Personal Advisor

PERSONAL ADVISORS – CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICES

LEAVING CARE

UP TO £35,751pa

Closing date: 05/12/2021 at 23:59

Job Description

ABOUT US

Newham Together – The best place for children and young people (click here to view our recruitment video)

There has never been a more exciting time to practice, develop, and grow working within Children and Young People’s Services at Newham.

Leaving Care Personal Advisors can now look to a Social Care Academy, an expanded QA service, and a team of Family Therapists to support their practice and enrich their learning. Personal Advisors can also expect significant support to help them achieve personal career goals. These changes are a small part of the positive impact that our permanent, stable senior leadership team are making, which was recognised in our recent Ofsted monitoring visit. Newham is moving in the right direction.

We are continuing to look at innovative ways of working and how we can offer maximum flexibility to our social workers – remote working wherever possible is now a reality at Newham. We know that practitioners are most effective when they’re happy, healthy and able to work flexibly, so we’ve recently implemented wellbeing initiatives and invested in new roles and are redesigning services to reduce caseloads and give back something invaluable to our social workers – their time.

Joining Newham as we continue with our improvement journey will be an invaluable experience and look great on any Personal Advisors CV.

Apply now, and be part of our success.

ABOUT THE JOB

We are currently looking for dedicated Personal Advisors to join our Leaving Care service. Our Leaving Care Service is made up of 4 teams, with each team consisting of one Team Manager, one Social Worker, and five Personal Advisors.

Personal Advisors in Leaving Care support our Care Leavers in all aspects of their transition to adult life. Health, finance, employment, education, training are just some of the areas in which Personal Advisors will regularly support Care Leavers. Personal Advisors in Leaving Care will ensure that Care Leavers have realistic and progressive pathway plans in place, striving to help them build safe relationships with family and kinship networks. Personal Advisors will build trusting and genuine relationships with care leavers, facilitating open and honest dialogues with them to ensure that all risks are assessed and appropriate safety plans are in place.

For more information and a full list of duties please download the job description.

ABOUT YOU

‘People at the heart of everything we do’

We're looking for resilient, experienced Personal Advisors who have a strong background working with care leavers, children in care, or have significant experience providing information, advice, and guidance to a caseload of young people. You might have an area of speciality such as employment, health, or finance – but must have a thorough understanding of the broad range of issues that affect Care Leavers in their transition to independent adulthood.

You have an understanding and experience of working within a diverse, urban community and are confident working with Care Leavers from a variety of cultural backgrounds. You also share our ambition and energy in embracing new ways of working. You are always open to learning and to helping others learn so that Care Leavers can benefit from our best practice. You have high working standards and are conscious of your own professional development and the potential that comes with this – for you, your colleagues, and ultimately for Care Leavers in their communities.

We’re looking for people who have a genuine interest in a restorative, relationship based practice model drawing on systemic thinking to inform your approach to building effective relationships with Care Leavers. You understand your role and its importance –your guidance and support will direct Care Leavers towards accessing every opportunity to fulfil their potential and to lead fulfilling, happy lives.

OUR OFFER

We've been working hard to make Newham a great place to work.

We will offer you:

• A competitive package of up to £35,751pa.
• Flexible working arrangements and the opportunity to work from home.
• Smarter Working with new modern technology.
• New Social Work Academy with training in Systemic practice and weekly lunchtime training seminars – there is training available for non-qualified social work staff.
• We’ve recently restructured some operational teams to reduce caseloads.
• We’re reviewing how best to approach personal development plans.
• ‘Newham Together' - a positive, nurturing and collaborative work environment built on trust where Systemic and Restorative practice will be encouraged to flourish.
• Oyster card/parking permit for business use.
• Permanent and stable senior leadership with a consistent vision.
• Wellbeing service, leisure and discount benefits (Council scheme).
• Travel season ticket loan, cycle scheme, Local Authority pension.
• We will be a ‘social work centre of excellence’ by 2023.

TO APPLY

To apply please submit your CV and a supporting statement through our recruitment portal. The supporting statement should demonstrate how you meet the relevant requirements listed in the person specification in the job description. It should not exceed 2 sides of A4.

Shortlisting decisions will be based on candidates' relevant experience and on candidates' suitability for the role in line with the person specification, as described in their supporting statement and CV.

Closing date: 05/12/2021 at 23:59

Interviews: 14th and 15th of December

Whilst affected by COVID-19, interviews will be facilitated by video, using Skype or Zoom.

If you have any questions about the recruitment process or want to discuss being a Social Worker at Newham with one of our managers, please contact: Liam Barrell; Senior Project Manager for Recruitment, at liam.barrell@newham.gov.uk.