About The Role Job Title: Fostering Training and Recruitment Support Officer Hours: 22.20 per week Salary: 06HC £27,269 - £31,067 pro rata (£16,361 - £18,640 per annum) Contract: Permanent Closing date: 02/03/2025 Come and join us on our Restorative Journey of Improvement to gain the best for children and families in Herefordshire The Role One of our main priorities in Herefordshire Council is to engage more local foster carers and connected carers, so children in care in Herefordshire can stay within the county, and their family if possible, therefore facing less disruption and unnecessary changes to their lives. It is important that foster carers and connected carers receive comprehensive training and support to enable them to respond to and meet the needs of children in their care. The main purpose of this role is to support in developing and delivering an extensive programme of training for our foster carers and connected carers, which is varied and in line with current guidance. As the Training and Recruitment Support Officer, you will also assist with recruitment activity for foster carers, primarily processing application forms, ensuring all checks and references are completed. This is a key role within the Herefordshire Council Fostering Service, ensuring foster carers receive the training and develop opportunities they need, and ensuring the recruitment process for new carers goes smoothly. In this role you will need to work directly with carers, those within the fostering service, other professionals and agencies to coordinate and deliver a good training offer to carers, and support in recruitment activity for new foster carers. Benefits of working for Herefordshire Council: A competitive salary, generous holiday entitlement, and access to our contributory pension and staff benefits scheme, which includes: Pension Scheme Enrolment in the Local Government (LGPS) Generous Annual Leave: 31 days (pro rata) plus bank holidays. You can also purchase an additional 10 days per annum Flexible working: flexi-time, job-share, part-time hours and, in some instances, home working Employee Assistance Programme: 24/7 access to support and counselling Payment of professional membership fees Pick your perks – our benefits include access to a range of retail, leisure, holiday and health benefits. This includes savings, cash back and discounts. About Us Herefordshire is a beautiful, historic county located in the heart of the Marches on the border with Wales. We are one of the most rural and sparsely populated counties in England with a wealth of unspoilt countryside, distinctive heritage, and lively and attractive market towns. Our priority in Herefordshire is to keep children safe and give them a great start in life. It’s the priority for the council, our partners and for all of us who work with Children & Young People. How do we do this? By having dynamic, dedicated, passionate and professional staff who work in a culture that focuses on what we can achieve with children, what they can achieve themselves, and the relationship we build with families and partners to enable this. We have invested heavily in training and developing staff in our relational practice approach with our improvement partner Leeds City Council, so it's an exciting time to join Herefordshire – we believe in investing in you so you can be the best you can be Herefordshire has a really strong team ethos. Our teams are passionate about the work they do and the positive difference they and the teams they are in make to people’s lives. This is all underpinned by the focus and support from their managers and the council as a whole. We will deliver better support to our most vulnerable children and their families, develop stronger relationships with partners across the region, and beyond. Therefore, we take our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults seriously and expect all of our staff, visitors and volunteers to share in this commitment. Come to Herefordshire and join the journey. Herefordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children & young people and vulnerable adults. If you are offered this position, it will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service enhanced check and further pre-employment checks. We welcome applicants whatever their personal characteristics or social identity. All requests for flexible working arrangements and reasonable adjustments will be considered. The following candidates will be interviewed if they meet the essential criteria for the post they are applying for: Those who indicate that they have a disability. This is part of our commitment to the “Disability Confident” scheme; Those who indicate in their supporting statement that they serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, or their families. This is part of our pledge to support the Armed Forces Covenant; and Those who indicate in their supporting statement that they are a Herefordshire care leaver. This is part of our commitment to supporting young people leaving our care. Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for more details of this role. To apply, please submit your CV and complete the supporting statement within the application form, referring to the job description & person specification, detailing how you meet the specific requirements of the role.