“Bexley is a safe and supportive place to work with highly creative work undertaken by a skilled and well supported workforce” – Ofsted 2018

The Council, its staff and partners, were delighted in August last year when Ofsted judged the overall effectiveness of children’s social care services to be ‘outstanding’!  We were especially pleased that our investment in frontline practitioners and managers was recognised. We have been working for three years to create an environment where social workers can do the work they came into the profession to do - to support and help families to stay together where this is in children’s best interests and it is safe enough for this to happen.

Ofsted judged that we provide strong management oversight of practice, that we have a well – embedded practice framework to enable meaningful family focused help, that we offer clear progress in career pathways, a talent management scheme and a nurturing environment to enable social work to flourish. We believe deeply in relationship based practice and ‘Signs of Safety’ is the vehicle enabling us to do this respectfully and in collaboration with the people we are trying to help.

If this sounds exciting and reassuring, we want you to get in touch with us. Our workforce is stable with over 90% permanent staff, but we are always looking for practitioners wanting to come and practice confidently as part of our team making a difference for families and children.

We will invest in you in return for your investment in our families and children.

As Signs of Safety Practice Development Lead you will be working to drive our implementation of Signs of Safety across all areas of Children’s Services.  We are looking for someone who is organised and future focused but with a good eye on the here and now.  You will be working closely with senior leaders, practitioners, and external organisations to help us grow our practice.

You will provide the strategic and operational lead for the implementation of Signs of Safety in Bexley.  Bexley  is committed to continuing and strengthening the implementation of SOS and the principle purpose of this role is to work with colleagues across the organisation to build on and deepen good practice and support strengthening practice where needed.

You will be confident in Signs of Safety practice and able to develop constructive working relationships with managers and practitioners in the service.  It is essential that you are able to lead others in a way that models the principals and disciplines of signs of safety

Being able to identify barriers to implementation and to work collaboratively with practitioners and managers to identify solutions to overcome these barriers

You will have had previous management or supervisory experience. Be fully conversant with relevant statutory provisions and the Council’s constitution, processes and procedures; to develop the full range of managerial and professional skills and knowledge to satisfy the requirements of the post.

For an informal conversation about the post, please contact Lara Wood Head of Professional Standards & Quality Assurance

Phone: 0203 045 3553

Email: Lara.wood@bexley.gov.uk 

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service

Do you think you have what it takes to join our team of excellent and dedicated social work professionals?

Our offer includes:

·        Professional supervision

·        Mentoring/coaching

·        Career progression pathways for training and continuous professional development

·        Opportunity to engage in our Aspiring Leaders Programme

·        Reimbursement of HCPC subscription

·        Excellent local government pension scheme

·        Performance related pay with the opportunity to earn a 5% bonus each year

·        MyChoice Staff Benefit Scheme – Includes Childcare vouchers, cycle to work scheme, access to high street shopping vouchers and online discount codes.

·        31 days Annual Leave plus Bank Holiday Entitlement

·        Annual Leave Purchase Scheme

View more about our employment deal here.

Bexley is an outer London Borough with the best of both worlds, located between the hustle and bustle of London and the Garden of England, Kent. Within the borough we have award winning parks, open spaces and listed heritage sites.   

Your Application:

• Closing Date for your application: 29^th July 2019.  
• Please visit https://jobs.bexley.gov.uk/wrlive to find out more and apply.  CVs will not be accepted unless they are submitted with a completed application form.

This authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

This post is considered by the authority to be a customer-facing position; as such it falls within scope of the Code of Practice on English language requirement for public sector workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the JD/Person Specification. These will be applied during the recruitment/selection and probationary stages