Personal Advisor

Role Responsibility

Do you have what it takes to build positive and beneficial relationships with young people?

Would you like to improve the outcomes for care experienced young people?

Would you like to support young people to build bright and stable futures for themselves?

Would you like to spend every day at work knowing that you have made a difference in the lives of young people?

If yes, we have the perfect role for you!

The 18+ Care Leavers Service is a growing service that provides support to the Local Authorities care experienced young people. Kent County Council is a large authority and so this service is based at two sites at either end of the county, at Dover Civic Centre in Dover and Worrall House in West Malling. 

We require Personal Advisers for teams based in Dover, to work with care experienced young people up to the age of 25. You will be the first point of contact for a specific number of young people, with responsibility for providing flexible support, assistance, and advice when they are preparing and planning to leave care, and throughout their transition to adulthood. 

You will need to encourage and support the young adults to actively participate and you will need to develop a robust and detailed Pathway Plan that will enable them to move successfully into adulthood and living independently and helps them achieve their goals. You will have some understanding of safeguarding and how to promote well-being. The post embodies the Local Authorities commitment to care experienced young people to act as their corporate parent to help them reach their potential. 

Our care experienced young people come from a diverse range of backgrounds, so you’ll need to be flexible with your time and imaginative in your approach to help them achieve the best possible outcomes. You’ll need to be very organised and capable of balancing priorities, including the need to carefully record your work and carry out pathway planning with young people that reflects their aspirations and needs. You’ll need to build close working relationships with colleagues in other agencies as part of a wider network and advocate on behalf of the young people to ensure their needs are met. The Service was rated as “Outstanding” at its last Ofsted inspection and is continually looking at ways to improve further.

You will be well supported with training, team practice and reflections meetings and working alongside colleagues who are passionate about what they do. You will also have  regular 1:1 supervision with your Team Manager to support case management and check in with your personal wellbeing.

It is essential that you can travel across a wide geographical area, both inside and outside of Kent in a timely and flexible manner at various times of the day to visit and support care experienced young people. This can be within Kent and Medway and on some occasions outside of Kent.  You will need to be able to drive and have access to a car during the working week in order to fulfil this role. Being able to work flexibly is a requirement of the role and on some occasions you may need to work past your contracted hours to meet the needs of our care experienced young people. Overtime is not paid; however, you will receive your time back in lieu. 

This role is subject to holding a Full UK Driving Licence – The Council is committed to making reasonable adjustments so whilst this job requires the jobholder to drive your application will still be considered if you are unable to drive due to a disability

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. 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/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

To find more information about our service, the role of the PA, and our Local Offer, you can access Moving On (lea.kent.sch.uk)

Please ensure that you research the role as the expectation will be, should you reach interview stage, that you can display some knowledge of this service and the role. 

Kent County Council is able to offer the additional benefits of:

• Option to enrol in the Local Government Pension scheme when applicable
• 27 days paid annual leave per year 
• Once you have completed a period of induction you can adopt a hybrid working system to support your work life balance and the needs of the service.
• Staff discounts on a range of leisure products and services through our Kent Rewards programme
• Access to a range of KCC staff groups providing support and development opportunities to staff across our diverse workforce
• On the job training and regular supervision with your line manager

Closing date: 21^st April 2025

Interviews will be held on Wednesday 30^th April and  1^st May 2025 at Dover Civic Centre  

Contact Details

For more information about the role or if you have any specific questions, please contact:

 Roxana Salimi on Roxana.Salimi@kent.gov.uk or Victoria Newman on Victoria.Newman@kent.gov.uk 

About the Company

Work that works for you and us - let's talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county's working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

KCC is transitioning to a new pay structure from 1st April 2025.  More details can be found here - Pay - Jobs & Careers - Kent County Council 

Please note - if you are interested, please apply soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.