About the role

ID: 1858 Service Manager
Service: Medway Family Time

Salary: Grade 4 point 29–33: £37,211 - £41,518 FTE annum

Location: Sunlight Centre, Richmond Road, Gillingham ME7 1LX

Hours: Full Time – 37 hours a week including a share of the Saturday rota

Contract: Permanent

Family Action & the Role’s Impact:
At Family Action we support people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities.

We see first-hand the power of family to shape lives, for better or worse, so we speak up for the importance of family in national and local policymaking, amplify family voices and represent the changing needs of families in the UK today.

This is an exciting opportunity which has come about due to the promotion of the current post holder and the expansion of the service. You will, alongside another Service Manager, run this highly successful and established service which provides the statutory service, Family Time, on behalf of Medway Council.

You will jointly manage the team of Family Time supervisors, a coordinator and seniors to ensure the service continues to be safe, supportive and achieve its KPIs. You will work closely with the Medway Social Care team and commissioners, triaging referrals, reviewing and updating risk assessments and planning the daily rotas which enable the maximum use of the Centre.

You need to have management experience and experience of working with vulnerable families. You will work collaboratively with other agencies, providing a service that is developed in line with its contract specification and supported by policy and practice of the highest standard.

Main Responsibilities:
• Providing line management and supervision to the Family Time team including holding weekly team meetings and monthly management meetings
• Work collaboratively with external stakeholders, including taking a proactive role in weekly triage meetings.
• Ensure Family Time is delivered safely and effectively
• Maintaining accurate records on the CRM database and lead on Family Action’s Quality Assurance framework which underpins continuous improvement
• Complete quarterly reports for commissioners
• Ensure rotas are in place which maximum accessibility for families and make the best use of the Centre
• Jointly set and monitor the service budget.

Main Requirements (for details check the job description and person specification):
• Ensure the Centre is welcoming, accessible and family focused
• Good written and verbal communication skills supported by a working knowledge of data bases and Microsoft programmes including Teams, Outlook, Powerpoint and Word.
• A team player with management experience
• Ability to manage risk and have challenging and solution focused conversations
• Ability to plan and continually review the team rota and family requirements, ensuring that staff are aware of their role and that managing safety is a priority
• Ability to support with strategic planning, monitoring and reviewing
• Appointments are subject to Family Action receiving a satisfactory disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service – Enhanced level – children barred list

Benefits:
- an annual paid leave entitlement that commences at 25 working days, and after a full year of service, rising each April by one day, subject to a maximum of 30 working days plus bank holidays / of 30 working days plus bank holidays
- up to 6% matched-pension contributions
- enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions
- eye care and winter flu jabs vouchers
- cycle to work scheme
- investing in your professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities

We are forward looking, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement. We are a people focused, can-do organisation, which strives for excellence in all we do and operates with mutual respect.

To Apply:
• Click the ‘Apply’ link below and fill out our digital application form
• Closing Date: Monday 24th August 2026 at 23:59
Interviews are scheduled to take place from August/September 2026.
For any queries, or if you would like to discuss any aspect of the selection process or the potential for flexible working, please email: ann.furminger@family-action.org.uk

All appointments with Family Action are subject to satisfactory Safer Recruitment checks.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any adjustments if shortlisted for interview. We also make reasonable adjustments on the job, where required.

We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates. We are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action because we know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and we strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support.

All candidates with a disability are welcome to apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and request priority consideration for an interview, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role.

To help remove financial barriers to working with us, we will reimburse reasonable travel costs if you are invited to attend an interview in person.

*Ordinarily Family Action appoints new starters at the starting point of the salary scale (with subsequent annual pay progression), unless you have experience that would justify appointment further up the salary scale or there are any other exceptional reasons.