“I found Tameside to be a really friendly place to work”

A SENIOR leader in Tameside Council’s Children’s Services has shared why she chose to move from agency work to a permanent role, in the hope to inspire others to join Team Tameside.

Jayne Grice, 56, is the Head of Service for Early Help, Family Help and Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) at Tameside Council.

Initially, Jayne joined the local authority in November 2024 as an Agency Service Manager for MASH and Emergency Duty Team (EDT) and remained in the role until August 2025, when she successfully secured her current permanent position.

She wanted to tell her story to support World Social Work Month, which raises awareness of the impact social care has on the lives of many, specifically children and families, whilst celebrating and appreciating the hard work and dedication of those who work in social care.

Jayne decided she wanted to become a social worker at just 14 years old, inspired by her aunty who worked as a social work assistant and brought her Community Care magazines.

After 10 years as a social worker Jayne made the decision to move into team management. Jayne said: “It took me a while to want to make that step because as a social worker I really felt like I was making that difference in children’s lives.

“But a friend said to me as a social worker on any given day, you’ll be making a difference to about 30 children but if you were a team manager you would be making a difference to about 200 children.”

So, Jayne was inspired and took her first manager position in 2009, and since has moved through management positions, stepping into her first Head of Service role in 2013.

Due to Jayne’s motivation, she dedicated her career to working in local authorities on improvement journeys as she said that’s where she can make the biggest change.

Jayne said: “I think it’s important to say that it’s an Ofsted grade because there will be pockets of good in that as well.

“But I also think local authorities that are in that position are very open to being creative, thinking differently about how we can deliver services, how we include parents, carers, and children in shaping how we do things.

“In some respects, that’s why I came to Tameside. Before Tameside I had two agency positions in Bradford and Barnsley. I got the offer from Tameside, read the Ofsted report as you do, and thought this is right up my street.”

When asked why she wanted to move to a permanent role when she’d been an agency worker for the past four years or so, Jayne said: “I found Tameside to be a really friendly place to work and I think in this job that we do the people you work with are really important because you need to be able to have that laugh and feel safe.

“Agency was never a long-term plan I just did it when I was unsure of what I wanted my next steps to be.

“I found that people in Tameside wanted to do better and by the time I became permanent in my area we were able to have those reflective conversations about what went well and what didn’t so we could improve.

“By this point I’d become quite invested in the changes that were happening in Tameside, as well as the people.

Jayne was asked what would you say to anyone considering joining Team Tameside, to which she answered: “I would say do it, absolutely do it, get that application in!

“I think for more than one reason Tameside is a really exciting place to be joining at the minute, obviously we’ve got our own improvement journey, but I think we really know ourselves well in Tameside.

“We’ve got a really good culture around learning, support, getting creative, people are passionate so if anyone asked me, I’d say definitely come to Tameside, it’s a fabulous place to work.”

Tameside Council’s Executive Member for Children’s and Families, Cllr Teresa Smith said: “I’d like to start of by thanking Jayne for telling us about her journey into social work. Her story is inspiring as it’s clear how much she cares about being the difference to our children, families and young people in Tameside.

“I’m very pleased to hear about how positive your time has been with us in Tameside and how that made you want to become permanent to continue to strive for improving outcomes where you can.”

If Jayne’s story has inspired, you to be the difference in Team Tameside you can check out the current job opportunities by visiting www.tameside.gov.uk/jobs