My account
Services
Build something that matters...
We've made a significant and deliberate investment in children’s services backed by our Children in Care Sufficiency Strategy 2026-2030. This is a Cabinet-approved, four-year programme designed to change how Barnsley plans for, commissions and delivers provision for children in care and children with special educational needs and disabilities.
It’s funded, it’s live, and it’s already delivering!
The strategy works across three pillars:
reducing avoidable entry into care
stabilising placements for vulnerable adolescents
strengthening how we commission and directly provide residential and specialist care
The interventions the strategy funds include Reset Home, Mockingbird constellation fostering, a new vulnerable adolescent pathway, a reunification fund, a strengthened kinship offer, and Barnsley’s own internal residential homes.
This sits alongside one of the most significant periods of national reform in children’s social care and SEND in a generation. Barnsley has chosen to get ahead of that, investing in real change rather than waiting to react.
The workforce that delivers this will grow alongside the programme. The strategy sets out additional staffing capacity across specialist intervention services, the adolescent pathway, commissioning and the development and operation of internal residential provision. Some of those roles are in development and will be advertised as the programme progresses.
About the roles
The five roles we’re recruiting to now are the for the programme management office. This is the team that sits at the centre of all three pillars, keeps the programme on track, maintains the evidence base, and provides the governance and assurance infrastructure that makes everything else possible.
If you want to be part of building something that genuinely changes outcomes for children in Barnsley, we’d love to hear from you.
Find out more and apply for a role in Children's Services.
What we offer
Join us and we'll offer you:
a competitive salary and generous annual leave
flexible and hybrid working arrangements
excellent pension scheme and salary sacrifice options (eg cycle to work, home technology)
parking permit scheme
opportunities for personal and professional growth
the chance to make a lasting impact on Barnsley’s communities
Our council is a community, a place where you can grow, where you can make a real difference to people, and contribute to all the great work we do across the borough.
Reasons you should join us
We're an extremely well regarded and innovative council, winning Council of the Year in 2023 for both the Local Government Chronicle and Municipal Journal Awards – the only council ever to win both in the same year.
We're nationally recognised for innovation and improvement in children’s services, with strong Ofsted outcomes and a relentless focus on improving life opportunities for children and young people.
We're committed to our Barnsley 2030 vision, prioritising children’s wellbeing, educational attainment, and reducing inequalities.
We have strong, mature partnerships with schools, health services, the police, and the voluntary sector.
Our vision and ambition for 2030
The vision for our council is Barnsley - the place of possibilities. By 2030 we want everyone to benefit from, and contribute to, making our borough a thriving place of possibilities.
Everyone has an important role to make our ambitions for the borough possible, including our residents and groups across the private, public, voluntary and community sectors all working together.
Our vision drives our Council Plan, demonstrating our commitment to making it happen. We’re committed to developing skills, talent and creativity among people of all ages, creating exciting prospects and meeting the demands of the future economy.
Read more about Barnsley 2030.
Our values
At Barnsley Council we live and work by our four values:
We're honest
We're a team
We're excellent
We're proud
As part of our team you can be sure we’ll do all we can to support you in being truly excellent, prioritising learning and enabling you to achieve your potential. That’s one of the reasons why you’ll find your career here inspiring and rewarding. Find out more about our culture and values.
