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Lead for IRO and Independent Chairs

Job details
Posting date: 23 May 2024
Salary: £57,872 to £62,306 per year
Additional salary information: Competitive
Hours: Full time
Closing date: 03 June 2024
Location: Staffordshire, ST16
Company: Staffordshire County Council
Job type: Permanent
Job reference: staffscc/TP/1105/2078

Summary

Here at Staffordshire our Independent Chair Service is extremely important to us and this has been recognised by a recent service investment. This investment provided the opportunity of creating additional Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) and Independent Conference Chair (ICC) roles.

Now that we have successfully recruited to and embedded the additional IRO and ICC posts, we are advertising for our final position within the additional roles, which is the third IRO/ICC Lead post.

This is a fantastic opportunity enabling a successful candidate to provide management to our dual role IRO’s and ICC’s and providing your expertise within such a crucial service for our children and young people.

Where will this role be based?

East Staffordshire Hub: Burton, Tamworth and Lichfield Districts.

This role will join our existing IRO and ICC Leads who support our IRO's /ICC's across the remainder of the county.

Main Responsibilities

The independence and scrutiny of children’s plans is essential for those children who are safeguarded via a Child Protection Plan or who are Looked After within the Local Authority.

A focus is required for these children to ensure that their outcomes are improved and that their plans progress without delay, providing a positive impact upon them, utilising our restorative practice model of working.

You will play a key role to enable Staffordshire County Council to continue to ensure that we maintain a learning culture and that we strive to provide an excellent service to our children and young people.

You'll be responsible for the operational management and strategic development of the Independent Chairperson Service, ensuring quality assurance in care planning and management of thresholds for child protection and Looked After Children. There will be a requirement for report writing, auditing and monitoring of operational trends and activity, producing statistical reports and making recommendations for service development.

The Ideal Candidate

You’ll need to have:

  • A qualification in Social Work (Dip SW/ CQSW/CSS) and be registered with Social Work England
  • Hold a post qualification award in Advanced Practice, Research or Management
  • A working knowledge of statutory frameworks and of regulations and guidance relevant to the task
  • A working knowledge of inter-agency procedures for protecting children and for the assessment of children in need
  • Be able to think creatively
  • An ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing with professional staff in local organisational networks

But above all, you’ll be driven by a passion to shape and improve practice in children’s services, knowing that the work you do will improve outcomes for children and young people.

For more information or an informal chat please contact jennifer.arries@staffordshire.gov.uk also please see attached on our Staffordshire jobs board our 'Children and Families Service Vision.'

Proposed interview dates: Monday 10th June 2024

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.