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Team manager

Summary
Lead, develop and support a team of social workers to ensure positive outcomes for children and families
Other names
Middle manager, practice manager, team leader

What you'll do

As a team manager you’ll:

  • manage a team of social workers and practitioners and support their professional and personal development 
  • assign cases and provide oversight and quality assurance by leading supervision sessions 
  • carry out performance reviews and give feedback to team members 
  • chair and attend statutory meetings 
  • represent your team at meetings with senior managers and external partners 
  • manage your team’s budgets and resources 
  • identify training needs and provide learning opportunities to support team members’ professional development 
  • handle complaints and concerns from children and families 
  • uphold and strengthen professional standards in your team 

Skills and knowledge

You'll need:

  • leadership and management skills to lead and motivate a team of social workers 
  • decision-making and problem-solving skills to handle complex and sensitive cases 
  • excellent communication and interpersonal skills 
  • a strong understanding of child development and safeguarding issues 
  • knowledge of different intervention strategies and evidence-based practices 
  • the ability to support a team to provide high quality social work for children and families 
  • knowledge of self-care practices and managing personal and team stress 

How to become one

To become a team manager you must:

  • have completed a degree, apprenticeship or graduate training scheme in social work 
  • be registered with Social Work England
  • ideally have at least 5 years' experience as a qualified child and family social worker
  • have experience supervising social workers and advising on their practice

Some employers may prefer candidates who have a post-graduate qualification in practice education.

If you’re an experienced practitioner, the Pathway 2: middle managers programme can help prepare you to progress to a team manager role.

Career paths and progression

With experience you could:

  • progress into an advanced leadership role such as principal social worker, service manager or head of service
  • move into a training and consultancy role and deliver training programmes to social workers
  • specialise in quality assurance and compliance, ensuring standards and regulatory requirements are met

The Pathway 3: heads of service programme can help prepare you to progress to a head of service role.

Current opportunities

The Find a job service can help you with your search for jobs and send alerts when new jobs become available.