This role has a starting salary of£31,765.20 per annum, based on a 21.6-hour working week.

We are excited to be hiring 2 new part time Independent Reviewing Officer/CP Chairs to join our fantastic service who have a key focus on children with disabilities who are looked after and living in residential settings.

Rewards and Benefits

• 28?days annual leave, rising to 30?days after 5?years' service (plus bank holidays)
• A?financial package of up to £6,000 which is payable in 3 instalments, pro rata
• Option to buy additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• Free access to Community Care learning resources
• Professional support from experienced and qualified members of the team to help you grow and develop your career

About the Role

You will be joining our team of established Child Protection (CP) Chairs/ Independent Reviewing Officers (IRO) where you will have the chance to share your knowledge and expertise gained as a social work practitioner and manager, with a specialist focus on children with disabilities. You will provide invaluable insight and accountability for monitoring the progress of outcome focused plans for our children and young people, which are effective and reflective of their needs and wishes and timely; in line with our statutory requirements.

As a combined CP Chair/ IRO role this provides a unique opportunity and the benefit of being able to build trust and safety with the children and young people you support as they progress on their journey. Although the main focus will be as an IRO working with children and young people with disabilities who are looked after by the local authority.

Through your work with case auditing, service reviews and reviewing the quality of practice you'll use the breadth and depth of your experience to support not just children, young people and their families, but staff. You will make recommendations for improvements both in conference meetings, in between them and in relation to child protection plans, helping to have a positive influence and impact on how we work in the Surrey Way.

As an Independent Chair you will be supported to ensure that you are competently able to deliver in your role for both CP conferences and Looked After Reviews. Your development will also be supported by regular supervision and performance conversations as well as a range of coaching, e-learning and other reflection and learning opportunities.

Shortlisting Criteria

To be shortlisted for interview your CV and personal statement will clearly evidence:

• Experience of working with children with disabilities, with knowledge of specialist communication styles such as Makaton, Pecs
• A passion for social work and working with children and families
• A broad knowledge of practice and legislation, such as safeguarding and children in care, transitioning to Adults Service, Continuing Health Care, Deprivation of Liberty, Mental Capacity Act
• Management experience within Children Social Care
• Experience in delivering training
• Registered with Social Work England and hold a Social Work degree or equivalent qualification
• A track record of improving outcomes for children and young people

Surrey has both urban and rural areas and locality based social care workers will be expected to have a valid driving licence to drive in the UK and access to a vehicle and be willing to travel across a wide geographical area. Reasonable adjustments where needed will be made for successful applicants who have a disability or long term health condition to enable them to fulfil the requirements of the job.

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferable skills or any barriers to employment. The job advert closes at 23:59 on 24/02/2025 with interviews to follow.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applicants where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups