Conference and Reviewing Officer – Countywide

Job Description

Job Category : Social Care – Qualified
Location : County Hall North, West Sussex County Council
Hours Per Week :37.00
Start Date : Immediate Start
Start Time :09:00
End Time :17:30
Salary: £35.90

Key Skills:
1. Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence the actions of others and communicate wide ranging information which may be complex and contentious.
2. The ability to negotiate solutions across wide areas of the business and successfully convince others of the need to take a specific course of action or adopt a specific approach for the safety and protection of children
3. The ability to formulate and oversee plans, within which child safety is promoted, risk is sufficiently managed, permanence is progressed, and aspects of care, development and protection are thoroughly considered.
4. Able to formulate accurate, accessible and comprehensive reports
5. The ability to communicate effectively and sensitively with children of all ages, capturing and responding to their wishes, feelings and lived experiences.
6. Excellent organisational and time management skills, with the ability to manage competing needs, in a high pace environment.
Qualifications and/or experience:
• Professional social work qualification and registered with SWE.
• Extensive working knowledge of Child Protection Procedures, The IRO handbook, relevant legislation, regulations and guidance, including Working Together to Safeguard Children.
• Knowledge of Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Legislative Frameworks
• Previous leadership experience within a Children’s Social Care environment
• Comprehensive knowledge of roles and responsibilities of all other agencies involved with children.
• Significant understanding of relevant research, particularly that concerning child development, the effects of separation and loss and attachment theory.
• Detailed experience of child’s journey through social care.
Please only submit candidates who can commit to the working arrangements and happy to work as a CP Chair and on CWCF reviews.

Key responsibilities
Chair a range of meetings to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, ensuring that plans are formulated and progressed by Children’s Social Care and their partners, that are conducive with ensuring that the best outcomes are achieved for children and their families.

Ensuring that the child’s plan is SMART, outcome focused and that progress is measured in accordance with the impact that the plan is having upon improving children’s outcomes, including promoting permanence for children.
Ensuring that plans formulated are informed by the child’s lived experiences and to engage with children and their families, ensuring that they are supported to share their wishes and views either via attendance and/or representation at all meetings.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence the actions of others and communicate wide ranging information which may be complex and contentious. Including the ability to negotiate solutions across wide areas of the business and successfully convince others of the need to take a specific course of action or adopt a specific policy for the safety and protection of children.
Deliver presentations and training to a range of audiences in a variety of settings.
Provide professional Child Protection, Safeguarding and Permanency planning advice to specified agencies.
Monitor the implementation of the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership procedures and contribute to the development and maintenance of quality multiagency Child Protection and Safeguarding standards and practice.
Provide mentoring/coaching/on the job training to staff to encourage their development.
Ensure that relevant data is collected for quality monitoring purposes.
Lead service projects and/or reviews, or contribute to corporate projects and/or reviews, challenge existing practices and generating ideas and solutions.
Remain up to date and compliant with all relevant legislation, organisational procedures, policies and professional codes of conduct in order to uphold standards of best practice.

Working Arrangements : The post holders can work from the WSCC office closest to them – Horsham, Crawley, Worthing or Bognor Regis. Must be able to travel to chair face to face statutory meetings at venues both within the county and country wide. Attendance at office required for Service /other meetings. Some home working can be agreed for report writing /admin tasks requirement of the role.

The role is a dual role ( CP Chairing and CWCF Reviews, roughly a 50/50 split) and the candidate will be expected to travel into West Sussex most days as conferences are held in the office and CWCF reviews are held at placements. We need a lot of cover in the north of the county, ie Crawley and Horsham area

Please do not submit candidates who can only work remotely.