Independent Chair

Job Category : Social & Healthcare Qualified
Location :Plymouth City Council
Hours Per Week : 37.00
Start Date : Immediate Start
Start Time : 09:00
End Time : 17:30
Salary: £39.00

In Plymouth, the Independent Chairs undertake a dual role of Child Protection
Officer (CPO) and Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO). Individual independent
chairs will hold caseloads weighted 70-80% towards either role, dependent on
the needs of the service.
As CPO, chairing child protection case conferences; ensuring correct thresholds
and that the plans address risk, and quality assuring practice.
As IRO, fulfilling statutory duties towards looked after children as defined in the
IRO handbook

 Ensuring that child protection case conferences are timely, quorate and
compliant with Working Together, with appropriate and consistent
thresholds. Providing leadership to ensure safe-decision making and planning
 Ensuring children and young people participate in child protection
conferences where possible, and that their views influence planning
 Ensuring statutory reviews for children in care are timely, quorate and
compliant with the IRO handbook
 Ensuring children participate in their statutory reviews, including facilitating
children to chair their own meetings where appropriate
 Visiting children in placement to build relationships with children in care, and
ensuring their views are heard and influence planning
 Quality assuring casework with individual children in care or at risk in the
community, providing challenge to ensure best practice and avoid drift
 Being accountable for escalation and problem resolution processes including
chairing problem resolution meetings
 Ensuring advocacy for individual children (70%)
 Chairing complex strategy meetings, ensuring safe practice and leading
decision-making ensuring accurate and timely records of meetings and quality
assurance interventions
 Acting as a point of expertise for complex CP investigations
 Providing cover for the LADO (5%)
 Ensuring the production of timely and accurate minutes of child protection
meetings, including abridged versions when appropriate

Degree level or equivalent in Social Work e.g. CQSW, DipSW
 Registration with Social Work England
 Sound understanding of the safeguarding agenda and of the statutory role of
the IRO, the LADO and Adoption and Fostering Panels
 Understanding of how changes in the economic, political, social and
organisational climate can impact on the organisation
 Sound understanding of best practice, including up to date knowledge of
new/emerging initiatives and practice themes
 Understanding of permanence and adoption issues

Desired:

Masters level qualification in Social Work/Management and Leadership
 Practice Educator Award
 Expertise in a specific practice area, e.g. domestic abuse, CSE

essential experience

Significant experience of working as a statutory social work practitioner,
including working in more than one service area
 Experience in raising practice standards and using quality assurance to secure
service improvement
 Experience of multi-agency working
 Significant experience of safeguarding, including analysis and providing advice
to others

Proven leadership ability
 Highly developed analytical skills
 Ability to chair complex meetings
 Excellent verbal communication skills, including ability to influence and ability
to present
 Ability to write cogent and structured analytical reports and evaluations in
response to casework, HR issues or practice themes
 Ability to think strategically and to work across organisational boundaries
and silos
 Keyboard skills required to create and respond to letters and emails and
compile reports
 Forward planning required for up to a year in advance required to devise
and review child protection plans and evaluate effectiveness of care plans and
CP plans against outcomes
 Excellent interpersonal skills to challenge decisions made by the team
managers and others through to the agreed conflict resolution channels and
to be accountable for those decisions
 Ability to develop and deliver multi-agency safeguarding training
 Skills in direct work with children and young people in order to build
relationships and ascertain views