Job Description

Team: Fostering Team - Corporate Parenting Service

Job Family: Enabling M – CBG13

Salary: £53,170 - £57,419 per annum pro rata plus Standard MRS £4,600 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.

Contract Type: Hybrid - Fixed Term for up to 10 months (maternity cover)

Closing Date: 14th September 2026

Interview Date: 16th, 17th & 18th September 2026

About the Role:

Foster East Luton and Bedfordshire is an exciting partnership between Central Bedfordshire Council, Bedford Borough Council and Luton Council, created to deliver a shared vision of increasing the number of local foster carers and ensuring more children can remain within their communities, living with high-quality, well-supported fostering families.

As a newly established regional fostering recruitment and assessment hub, Foster East Luton and Bedfordshire leads on the recruitment, assessment and approval of foster carers on behalf of the three local authorities. Through a collaborative and innovative approach, the service is committed to increasing fostering capacity across the region, providing greater placement choice and stability for children and improving long-term outcomes for the children we care for.

Relationship-based practice sits at the heart of everything we do. We are ambitious about delivering excellent services and creating positive experiences for prospective foster carers from their very first enquiry through to approval and beyond.

This is a unique and exciting opportunity to lead and shape our newly formed regional Recruitment and Assessment Hub. As the Fostering Team Manager, you will join a committed, reflective and supportive team who firmly believe that children are at the centre of everything we do.

The Role:

The Recruitment and Assessment Hub sits within our wider Fostering Service and plays a vital role in delivering sufficiency across Central Bedfordshire, Bedford Borough and Luton. This role is integral to ensuring the effective recruitment, assessment and approval of high-quality mainstream foster carers, enabling more children to remain within their local communities and experience safe, stable and nurturing family-based care.

You will provide leadership and management to a team of Fostering Recruitment Coordinators and Assessing Social Workers, ensuring high-quality, timely and child-centred practice throughout the foster carer recruitment and assessment journey. You will oversee performance, quality assurance and service development, ensuring prospective foster carers receive a responsive, supportive and positive experience from initial enquiry through to panel recommendation.

Working collaboratively across the three local authorities and with key partners, you will help drive recruitment activity, strengthen assessment processes and contribute to regional sufficiency planning. You will play a key role in embedding consistency, innovation and continuous improvement within this developing service.

As a Team Manager, you will:

• Provide strong professional leadership, direction and motivation to a team of Fostering Recruitment Coordinators, Assessing Social Workers and support staff.
• Oversee the recruitment, assessment and approval processes for mainstream foster carers, ensuring assessments are robust, timely, analytical and compliant with fostering regulations and National Minimum Standards.
• Drive the delivery of recruitment targets through effective performance management, monitoring and service planning.
• Ensure prospective foster carers receive a high-quality, welcoming and responsive service throughout their fostering journey.
• Lead on quality assurance and practice development, maintaining high standards in assessment, decision-making and recording.
• Work collaboratively with fostering operational teams, marketing and communications colleagues, children's social care teams and partner agencies to maximise recruitment opportunities and placement sufficiency.
• Support the development of innovative recruitment strategies that attract a diverse range of foster carers able to meet the needs of children across the region.
• Champion relationship-based, strengths-led and reflective practice across the team.
• Promote a culture of learning, development and continuous improvement, supporting staff to achieve excellent outcomes.
• Contribute to strategic service development, regional partnership working and the ongoing growth and success of Foster East Luton and Bedfordshire.

You will have significant opportunities to further develop your leadership skills, supported by structured learning, training and a highly experienced senior leadership team.

About you

You will be:

• A registered social worker with a minimum of five years’ post‑qualifying experience working with children in care.
• Experienced in leading, supervising or supporting social work practice.
• Confident in providing clear professional oversight, while promoting learning, curiosity and reflective supervision.
• Skilled in working collaboratively across services and systems to promote joined‑up, child‑focused practice.
• Committed to achieving the very best outcomes for children, young people and their families.

Central Bedfordshire Council is proud to support the wellbeing, development and progression of its workforce. We offer:

• Access to training in Systemic Practice and Motivational Interviewing.
• Support to complete Practice Educator qualifications.
• Support to undertake a post‑qualifying MSc in Child and Family Social Work.
• Regular individual and group supervision.
• Supportive managers, senior leaders and strong peer networks.
• Manageable caseloads, enabling high‑quality, relational and meaningful social work.

Our Offer

We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page

Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer.  We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.

You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack.

Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack.

For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Allyce Copley at allyce.copley4@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or call 0300 300 6199

Safeguarding:

Central Bedfordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees, volunteers and contractors to share this commitment. This post is subject to the disclosure of criminal records.  

To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.

Your application to us is a reflection of who you are professionally and should give us an accurate and authentic picture of your skills, experiences and if applicable qualifications. Before you submit your application, we will ask you to confirm if you have used AI.

All new starters will join us on a four‑month probationary period. During this time, if you are offered a Hybrid role you will be required to attend a Central Bedfordshire Council office location more frequently to support thorough and well‑supported onboarding into your role. Please keep this in mind if you anticipate extensive travel to Central Bedfordshire.

Please note we are unable to offer sponsorship for our roles. Successful applicants that may require a visa will need to consider the options for obtaining and/or maintaining the legal right to live and work in the UK for the duration of the contract offered.

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