Domestic Abuse Team Leader

Number of Vacancies:

0

Time Type:

Full time

Worker Type:

Regular

Proposed Interview Date:

Monday, October 12, 2026

Hours of Work:

37

Hiring Manager:

Vicki Paddison

Contact Number: 

01482 615413

Job Description Summary:

This is a Full Time Permanent Position

Interviews will take place week commencing 12 October 2026

Hull City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all employees to share this commitment.

Hull City Council is a White Ribbon Accredited Organization.

ROLE AND PURPOSE

The post holder will work across the Authority’s domestic abuse services, DAP victim service and Strength to Change perpetrator service.

The post holder will lead and manage the frontline operational delivery of the Domestic Abuse Service (DAP) and Strength to Change team of specialist staff ensuring trauma informed, strength based, victim focused high-quality services are delivered for male and female victims / survivors across all risk levels, including high risk victims of domestic abuse and for perpetrators of domestic abuse who pose a risk to their partners / ex-partners.

They will be responsible for ensuring the overarching aim of the Strength to Change service is at the centre of all decision making and service delivery, which is to safeguard victims and their children.

They will also have responsibility and accountability for ensuring the operational delivery of high-quality support and advice services are offered and provided to the partner / ex-partners of men accessing the Strength to Change service.

They will also have responsibility for providing supervision, case reviews, reflective practice, mentoring and identifying the development needs of all staff to ensure high quality support and advice services are offered and provided, including for the partners / ex-partners of men accessing the Strength to Change service.

They will be responsible for overseeing policy and processes for the sharing of information between the Strength to Change male and female service provisions to ensure risk is identified and appropriate risk management strategies and complex decision making is made taking into account any adult and child safeguarding concerns. They will be responsible for escalating service level risks to the Strength to Change Operational Lead.

They also will be responsible and accountable for providing supervision, case reviews, reflective practice and personal and professional development for practitioners working with male victims / survivors.

The post holder will oversee and lead on training and development of both specialist staff teams ensure they have the required high-level knowledge and expertise to undertake their specialist roles. They will also ensure that both the DAP and Strength to Change specialist teams work seamlessly together to achieve the common goal of safeguarding victims and their children.
They will participate and facilitate effective partnership working and ensure commonality of approach and adherence to policies and procedures which inform and guide service delivery. Provide professional support, information and challenge to colleagues across the partnership and advocating on behalf of victims / survivors.

On a daily basis they will process all referrals received and undertake high level decision making in line with service threshold criteria and allocate to DA Practitioners according to need and level of complexity. They will liaise with referrers for high level information to be gathered and analysed to inform decision making, service options to ensure victims and their children’s needs are met

They will co-ordinate and chair multi-agency meetings required to share information, pool resources and enhance partnership working, providing effective challenge and advocating on behalf of clients to ensure the needs of victims and their children are met.

On a daily basis they will provide high level specialist safeguarding advice, guidance and direction to partner agency staff, including in relation to safeguarding adults and children. They will make decisions when to initiate safeguarding escalation procedures and act accordingly.

They will raise awareness of domestic abuse and evidence based good practice in relation to safeguarding and service provision in this specialist and complex area of work.

The post holder will lead on the delivery of high quality impactful domestic abuse training and development for internal staff across the council and external agency staff.

They will project manage, oversee and facilitate group work sessions with victims / survivors or perpetrators according to their specialism, who are referred to Domestic Abuse Services from a variety of organisations, e.g. Children/ Adults Social Care, courts, health etc. and self-referrals from clients seeking support.

They will ensure domestic abuse specialist risk assessment tools are used to inform high level and often complex decision making and ensure appropriate information sharing to safeguard victims and their children. The post holder is expected to work in line with the Respect Practice Standards, SafeLives and women’s Aid National Service Standards for Domestic Abuse.

The post holder will be expected to develop a system thinking, strengths-based solutions focussed approach to the delivery of highly specialised services for victims / survivors of domestic abuse and perpetrators.

 

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

1. To promote and safeguard the welfare of children, young people and/or vulnerable adults

2. Strategy – Contributes to continuous professional development activity, through training, workshops, coaching & mentoring, to ensure that the DAP and Strength to Change staff and wider co-located agency staff maintain and develop their knowledge and skills, in order to sustain safe, effective, ethical and lawful practice in relation to victims / survivors and their children and perpetrators.

Contributes to the development of the domestic abuse / VAWG strategy by sharing victim’s views and practice barriers and challenges and trends to influence practice and service delivery.

Develop effective working relationships with colleagues across the partnership to ensure that the voices and experiences of all victims / survivors are heard, and that co-production is maximised to influence developments and improvements across policy development, partnership working and service delivery. Support the development and co-ordination of lived experience advisory panels.

Provides professional practice advice and support to partner agencies to ensure that that the service and wider partnership are fulfilling statutory obligations under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. Identify and escalate poor practice for remedial action to be taken.

Will work independently using own initiative making key service decisions on a daily basis to ensure the service provides high quality specialist services.

3. Customer Focus –    To line manage, supervise and support, the Domestic Abuse Practitioners, Men’s Practitioners and Assessment & Support Practitioners to ensure they are highly efficient, effective trauma informed and take a strength-based client centred approach to service delivery. To co-ordinate and plan the day-to-day operations of specialist domestic abuse services and staff teams in order to achieve ongoing service delivery and continuous improvements within the service. Remain mindful of and ensure the application of national evidenced based best practice and minimum standards ensuring ongoing service improvements are adopted and implemented.  

Ensure access to services for adults as defined in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, aged 16 years and above, and who may have multiple protected characteristics and understand how these intersect.

To manage complex cases that require high levels of expert knowledge and expertise and give practice guidance to staff who are managing complex cases and facilitate effective client centred risk focuses decision making.

To manage and advise staff in all areas of risk identification and assessment, safety planning and safeguarding practice.

Ensure staff are trained and developed to the required standards to ensure safeguarding practices are adopted and delivered.

To lead and model a trauma-informed, strengths based and survivor-centred culture.

To manage operational day to day activities of the teams through ensuring access to effective high-quality supervision, case management and auditing in order to achieve ongoing service delivery and continuous improvements within the service.

To proactively promote and ensure the services are responsive to all sections of the community, including people with complex needs, disabilities and those from ethnic minority groups, etc. 

4. Performance Management – Under the direction of the Domestic Abuse Practice Lead and Strength to Change Operational Lead produce and present performance monitoring reports on a monthly basis to senior managers as required.

Ensure case records are of a high-quality standard and capture information to inform statistical, and workload returns as required by the Domestic Abuse Manager and Commissioning Lead and wider service area managers.   

Manage audits and quality assurance processes, identifying service risks and good practice and communicating this to the team.  

Monitor and evaluate services effectiveness and assess the impact of service delivery through data collection, client feedback surveys, and client and other agency feedback, and adjust strategies and service offers based on analysis and findings. Identify themes for analysis to inform any service improvements or changes. Manage chance effectively to maintain a highly motivated and committed staff team.

Maintains case records and assist the Practice Team Leader and Strength to Change Operational Lead in the inputting and maintenance of client details on the client case management system, following GDRP legislation and service retention policy.

To manage requests for sharing information and make decisions on appropriate information sharing in line with GDPR. These requests can often be in relation to criminal and civil court proceedings and police investigations.

To lead, facilitate, run and direct staff to deliver domestic abuse reduction services for victims and perpetrators and ensure the application of performance-based outcome measures are used to inform statistical returns

5. Leadership - Provides support, advice and encouragement to meet the principles of legislation, guidance, policies and procedures.

Assists and directs staff to promote a culture of professional curiosity embracing research within areas of responsibility, encouraging the exploration of different cultures, concepts and ideas.

Validates assessments with quality audits of casework, including observation of practice, to ensure that staff have the skills, knowledge and competencies to practice safely and confidently.

Has an in depth enhanced understands of the professional framework for working with victims / survivors (male and female) and perpetrators and has the knowledge and skills and applies this to appraisal processes/performance reviews of the domestic abuse services staff and other wider agency staff.

6. Statutory Obligations – Ensure policies and procedures are adhered to in line with information sharing, health and safety and safeguarding. To ensure that policies and procedures are relevant, fit for purpose and cover all aspects of service delivery. Remain current and up to date with legislative changes and the impact on practice and service provision, taking positive action and translating into practice as and when required. 

7. General – Ability to manage the domestic abuse services efficiently and effectively and ensure systems ad processes are maintained to ensure a high standard of day-to-day operations are provided, with full regard to Health & Safety Legislation, staff support and staff risk assessment and management are adhered to. 

To provide formal and informal supervision, case management, case reviews and auditing of client case records for both the DAP and Strength to Change team.

8. To conduct domestic abuse work with complex victims / perpetrators, according to specialism, in a way that shows an understanding of domestic abuse and its effects on victims / survivors and children. Provide crisis management and case management for a highly complex defined caseload.

9. Ensure council staff have confidential access to a range of domestic abuse support options that meets their needs.

Liaise closely with partner agencies to ensure the range of choices and support options available to clients have been fully explored and accessed. Providing specialist advice and guidance to professionals at all levels to ensure the most appropriate use of resources in order to safeguard victims and their children.

Lead and make decisions on referrals to be transferred to service providers commissioned by the Authority to provide domestic abuse accommodation-based support and outreach support. Convene and chair weekly and monthly allocations meetings with commissioned providers to ensure the needs of clients referred are met and reduce duplication of work.

10. They will, oversee, facilitate and run individual and group work sessions with victims / survivors or perpetrators according to their specialism, who are referred to Domestic Abuse Services from a variety of organisations, e.g. Children/ Adults Social Care, Courts, Health etc. and self-referrals from clients seeking support.

They will oversee referrals made and the partnership delivery of post abuse group work options according to risk and need. They will manage the allocation of staffing and other resources ensuring effective and high-quality trauma informed support is provided across the group work options. They will analyse and evaluate the group work programmes delivered identifying areas for learning and improvement. They will co-ordinate the co-facilitation of other agencies who deliver the group work programmes to maximise resources available.  

11. Attend and represent Domestic Abuse Services at Multi Agency Public Protection (MAPPA) meetings, Sexual Exploitation Team (SET) meetings, CYPS Case Conferences, Core Groups etc, PITSTOP meetings, other multi-agency meetings and forums to share information and make decisions on behalf of services and advocate on behalf of victims. Ensure effective operational joint working and problem solving to ensure swift and effective safeguarding interventions are provided.

Comply with GDPR legislation, confidentiality and information sharing policy and procedures and service retention policy and all legislation connected to the work.

12. To work as directed by policies and procedures to manage and deliver operational specialist services for the following;

Victims - specialist high quality advice, support and advocacy services to female and male victims of domestic abuse.

Perpetrators – to work with men through either 1-1 or group work to provide a structured violence and abuse prevention programme for men who have been abusive towards (ex) partners / partners.

To ensure domestic abuse specialist risk identification and assessment tools are used to inform practice and decision making and ensure policies and procedures are followed at all times in order to safeguard victims, children, and family members.

13. Recruit, select and train new staff and existing staff and deliver both up skilling and refresher training on a rolling programme.

To lead on, present and / or attend training events and to promote opportunities for staff and service user development / training.

 

NC1849.Domestic Abuse Team Leader.docx

Compensation Grades:

GRADES 9.

Pay Ranges:

£39,862.00 - £42,839.00

Job Classifications:

3- Not Politically Restricted - Designated As Not Politically Sensitive (Politically Restricted Posts), 8- Enhanced & Childrens & Adults Barring List - (Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)), Casual - (Travel Allowance Policy), No - (Childcare Disqualification Requirement), No - (Statutory Post)

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:
- A competitive salary
- An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
- Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
- Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
- Supportive and forward-thinking culture
- Great career development opportunities

Please ensure that you complete and submit your application by midnight prior to the closing date. Please ensure that your application demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria against the person specification as listed in the job description. 

We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. 

We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

We reserve the right to amend the dates associated with this advert, which may include closing the advert early where required.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process.