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Oxfordshire County Council has an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated social work manager and contextual safeguarding specialist to join our newly created SAFER Team. The SAFER Team is a service working within County Council’s Children’s Social Care.

This opportunity comes at a pivotal time when we are amalgamating our youth justice service, targeted youth support offer and new ‘Harm outside the home’ team into an integrated adolescence and prevention service.

About the Role

In the role of the SAFER Team Manager you will hold a qualified social work status and lead on the operational implementation of interventions, to prevent child exploitation across Oxfordshire.This will include the development of multi-agency responses that respond to children’s experiences of significant harm beyond their families. The team will be community based and deliver Place-Based interventions as appropriate.You will work closely with Schools, policing harm reduction unit, Safeguarding and Community Safety partners in the development and delivery of contextual responses.

You will provide motivation and professional leadership, ensuring that the team is effective, value based and delivers positive outcomes for children and families.You will manage performance and quality assurance, resources and budgets and support compliance with organisational decision making and initiatives.

The postholder will work closely with the lead allocated social workers to implement identified plans and will be responsible for coordinating partnership responses in identified locations.You be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the contextual safeguarding responses, leading pre panel and MACE (multi agency child exploitation) Strategic Group as appropriate in respect of needs, progress and outcomes. This will inform service improvements and future delivery plans. You will also coordinate oversight of radicalisation work, serious violence and children going missing.Engaging communities and partners to raise awareness of contextual safeguarding and build resilience will be fundamental to this role.

You will report to the adolescence and prevention service manager and relevant Strategic Groups in respect of progress and outcomes. This will inform service improvements and future delivery plans.You will also be responsible for the development and coordination of multi-agency and community resources to meet the holistic needs of vulnerable families residing within localities with high levels of crime and associated needs.

You will maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current legislation, best practice and innovation relating to contextual safeguarding as well as the wider national and political contexts. You will coordinate contextual safeguarding approaches to understanding, and responding to, children’s experiences of significant harm beyond their families across Oxfordshire.

Please note: our job descriptions are currently being updated and so please be aware that the scope of the role is as described in the advert and may be amended further.

Key tasks:

• Work alongside lead assessors to help formulate an implementation plan following the contextual safeguarding assessment.
• Responsible for delivering and coordinating the partnership implementation plans in identified locations.
• Undertaking robust evaluations of the work being undertaken, reporting on progress and impact to the MACE strategic group.
• Identify and report on any challenges to delivery and identifying solutions to these challenges.
• Plan and oversee services to meet the highest priorities within allocated resources and manage competing demands.
• Identifying partnership resources and writing funding proposals to deliver area implementation plans.
• Raising awareness around contextual safeguarding to the wider community including the development of communication resources to improve local engagement.
• Contributing to the development of others through the delivery of high-quality training.
• Draw upon the expertise of partners and the community (including parks, schools, high streets and shopping centres, youth clubs, fast food outlets, transport hubs and online social media platforms) to build resilience against future harm from these environments.
• Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current legislation, best practice and innovation relating to contextual safeguarding as well as the wider national and political context.
• Responsible for managing a team, providing regular support and supervision in line with County Council policy.
• Be an effective member of the adolescence and prevention management team and deputise for other managers as required.
• Undertake available training opportunities and show a commitment to continuous development
• Promote equalities, inclusion and diversity in decision making.
• Work flexibly to meet the needs of the service, including evening and weekend working.

About you

• Social Work Qualification and registration with Social Work England
• Experience of preventing child exploitation across areas
• Extensive partnership work experience, including across statutory partners, police, health and VCSE partners
• Experience of leading contextual safeguarding responses, leading panels and MACE (multi agency child exploitation) Strategic Groups
• Experience of budget management, quality assurance process implementation and team management
• A skilled communicator and work well as part of a team and with a wide range of professionals, confident working in a political environment.
• Confident in using IT systems and databases.
• Committed to professional development by engaging with reflective processes and ongoing learning.
• Able to travel to and access a variety of locations across the County easily.

This is a county wide role and work may take place anywhere in the county of Oxfordshire. You will need to be able to easily access urban and remote locations.

The needs of the children, young people & families are varied, and you will need to lead your team to remain flexible in their work with service users and adapt your management style accordingly. You will need to be able to work flexibly including evenings and weekends as required to meet service need.

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps) and any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/ criteria in the advert/ person spec to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities.

To find out more, please contact Jessie Dobson, Partnership Youth Development Manager, Jessie.Dobson3@Oxfordshire.gov.uk or mobile 07776 997 935.

Rewards and benefits

• Annual leave starting at 28 days per year (plus bank holidays).
• A comprehensive Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
• Employee Assistance Programme including access to health and wellbeing support 24 x7.
• Range of family friendly policies.
• Cycle to work scheme, electric car scheme, range of staff discounts including travel, holidays, insurance, food, health & leisure activities.
• Excellent learning and development opportunities.

Ourcommitment to:
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

At Oxfordshire County Council we are proud of our diverse workforce.Everyone is accepted for who they are, regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marital status, race, faith or belief, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, or on maternity or family leave. We have a number of staff network groups which provide peer support, education and safe spaces for all.

Our commitment to:
Guaranteed Interview Schemes

As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job.We also guarantee interviews to care leavers who have completed further education and who meet the essential criteria for the job. For those leaving care without any further education, we guarantee an interview for our apprenticeships.We are also committed to helping and supporting those transitioning from HM Armed Forces to civilian life and guarantee an interview for those demonstrating the essential criteria for the role, within three years of leaving the service.

Our commitment to:
Safeguarding

Oxfordshire County Council are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect these commitments.

Our commitment to:
Flexible Working

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which can include flexi-time, full time and part time working, job sharing, nine-day fortnights and annualised hours, depending on the requirements of the role and the service.

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