Description Organisation : London Borough of Waltham Forest Salary: PO4 - PO5 £46,041 - £52,116 Retention Bonus: £2,000 P/A Contract Type: Full Time permanent Working hours per week: 36 Application Deadline: 14/11/2024 Proposed Interview Date(s): November 2024 Reference: 1510 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. The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitmentwalthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method. Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice. About the role: This post is that of a Senior Practitioner within the Fostering team within Children’s social care. This is an exciting opportunity for a candidate with the right experience of undertaking assessments for approval at the fostering panel, supervision and support of foster carers within statutory timeframes, completion of Annual reviews, presenting to fostering panel, completion of household risk assessments, Placement meetings, contributing to stability meetings and taking part in a duty and out of hours system. The successful applicant would be involved in fostering activities that contribute to the growth and recruitment of more foster carers across Waltham Forest. Applicants will have a working knowledge of relevant legislation and experience of working in children’s services. They will be enthusiastic, resilient, robust, and highly committed to providing support and challenge to approved foster carers within a very busy team. Fixed Term rate is a range between £46,041 - £52,116 depending on experience. >> Click here to download the Role Profile Knowledge, Skills and Experience PO4: Post-qualifying social work experience (2 years or more) in a children & families setting (preferably fostering) Experience of undertaking complex casework within a statutory children’s setting (preferably fostering) Experience of practicing in a culturally sensitive way Experience of quality assuring the relevant assessments and support plans Strong knowledge of the relevant legislation, regulation, and guidance (Fostering Minimum Standards, Safeguarding and Fostering legislation and Care Planning Regulations etc) Experience of sharing knowledge, skills, and behaviours with other social work professionals 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 Good ICT skills Data literate Knowledge, Skills and Experience PO5: Advanced knowledge of the relevant national and local policy, statutory framework/s for the safeguarding of children Ability to manage culture change within a team Strong ICT skills Substantial experience of undertaking complex casework within a statutory children’s setting (preferably fostering) Ability to manage, motivate, coach, and develop staff to achieve individual, team and service level objectives and priorities Proven track record of developing the professional practice of others to meet the diverse care and support needs of the community A proven record of successfully providing operational management of the direct provision of high quality multi-disciplinary services Substantial engagement in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Good level of data literacy Indicative Qualifications Educated to degree standard or equivalent Relevant professional qualification and registration with Social Work England (SWE) Continuing professional development 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; Suitable driver’s license (Not essential) 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 Ms Marilyn St Ange at marilyn.stangewalthamforest.gov.uk or 07968957410 If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitmentwalthamforest.gov.uk .