The Role

Are you a qualified and experienced social worker or manager?

Do you share our practice values of relationships being at the heart of bringing changes to the lives of families and that a family is the best place for a child or young person to thrive and meet their potential?

Do you want to be part of innovation through motivational interviewing and Family Safeguarding in Child Protection Conferences? 

If so, we are looking for a qualified social worker preferably with management or leadership experience to join us as a Child Protection Coordinator.

This is an exciting time for the Quality Assurance service as we are implementing Family Safeguarding.  Alongside this in Wandsworth CSC we are embedding systemic, relational practice as we believe in relationships as our theory of change.   

Quality assurance has a key leadership role in practice development and improvement and our Child Protection Coordinators are part of this. You would be joining an experienced and stable team who are working together to develop new creative and innovative ways to work with families. The successful candidate will be relational, innovative, curious and have children and families at the very heart of all they do. You will have the ability to develop strong professional relationships across the partnership that support high quality practice for our children, young people and families.

As part of your role, you will support the LADO, so we are looking for a candidate with experience and an interest in this area of practice.

What our Child Protection Coordinator do?

• Work collaboratively with children, families and our partners to ensure the best outcomes and impact for children.
• To quality assure plans for children and ensure plans are collaborative with families.
• Ensure children’s participation and engagement in Child Protection Conferences is creative and privileged.
• Contribute to quality assurance and practice improvement across Childrens Social Care
• Deliver innovation and change such as contextual safeguarding meetings for adolescents where the concerns are extrafamilial
• To ensure that children/young people are consulted and actively supported to participate and engage in key meetings
• To participate in key additional areas of responsibility and interest such as MAPPA, Safeguarding in Education Audits, LADO, and child exploitation.

Essential requirements as a Child Protection chair include:

• Social Work England registration.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with children, families and partners.
• Eligible to work in the UK.
• Significant years post-qualification experience
• Degree level or equivalent in Social Work

Contact details

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Lisa Tingle by email Lisa.tingle@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

Benefits

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working including, working from home, compressed or part-time hours, term time only, job shares and other arrangements. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore. We also offer a generous holiday allowance of 39 paid days (pro rata) including bank holidays and a wide range of learning and development opportunities.

In addition, we offer a comprehensive range of staff benefits such as membership of the Local Government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, new technology scheme, interest-free loans on annual travel cards, discounts with many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments.

Indicative Recruitment Timeline

• Closing Date: 11:59pm on Sunday 13^th March 2022
• Shortlisting Date: Week commencing 14^th March 2022
• Interview Dates: Week commencing 21^st March 2022

Useful Information: The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Please note that the advertised dates for interviews may change due to the current Covid-19 situation. If they do, we will let you know as soon as possible. Your health and wellbeing is our top priority. Should you become unwell due to Covid-19 during the recruitment process we would very much appreciate receiving an update from you as soon as possible.

Equality Statement

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

Important Information

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

How to apply?

To be considered for interview your application must highlight your knowledge, skills and experience listed in attached Job Profile located at the bottom of the advert

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils