Role Profile

 

Job Title:

Directorate:

Corporate Director of People

People

Reports to:

Chief Operating Officer

Date:

Jan 2021

 

 

1          PURPOSE OF YOUR JOB

Provide Corporate leadership and strategic direction, inspire team working and high standards of service delivery across the whole Council ensuring that mechanisms are put in place to sustain, and improve performance to enable the Council to deliver the Council Plan.

To provide leadership and direct on matters related to Education, Childrens and Adult Social Care and other corporate priorities that enable the Council to achieve its objectives within the context of local and national policy.

 

To work in partnerships with statutory and voluntary organisations and agencies across the city and beyond, to facilitate a whole system approach to People, in Childrens and Adult social care, improving health and wellbeing outcomes for the residents of York.

 

To undertake the statutory roles of Director of Children’s Services (DCS) and/or Director of Adult Social Services (DASS) and to discharge the statutory responsibilities set out in the Local Government Social Services Act 1970 (as amended) and in the Children’s Act 2004, including responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults.

 

The specific areas of which the Corporate Director has strategic oversight and responsibility for include the following:

 

·         Children’s safeguarding and social care

·         Adults’ safeguarding and social care

·         Education, Skills and SEND

·         Youth services and youth offending

·         Early intervention and prevention

·         Complex families and chaotic adults

·         Commissioning

·         Joint working with health partners

 

 

 

2          DIMENSIONS  AWAITING FINANCE

Revenue income                 £54,366,333

Revenue expenditure         £132,311,000

5 yr Capital expenditure     £41,407,000

 

Direct reports                        2

Indirect reports                      650

 

 

3          Principal Accountabilities

a.    Develop and maintain a corporate performance management regime ensuring the monitoring and reporting of performance, early identification of potential issues in order to take decisive and effective corrective action across all areas of Directorate.

b.    Develop strategic plans to set direction and key organisational objectives in respect of the holistic concept of Place on behalf of the City.

c.    Identify and work with key stakeholders to align priorities and resources to deliver improved partnership working and services that achieve better outcomes for York’s citizens.

d.    Responsible for the oversight of safe, effective and efficient operation of all Directorate services and functions, so that the Council can meet its statutory duties and contribute to the delivery of council strategic objectives and support the council budget.

e.    In respect of the delivery of all projects within the Directorate ensure sound project management principals, risk appraisals, gateways and business case development is embedded thereby ensuring Members are properly advised and informed to make decisions necessary to deliver projects effectively and cost effectively on behalf of the Council.

f.     Responsible for openness and transparency in the development and delivery of services and projects including extensive and genuine engagement with the residents and stakeholder proportionate to the scale of the matter at hand.

g.    Support and deputise for the Chief Operating Officer in the corporate and strategic management of the Council. Lead, plan and deliver the Councils  priorities including existing and new legal responsibilities and functions conferred upon the council.

h.    Facilitate corporate working across the Council, encouraging innovation and creativity to help build integrated service delivery and improvements and ensure a corporate response to the development of services.

i.      Represent the organisation at high levels with stakeholders across the Yorkshire Region and nationally, where applicable.

j.      Identify and work with key stakeholders to align priorities and resources to deliver improved partnership working and services that achieve better outcomes for York’s citizens.

k.    To develop and maintain effective working relationship with Members of the Council and with other service teams within the Authority to ensure a corporate response to the development of services.

l.      Act as the Council's principal policy advisor in relation to Adult Social Care so that the direction and culture of the sector is responsive to a rapidly changing external environment.

m.  Provide strategic leadership and direction to the council and its partners:

·       On Safeguarding vulnerable adults from abuse and neglect;

·       By focussing efforts to reduce , prevent and delay the need for social          care to increase capacity across the health and social care system; ;

·       To enable strength and asset based approaches to the integration and             personalisation of social care services;

n.    Working with key partners in the NHS and community voluntary sector develop an integrated, whole  system approach to meet the health and social care needs for the population of York.  To ensure the sustainability of a health, housing and adult social care system through a “one team” approach to delivery.

o.    To be accountable for all statutory functions associated with the role of Director of Children’s Services as detailed in the DfE guidance, with specific responsibility for;

 

·       Safeguarding

·       Vulnerable children and young people

·       Fair access to services

·       Educational excellence

 

p.    To be accountable for all statutory functions associated with the role of Director of Adult Social Care, these responsibilities include:

 

·       Accountability for assessing local needs and ensuring availability and         delivery of a full range of adult social services;

·       Professional leadership, including workforce planning;

·       Compliance with national standards;

·       Managing cultural change;

·       Promoting local access and ownership and driving partnership working;

·       Delivering an integrated whole systems approach to supporting        communities;

·       Promoting social inclusion and wellbeing;

 

 

4          JOB CONTEXT

 

The role is part of the Corporate Management team and the post holder contributes to the strategic and operational management of the Council to ensure achievement of both directorate and corporate aims and objectives.

The postholder has to work closely with politicians of all parties, and undertake extensive public engagement to develop the strategic and delivery response to the service challenges, and public expectations within the legislative and statutory frameworks.

The role requires an extensive knowledge of the statutory environments within which the service operates and to be able to ensure the commissioning of the appropriate specialist legal, financial and technical advice to ensure that service delivery and regulatory compliance are maintained across the functions the role is responsible for.

Strategically the post holder is responsible for oversight of multiple statutory roles which the Council fulfils and it is incumbent upon the post holder to be conversant with all these statutory roles and ensure that the appropriate resources, checks, balances and managerial structures are in place to ensure fulfilment of these obligations.  These obligations therefore require the post holder to operate a comprehensive and effective performance management culture to ensure these duties are fulfilled.

This role is part of the emergency planning rota and the post holder is on call for out of hours emergencies.

This role is an Information Asset Owner and must carry out the responsibilities of an Owner as required and set out in the council’s ‘Information Governance/Data Protection Roles and Responsibilities Rules’.

The post holder deputises for the Chief Operating Officer as required as required.

 

5          IMPACT &  INFLUENCE

Ensure that budgets are managed effectively within the corporate mechanisms to achieve value for money and outcomes are measured against corporate priorities, development milestones and performance targets

Hold services to account for their performance, overall budgets and service standards to ensure that services provided meet targets set within the corporate framework

Carry forward existing partnerships and lead work with partner agencies to establish strategic priorities for the Council seeking to align resources of all partner agencies with jointly agreed priorities that complement and reflect corporate priorities

Develop, mentor and appraise directly accountable staff and through directly accountable staff ensure employees are well managed, developed, motivated and empowered within the corporate framework

Recruit, manage, motivate and develop employees ensuring their health, safety and well-being at work, in order to ensure all aspects of service delivery are provided to the highest possible standard

 

6          ORGANISATION

 

 

7          COMPLEXITY OF THE JOB

To ensure the safeguarding of the City’s most vulnerable residents in line with the statutory requirements as set out in the Local Government Social Services Act 1970 (as amended) and in the Children’s Act 2004.

 To coordinate and facilitate a thriving and successful democratically led City that delivers the expectations of residents within a national statutory framework. To oversee a coherent strategic approach across all the Directorate functions and facilitate the mobilisation of public, private and voluntary sector partners, Government and other stakeholders that responds to the current expectations of local residents.

The political will and ambitions affects direction, and the focus can change depending on the manifesto of leading parties, translating the administrations ambitions into reality is a key challenge for this role.

Working with Members, and getting decisions made for proposals, requires resilience, flexibility and a range of strategic and technical skills.

It is essential within the role to be able to facilitate effective corporate management ensuring that corporately and within the Directorate senior management team individuals are able to maximise their contribution, be challenged and appropriately coordinated success is measured in the success of all 700 plus staff not the personal accomplishments of the post holder.  This concept extends to partnership working which requires sophisticated stakeholder management skills and strong personal credibility.

Dealing with stakeholders / public engagement and their expectations also requires excellent strategic and communication skills.

 

8          Knowledge Skills & Experience

·         Experience of managing large and diverse operational portfolios

·         Experience of leading complex partnership development, and a strong track record of partnership working to deliver ambitious change agendas

·         Significant experience of identifying and mitigating corporate and project risks

·         Significant experience of financial modelling and business case development

 

Substantial experience at senior management level, working in a political, complex, multi-functional organisation which should include:

·         Experience of  developing and delivering strategies to meet organisation   objectives and achieve planned results

·         Experience of strategic and operational resource management, with strong analytical skills and an aptitude for developing clear vision and direction to overcome complex problems

·         Ability to manage large and complex public sector budgets with an emphasis on value for money and efficiencies.

·         A detailed knowledge and understanding of leading edge service delivery and the ability to translate this into service transformation.

·         Ability to provide visible and supportive transformational leadership, empowering, enabling, motivating and developing the workforce to achieve significant, sustainable service improvements and outstanding results.

·         Ability to operate effectively within the democratic processes, with the political acumen and skills to develop productive working relationships with Council Members.

·         Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills to relate effectively to employees,  Council Members, the general public and other stakeholders to engender respect, trust and confidence.

9          additional information

None.