UK Ministry of Defence
Senior Safeguarding Officer
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RAF Cranwell
Job Summary
Calling all social workers, family support workers, early help workers and anyone else with relevant, extensive experience. If you are looking for a new challenge, offering a positive work life balance than this could be the role for you.
RAF Air Cadets is a national youth organisation. This is an exciting time and opportunity to join the safeguarding team based at RAF Cranwell. We are looking for professionals who have significant practice experience working in the field of child protection. The role will require you to undertake a range of safeguarding assessments across the organisation in line with RAFAC and MOD Safeguarding policy, managing active casework. This includes undertaking child protection investigations and compiling coherent assessment reports.
The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate within the application clear practice experience in managing and investigating safeguarding and child protection casework. The successful candidate will be working as a Senior Safeguarding Officer, within a team which manages all safeguarding matters covering 40,000 cadets, 15,000 adult volunteers and 5,000 charity committee members. The role is also responsible for contributing to policy development, maintaining existing and formulating new training packages which can be delivered face to face or virtually.
There will be requirements to travel on occasions which will involve direct work with all staff, cadets and volunteers.
The role will involve some evening and weekend work, which can take you away overnight.
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week and is based as RAF Cranwell.
Job Description
We are seeking experienced child protection professionals, preferably with a social work qualification or equivalent to work alongside existing safeguarding officers to lead, develop and shape safeguarding practices across the RAF Air Cadets. This is a great opportunity for an experienced and enthusiastic but measured person to bring their skills within safeguarding to the organisation to engage staff, volunteers and cadets to provide support and best practice guidance across the corps. As a senior safeguarding practitioner, you will be responsible for role modelling and mentoring your colleagues across the organisation.
You will need to have a strong knowledge base in relation to relevant legislation and government guidance. You will be responsible for contributing to the development of policy and processes in accordance with MOD policy and government legislation. You will need to be able to work from a holistic perspective, taking into consideration the wider needs of those who require support from the team, identifying the correct level of support. You will be comfortable with working in a fast-paced environment, meeting deadlines with clear assessment reports and accurate recordings of any intervention. As a senior safeguarding officer, you will be required to undertake a range of complex safeguarding assessments, investigations, and interviews, providing detailed reports and analysis of your recommendations.
You will hold and maintain casework on the recording system and be responsible for guiding staff and volunteers on the required steps. You must be confident and comfortable in making decisions re risk management, which are evidenced based and have a good understanding of relevant theory and legislation. You will be able to devise and deliver high standards of training relating to a number of key areas in respect of safeguarding, this will be a mixture of face to face and virtually. You will be expected to have the ability to train, develop and mentor others to ensure practice is enhanced and maintained to a high standard.
You will be requested to visit squadron's and undertake direct work with cadets and adult volunteers to deliver key messages surrounding safeguarding. The role will require some travelling across regions, delivering presentations. Due to the nature of the organisation this will require a flexible approach for some evening and weekend working.
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You will be confident to challenge and advocate for the rights of the client group, liaising with external agencies including LADO, Social Workers, Police and education provisions. You will represent the organisation at a number of meetings which may be external such as child protection conferences and strategy discussions, contributing to safeguarding plans.
Person Specification
- Extensive practice experience, in the field of safeguarding / child protection preferably with a relevant qualification - needs to be applied daily in case management direction and management oversight and leadership of the organisation
- A clear understanding of a variety of legislation and government guidance including but not limited to: Children Act 1989; Children Act 2004; Fostering and adoption act; Human Rights Act; UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child; The Children and Families Act; the Education Act; Working together to safeguarding children. This understanding is needed to ensure correct and consistent application on intervention and decision-making practices.
- Ability to research, analyse and reflect on practice and engage in a range of assurance and audit pieces to inform practice and practice progression.
- Good understanding of theory, life course development, eco systems, practice knowledge and an ability to connect - you must have this level of knowledge to understand human behaviour, predict impact and identify the appropriate and relevant support levels.
- Excellent communication skills - to be able to engage and influence all stakeholders, internal and external effectively and articulately and where required write evidence and provide oral evidence in Court. Will also be required to write, interpret, and implement policy.
- Excellent understanding of available services and the functioning of those services such as health care, mental health services, probation, police, youth offending, the criminal and family courts processes, Local Authority processes. This understanding is necessary in order to be able to reach out to sources, know when to signpost and how to contact and what intervention they will provide.
- Competent IT skills to allow for daily functioning which includes the use of spreadsheets for analysis, adopting new technology for creative training techniques and training presentations.
- Excellent organisation skills in order to be able to manage the multiple different requirements of the post, meetings, team needs and organisational demands.
- Confidence / resilience – to challenge and negotiate on behalf of the client whether in the scenario that is the team, children, adults, or the whole organisation. You require the confidence to know how and who to challenge and require resilience to maintain positivity and stamina.
- Time keeping / Timescales – time management is essential for practice and progression and to be able to work at a fast pace whilst producing quality outcomes.
- Professional Accountability with a high work ethic and value base – safeguarding is a significant and professional responsibility and one which the organisation takes seriously.
- Be able to offer a flexible approach to work in undertaking visits which may be in the evenings and deliver some training in the evenings / on weekends.
This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service Check.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
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- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
- Working Together
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Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £37,720, Ministry of Defence contributes £10,927 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with a 28.97% contribution
- 25 days Annual leave, increase 1 day per year up to 30 days (reckonable service is recognised).
- On-site free parking
- Registered professional may be eligible to claim registration fees, linked with the role, such as Social Work England.
Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.
Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.
Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.
Any move to MOD from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.
MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – We may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Policy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.
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Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas
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