders to deliver effective, evidence-based interventions.
. Your responsibilities will include::

• Leading on the development, implementation, and review of domestic abuse strategies within children's social care.
• Managing the commissioning process for domestic abuse services, ensuring value for money and service quality.
• Work closely with multi-agency partners, including police, health, and voluntary sector organizations, to coordinate responses to domestic abuse.
• Provide expert advice and guidance to social care teams on domestic abuse issues affecting children and families.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of commissioned services and make improvements as necessary.
• Lead on training and awareness initiatives to improve understanding of domestic abuse within the organization.
• Ensure compliance with relevant legislation, policies, and safeguarding standards.

In this role, you will coordinate multi-agency partnerships, represent the council in strategic groups, and actively identify funding opportunities to enhance our domestic abuse response. You will oversee provider management to ensure that services meet high standards of quality, deliver value for money, and remain in full contractual compliance. Additionally, you will support emergency planning arrangements related to domestic abuse, ensuring effective preparation and coordination during crises. Managing budgets effectively, you will deliver savings and support financial planning initiatives that align with the council's strategic objectives, ensuring sustainable and impactful service delivery. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to make a real difference to the way we deliver our service, to address issues of domestic abuse and provide the necessary expertise to the delivery of high quality management of commissioned domestic abuse services within Children's Social Care.
The Ideal Candidate
This role is a great opportunity for

• an experienced practitioner with experience of working within a domestic abuse setting and is looking to step-up into a new role with added responsibility and autonomy within a Local Authority.

• an established Commissioning Manager that's looking to gain experience within a different sector and/or service area.

The ideal candidate will possess in-depth knowledge of domestic abuse legislation, safeguarding policies, and multi-agency partnership working. Experience in delivering commissioning services, contract management, and performance monitoring, with a good understanding of trauma-informed approaches and funding opportunities related to domestic abuse. The candidate must be an effective leader and collaborator, able to build strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, and demonstrate strategic thinking. Character-wise, they should be empathetic, proactive, and resilient, with excellent communication and negotiation skills, and a committed approach to safeguarding and improving outcomes for vulnerable communities.
Our Offer to You
As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we're committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We're constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across - however big or small - will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.
In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps. Our Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme embraces new ways of working. It provides improved work life balance for our staff as it allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week.
Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• General Council Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
• Public Health Service Localised Flexi-time Scheme - accrual of up to 5 days per year
• Three volunteering days per year in Sutton
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Car parking scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Application Process
Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.
To support our diversity agenda and reduce the risk of bias in our recruitment activities, our short listing process completely anonymises personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc. Our hiring managers review and short list applications based on the information provided as part of your application as to how well you meet the requirements and criteria for the role, as outlined in the job profile.
The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Additional Information
We pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve - the key highlights from our recent Equalities Workforce Report can be seen We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.
We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.
The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the for right to work guidance.