19 Oct
London Borough Of Waltham Forest
United Kingdom
Description
Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest
Salary: P05 - P07 (Spinal Point 38-46) £49,083 - £57,201
Retention Bonus : £2000 pa
Contract Type: Full-time, Permanent
Working hours per week: 36
Application Deadline: 06/11/2024
Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC
Reference: 1459
About Us:
Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.
We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led,
digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.
London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.
The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email [email protected] so we can arrange an alternative application method.
Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.
About the role:
The post is that of Advanced Practitioner within the Fostering Team which is in the Children and Families Services and is responsible for all aspects of recruitment, assessment, support and supervision to approved foster carers and connected carers.
The fostering service in Waltham Forest has re-shaped,
bringing together its assessment and support service to provide consistency in support provided to our foster carers. Social workers working in this service will be committed to establishing trusting relationships with their carers during the assessment stage, building on this further post approval and supporting them during their first placements when they are at their most vulnerable. Applicants will report to the Deputy Team Manager and the Team Manager and deputise in their absence.
Applicants will supervise up to 3 social workers within the team and have an excellent working knowledge of relevant legislation, performance issues, ability to manage conflict and a myriad of tasks involved as a manager.
Applicants should have experience of working in children’s services. The applicant will need to have an understanding of the Mockingbird programme.
Applicants would need experience of managing staff, be resilient and robust in a fast paced and highly regulated service. Applicants will be enthusiastic and highly committed to providing high support and challenge to staff and our foster carers to ensure that the children of Waltham Forest receive quality care in a warm family environment.
>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<
Knowledge, Skills and Experience – PO5 - P06
- Significant post-qualifying social work experience in a children & families setting
- Experience of undertaking highly complex casework within a statutory children’s setting, preferably a fostering service
- Experience of service delivery which is culturally sensitive and responsive to the needs of a multi-cultural community
- Experience of supervising staff and quality assuring reports
- Significant knowledge of the relevant legislation, regulation and guidance (Fostering Minimum Standards, Safeguarding and Fostering Legislation and Care Planning Regulations etc)
- Experience of delivering training and support groups
- Experience of recruiting, assessing and supporting foster carers
- Experience of prioritisation, care planning and service delivery
- Demonstrable knowledge and experience in assessing complex risk
- Experience of having to interpret,
understand and make judgements on the complex interactions between the risk and protective factors in any given situation when arriving at a decision about whether the child or young person is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm
- ICT and data literate
Knowledge, Skills and Experience – PO7
- Experience of deputising in the absence of deputy/team Manager
- Substantial experience of supervising staff and quality assuring reports
- Strong level of experience of delivering training and support groups and developing the professional practice of others
- Extensive, sophisticated, and up to date working knowledge of national and local policy, legislation and statutory guidance in relation to fostering
- Expert knowledge, skills and experience in assessing complex risk and proven ability to respond effectively
- Substantial engagement in Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
- Ability to exercise a significant degree of critical and constructive thinking and demonstrate evaluative judgement
- Strong level of data and ICT literacy
- Excellent written, oral, communication and interpersonal skills
- Strong negotiation and influencing skills and the ability to build effective relationships with colleagues and a range of external partners
Terms and conditions:
Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
Satisfactory declaration of interest;
This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with children and/ or vulnerable adults;
Satisfactory enhanced DBS check;
Continued professional body registration;
As a public authority,
we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.
How to Apply:
Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
Equal Opportunity Employer:
Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.
To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.
We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.
For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.
Contact Information:
If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Ms Marilyn St Ange at [email protected] or 07968957410
If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at [email protected].