Independent Reviewing Officer - Child Protection Conference Chair at Nottingham City Council

, England, United Kingdom -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

16 Apr, 26

Salary

53826.0

Posted On

16 Jan, 26

Experience

5 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Qualified Social Worker, Child Protection, Management Experience, Time Management, Communication Skills, Meeting Facilitation, Data Analysis, Quality Assurance, Support and Challenge, Equality and Diversity, Child-Centered Approach, Performance Driven, Proactive, Collaboration, Family Support, Social Work Practice

Industry

Government Administration

Description

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council Work Location: Various locations across Leicestershire Worker Category: Field Based Worker Salary: Grade 13 – £49,221 - £53,826 per annum (pro rata for part-time) Working Hours: 37 hours per week Contract Type: Permanent Closing Date: 26/01/2026 Interview Date(s): 05/02/2026 Exciting Opportunity in the Safeguarding & Performance Service for a Child Protection Conference Chair. It’s an exciting time to be a part of Children and Family Services at Leicestershire County Council, our staff are at the heart of delivering excellent services to children and families across Leicestershire. Come and join us and make a difference in the lives of children and families in Leicestershire. Our recent Ofsted inspection praised Leicestershire’s work to build “strong and long-lasting relationships” with children and families which lead to many families achieving “positive changes” in their lives. They highlighted an “ambitious and child-focused senior leadership that has successfully created a culture where the experiences and progress of children are at the heart of social work practice”. You can read more about our Outstanding Ofsted rating here About the Role We have an exciting opportunity to join the Safeguarding and Performance service as an Independent Reviewing Officer as a Child Protection Conference Chair. You will be joining a well-established and stable service without our Outstanding Children’s Social Care. Your role will be focused on chairing child protection conferences, supporting families and professionals through this process, and reviewing and giving oversight, quality assurance and challenge to teams on the robustness and progress of child protection planning for children. Nationally all Local Authorities are taking part in the Families First Program which is the national review of children’s social care, focusing on the development of multi-agency child protection teams. This role is part of the ongoing considerations for that program over the next year and all staff impacted will be fully included and consulted in the ongoing plans. An enhanced DBS check is required for this post. For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement. About You To apply for this post, you must respond to and evidence the following 7 essential criteria within your personal statement. This should be no more than 1,000 words. PLEASE NOTE: Previous applicants need not re-apply as all prior submissions have been reviewed. You will need to be a qualified social worker and registered with Social Work England, with substantial experience of working with statutory children’s social care and child protection background. You will need to have management experience, working at Grade 12 or above. You will be passionate about delivering the highest standard of care to our children and recognise the significant role that the Child Protection Conference Chairs play in supporting operational colleagues in driving forward plans and preventing drift and delay. You will have strong skills in time management, working effectively and flexibly to meet deadlines, and be a strong communicator. You will be able to chair complex meetings and present information both verbally and in reports to different groups including children, political leader’s senior managers and the wider workforce. You will be performance driven with a keen eye for data and a proactive approach to quality assurance to drive and improve practice. You will be able to support and challenge your colleagues to benefit our children, with their voice central to your work. You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion. In addition, we expect you to share our commitment to our values and will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the interview process. Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. Please note – interviews will take place on the 5th of February 2026 at County Hall, Glenfield, Leicestershire. Interested in Flexible Working? 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. This may include requests for term-time working, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, home/remote working, etc. Every role within the Council has a defined working style which determines where they can work. The worker category applicable to this post is detailed in the above advert. You can find out more about our worker categories in the Our Working Styles page on our career site. For more information or an informal discussion, please contact: Kara Walne – Assistant Service Manager 0116 3056694 To contact me by email, please click here . How to Apply Leicestershire County Council is an inclusive organisation which is on a journey to embed and celebrate equality, diversity, and inclusion at every level. We warmly welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, as having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values and enriches the services, we offer our communities. We particularly welcome applicants from Ethnically Diverse and LGBTQ Plus communities and people with disabilities to create a balanced workforce and one that reflects the communities we serve. Applicants with a disability who meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above will be offered an interview under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme. To apply for this job, please click on the apply button. You will need to upload a supporting statement as part of your application which explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. For more information, see the How to Apply section on our career site. 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. If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support. By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. About Leicestershire County Council Leicestershire County Council is a Disability Confident, Menopause Friendly, Mindful Employer, Fostering Friendly, Forces Friendly, and Cycle Friendly organisation. In August 2021, we also signed up to the Race at Work Charter. We are strongly committed to promoting equality and opportunity, championing employee wellbeing and investing in staff training and development. Our aim is to work with communities and partners to deliver public services that make Leicestershire the best possible place to live and work for everyone. Our employees play a key role in supporting this goal and helping us deliver the vital services we provide to the people of Leicestershire. For further information on what it’s like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following: Our Recruitment Process Our Organisational Values Our Employee Benefits Working for Us

Responsibilities

The role involves chairing child protection conferences and providing oversight and quality assurance on child protection planning. You will support families and professionals throughout the process.