The Essex Safeguarding Children Board is a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangement in which safeguarding practice can develop and prosper across the partnership, with a culture of collaboration, integrity, and compassion; promoting the development and wellbeing of children, young people and their families; and protecting them from neglect and abuse.
Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective safeguarding interventions which build resilience, remove barriers and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future.
The role
The role holder will have specific responsibility for leading Essex Safeguarding Children Board (ESCB) activities connected to developing and improving practice across all partner agencies, including the voluntary and community sector, in relation to safeguarding and child protection.
This is a challenging role working across varied organisations at all levels with responsibility for promoting relationships between the Board, partner agencies and other strategic organisations within a complex multi-agency environment. The role will work collaboratively to implement the agreed Board Business Plan but will have flexibility to independently develop new systems and approaches in an ever-changing environment
Accountabilities
- Develop and maintain under review the ESCB Learning and Development Strategy and associated documents in response to local need and national requirements ensuring implementation of a countywide learning and development programme for all partner agencies that reflects the learning from local child safeguarding practice reviews and other multi-agency reviews.
- Develop and maintain a learning and development plan on behalf of the ESCB and ensure its delivery via commissioned trainers and local multi-agency partner input, including managing the learning and development budget and relationships and contracts with external providers.
- Work with Southend and Thurrock Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships to co-ordinate and oversee the review, publication and dissemination of the Southend, Essex & Thurrock Safeguarding and Child Protection Procedures and support updates with a robust communication plan
- Responsible for ensuring an effective response is provided by the Board to recommendations and learning resulting from Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews and other multi-agency reviews, with a view to developing resources to support the dissemination of the learning across the multi-agency partnership.
- Lead in working with Partnership Leads and Chairs across the four Stay Safe groups in Essex to develop local responses to child protection and safeguarding in relation to learning and development needs.
- Contribute to aspects of the Board work such as those designed to develop and enhance the understanding and practice of safeguarding and child protection across the county and SET.
- Develop quality assurance and evaluation systems for single and multi-agency safeguarding training across the multi-agency partnership.
- Develop and maintain links with Local Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships/Boards and relevant partnership organisations, regionally and nationally; maintaining up to date knowledge and understanding on local and national developments in the child protection/safeguarding agenda and ensure these are reflected in ESCB output. Represent the Board on relevant stakeholder groups, forums and other strategic partnerships, providing active input to these.
- Undertake activity aimed at improving safeguarding practice within partner agencies for example, in response to or in preparation for section 11 audits, and across the voluntary and community sector.
- Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.
Dimensions
People management (including direct reports): Responsible for the ESCB Training Administrator and supervise the activity of other staff within the team as required by the Business Manager.
Deputise for the ESCB Business Manager as and when required.
Additional Information: This role is situated in the Essex Safeguarding Children Board (ESCB) Business Support Team. The ESCB is an independent organisation hosted by Essex County Council with responsibilities to coordinate the work of local agencies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and to ensure the effectiveness of that work.
Skills and Knowledge
- Educated to degree level or equivalent by experience with evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
- Detailed knowledge of the multi-agency child protection and safeguarding environment including the Local Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements, relevant legislation, statutory and non-statutory guidance, accepted best practice, current research and of learning from local and national Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews and other multi-agency reviews.
- Experience of working in child protection and / or safeguarding children in social care, health, education, policing or an associated profession with knowledge of the skills and training required by the children’s workforce in relation to safeguarding at all levels.
- Experience of delivering and commissioning training strategies and plans.
- Experience of working in a complex multi-agency environment.
- Experience of developing and implementing quality assurance processes such as audits and / or self-evaluation tools in relation to training and / or other activities.
- Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills including experience of presenting to large meetings, of producing useable summaries of complex information and of writing policy and procedure documents.
- Ability to manage a diverse work agenda incorporating conflicting and strict deadlines.
- Strong interpersonal skills and experience of networking to forge productive relationships across organisational boundaries.
- Ability to achieve a high level of credibility as a source of professional expertise and guidance with managers from a range of partner agencies; confident in providing advice and leading learning activities.
Please ensure that as part of the application process you complete the personal statement outlining how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the requirements of the role
To read more about us please visit: Children & Families
Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.
Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.
We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.
What you should do next
If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.
As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service
Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
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If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk
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