Advanced Practitioner
Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest
Directorate: Strategic people
Grade: PO5
Salary: £49,083 to £52,116
Retention Bonus/ Market Supplement: £2,000
Contract Type: Full time - Permanent
Working hours per week: 36
Application Deadline: 13/08/2024
Proposed Interview Date(s): to be confirmed
Reference:1283
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.
About the role:
Reporting to the Permanence & Post Order deputy/team manager, to hold a small, yet complex caseload of assessment and/or support cases in the SGO, Connected Persons and Post Order Support team. To ensure that the necessary assessments (Viability/Regulation 24 & 25/Connected Person/SGO) are completed to a high standard within court timelines, predicated on sound judgement and decision making, safeguard children and young people and achieve the best possible outcomes.
To lead and ensure the effective operation of the Practice Support Group (social work unit). To supervise cases as part of regular group supervision and provide practice-related support to colleagues in the PSG.
To exemplify expert and best practice and apply professional and expert rigour to assessment and/or support cases. To provide professional advice and case-related guidance to social workers in the team, sharing knowledge, skills, and behaviours to develop the practice of others. To support the Permanence & Post Order deputy/team manager, contributing to the development of innovative and effective fostering services which meet the needs of children and young people. To be responsible for a range of activities to support the team and service in maintaining high standards and compliance with the relevant legislation, care planning regulations and National Minimum Standards.
The Advanced Practitioner will maintain accurate case related records; deputising for the deputy/team manager as and when required.
>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<
Key Responsibilities:
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- 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 (Special Guardianship regulations, Adoption, 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
- 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 and permanence
- 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
Indicative Qualifications:
- Educated to degree standard or equivalent
- Relevant professional qualification
- Social England registered
Terms and conditions:
The below terms and conditions apply to this role:
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 Nilza Saide, Permanence and Post Order Team manager at nilza.saide@walthamforest.gov.uk or 07919080416.
If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.
The Council's preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.
Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.