Are you a qualified and registered Social Worker? Do you enjoy working with colleagues across different service areas? Are you passionate about supporting the development of social work practice and making positive and sustainable changes? The Practice Standards and Quality Team need you We have a rare and exciting opportunity available for the right person to join us as a Practice Standards and Quality Officer within the Practice Standards and Quality Team, which works across Adult Social Care within Cambridgeshire County Council. The team’s work is evidence-based, using information obtained through audits, case reviews and working with front line social care teams. The focus of this role is leading our Practice Standards and Quality Team Auditors, working with the Quality and Practice Manager to oversee our programme of thematic audits, support the ongoing development of audit tools and the implementation of gathering feedback from adults with care and support needs and unpaid carers. The team is small but effective with a strong emphasis on social care values and good social care practice standards. Aspects of the team’s activities include: - delivering audit programmes - running social care practice workshops across the council - developing practice factsheets, staff guidance and newsletters - working with other areas of the council to provide a joined-up approach to social care - supporting the facilitation of huddles - working with others to develop best social care practice in the council’s Adults Social Care Service. We are a countywide team, therefore travel to different office bases throughout the county is required. For more information or an informal chat about the role, please contact Quality and Practice Manager Ali Keclik on 07500 856547. Interviews will be held on 14 April at New Shire Hall, Huntingdon. Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Our benefits We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage… A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family 6 days of protected time each year to support in maintaining your Continuous Professional Development A relocation package of up to £8,000 (eligibility applies) A pay progression scheme to enable you to accelerate through the pay grade as you gain experience and skills A Refer a Friend Scheme where if you refer another Social Worker to us who is subsequently employed by us as a result of that introduction, we’ll pay you an introduction fee of £350 Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth For more information and to see our other benefits, take a look at the benefits brochure attached to this advert. What will you be doing? Your day-to-day duties will include providing line management to the Practice Standards and Quality Team Auditors, supporting the development of our audit programmes by collaborative working with colleagues across the operational service, and participation in team activities such as the ongoing development of our audit tools and processes, the design and delivery of reflective sessions for colleagues in adult social care, and the production of practice guidance to support colleagues. You will be required to support the auditor team with the completion of case audits through providing professional practice guidance and leadership, prepare case summaries and seek out evidence of our work with individuals in Cambridgeshire (this includes direct contact with adults with care and support needs, unpaid carers and working with our partnership boards to ensure a collaborative approach to developing our work). You will identify any areas of challenge and support the development of action plans in the response to the challenges. In order to complete this work, you will be working closely and collaboratively with the Quality and Practice Manager, the Principal Social worker for Adults and other key stakeholders. You will have the opportunity to be involved at every level of adult social care operational teams and work with shared teams including our learning and development team, customer care team and business intelligence team. Your line manager will be the Quality and Practice Manager, but as a small and close team, you will receive daily support from all within the team, including regular opportunities to participate in team reflective sessions and support the wider work of the Practice Standards and Quality Team. About you We need someone who is a Social Worker registered with Social Work England, who has experience of social work with adults and is skilled at with working with others. We are looking for an individual who is passionate about developing social care practice in Cambridgeshire. The right person for this role will be someone who has an understanding of what good practice looks like and ideally, experience of quality assurance in a social care setting. We are a team which works across service areas, and we work hard to form and maintain positive working relationships with our colleagues. A track record of positive partnership working is essential as well as excellent communication skills, both verbal and written. It is important that you are able to demonstrate excellent planning, prioritisation, and time management skills. As the role involves quality assurance of practice through the use of case audits and tracking you must have an eye for detail and the ability to apply professional analysis and scrutiny to information. It is essential that you are skilled in using Microsoft Office 365 (Outlook, Excel, Word, Teams, One Drive) and social care case recording systems. About us Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes. Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do. We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions. Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch. Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion. https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers