Children's social work jobs

John Gregg - Director of Children's Services

John was appointed Director of Children’s Services in  November 2015, formerly a Senior HMI and latterly Deputy Director at Ofsted. Prior to that, much of John’s career was spent working with Looked After Children and Regulated Services in a number of Local Authorities, a role he very much enjoyed. John has a track record of improving services for children and is very much enjoying the challenges in Coventry.

John’s vision is to improve the services for children in Coventry to ensure children are safe and have the best start in life. John is committed to creating the right conditions to do good social work and ensuring that children remain at the heart of social work in Coventry.

John is particularly interested in improving the lived experiences of children. Having had the opportunity to undertake advanced studies he is committed to supporting the learning and development of social workers, something that is currently being strengthened in Coventry.

John Gregg

Neil MacDonald - Strategic Lead for Quality and Review

Neil joined us from Brent Council where he was Head of Service for Localities and Children with Disabilities. He has worked with different specialist teams across social care since qualifying as a social worker in 1999, including youth offending and MASH.

Neil MacDonald

Angela Whitrick - Strategic Lead for Looked after Children (Corporate Parenting)

Angela has been working in Coventry since January 2018. She holds a BA in Family & Child Care Studies (Dip SW), Practice Teachers Award, ILM level 4 in Leadership and Management and Certificate in Commissioning and Purchasing for Public Care.

Angela has spent the majority of her career working directly with looked after children and in 2013 took on the role of service manager in another local authority, until joining Coventry as the Operational lead for Placements. Angela recently progressed to the role of Strategic Lead, with a specific focus on corporate parenting and placements. She is  the Responsible Individual for the 5 children’s homes run by Coventry City Council, alongside overseeing the Fostering service, Placement Team and Children with Disabilities Team.

Angela Whitrick

Matt Clayton - Strategic Lead for Looked after Children (Practice)

Matt joined Coventry in 2013 from the voluntary sector. He is qualified in social work with a Master’s degree in Leadership and management in social work. Matt has led and developed a number of services within Coventry primarily around looked after children and care leavers. Matt has a reputation for innovative practice young people at the centre. This has included leading on the BAFTA nominated documentary Superkids, piloting the first automatic water bill discount to care leavers and the rollout of social media in social work practice in Coventry. Matt is chair of the West Midlands regional care leavers forum and part of the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum steering group.

Matt Clayton

Sarbjeet Bhambra – Principal Social Worker

Sarb has been with Coventry Children’s Services since 2008, starting in the role of a student. Sarb has been involved in a number of projects for Coventry Children’s services including establishing new teams, establishing the MASH and operationalising the Social Work Academy, alongside other pieces of work to support the development journey of Coventry Children’s Services.

Sarb has managed a number of teams within children’s services with children and staff development at the heart of her work. Sarb believes strongly in relationship-based practice as a vehicle to improved outcomes for children so Sarb is very much grounded in practice, across the piste of children’s services, understanding the challenges practitioners may face in their work. Sarb has a focus on collaboration whilst being solution focused to ensure practice in Coventry is underpinned by methods and approaches which support practice and keep children at the heart of our work in Coventry.

Sarb Bhambra

Chris Heeley - Strategic Lead for Help and Protection

Chris joined Coventry in December 2021 as Strategic Lead for Help & Protection. Prior to this, Chris was the Assistant Director for Early Help, Safeguarding and YOS in Staffordshire County Council. When Chris began his career as a qualified social worker in Walsall working in an area team that had responsibility for all statutory interventions for children.

Since 2010, Chris has held management roles within the Early Help and Safeguarding Service in Walsall and then Staffordshire.

Chris Heeley