Senior Practitioner - Safeguarding

Role Responsibility

Adult Safeguarding Team – West Kent

Every adult in Kent deserves to live their lives free from abuse or neglect. We are looking for a Senior Practitioner who can work in partnership with adults at risk of abuse and who have care and/or support needs to make a positive difference every day.

Kent County Council is looking for someone who can deliver excellence in collaborative approaches to making safeguarding personal, clarity in triaging and risk assessments, and refined skills in planning and overseeing proportionate safeguarding enquiries so that adults are empowered to exercise choice and control when others seek to exploit, abuse or neglect them.

We are looking for a person who will:

• Ensure that the adult is fully involved in safeguarding enquiries about them
• Make the principle of proportionality the watch word for safeguarding adults practice keeping the adults’ own decisions or best interests at the heart of decision making
• Work effectively with other professionals to undertake safeguarding enquiries where concerns are raised, and promote the protective needs of adults
• Make themselves accountable to the adult and others in safeguarding them from abuse
• Promote the health and well-being of adults to prevent abuse and neglect
• Provide leadership and supervision to the registered and unregistered workforce in conducting safeguarding enquiries
• Provide professional knowledge and expertise to promote effective inter-agency working to safeguard adults from abuse

Adults who are at the greatest risk of the greatest harms demand the best social work practice that can be delivered. If you can do this then we want to hear from you.

The West Kent Adult Safeguarding Team is a supportive and close professional team who work as part of a countywide dedicated safeguarding service for Older People and People with Physical Disabilities. We work in partnership with other agencies including Police, NHS and Social Care to conduct safeguarding enquiries. The specialism of this dedicated service offers the opportunity for practitioners to concentrate their energies on delivering the best safeguarding practice possible without distraction from other Adult Social Care duties.

You will be expected to lead and direct others to undertake safeguarding enquiries to ensure that any risk of abuse to an adult is assessed and responded to in a timely and proportionate manner. This requires an ability to work under pressure with competence and pace to make critical decisions for the protection of others.

You must hold a Social Work qualification and have up to date registration. You will need to have experience of working with adults, a sound working knowledge of the Local Authorities duties to undertake safeguarding enquiries, experience of inter-disciplinary working, excellent interpersonal skills and a firm commitment to continuous professional development, which you will be able to evidence.  

Kent County Council value their staff and as part of our commitment to you we ensure all staff receive:

• A comprehensive induction
• Regular supervision and a personal action plan to support your career development
• An annual appraisal
• Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities to support you in your role

If you feel you have the qualities it takes to make a difference every day in protecting adults from abuse or neglect please make your application, illustrating how you meet the Job Description and Person Specification for this role.

We would positively welcome applicants contacting Team Manager Anna Ramsay on 03000 411552, or by e-mail anna.ramsay@kent.gov.uk to have an informal discussion and gain a greater understanding of the team and the role.  Interviews will be taking place on the 21st and 23rd April 2021.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service and registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.

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.

Contact Details

Anna Ramsay

03000 411552

anna.ramsay@kent.gov.uk

About the Company

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