Practitioner Support Officer - Integrated Front Door

Practitioner Support Officer - Integrated Front Door

At Cheshire East we’re making significant, tangible investments in our foundations. This includes strengthening our commissioning function, expanding workforce development and creating clearer, more ambitious pathways. To realise these ambitions, we’re seeking ambitious and flexible individuals who want to help us shape the future.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Practitioner Support Officer – Integrated Front Door based at Delamere House, Crewe on a full time permanent basis.

About the Role

This is an exciting opportunity to work in partnership with colleagues in the “Integrated Front Door” to provide advice, guidance and practical support relating to Early Help Assessment (EHA) and Lead Professional (LP) processes to practitioners in Cheshire East Council and other agencies. To provide advice, information and guidance to children and young people and their families relating to Early Help Support, Assessments and Lead Professional processes.

The successful candidate will:

• Raise awareness of ChECS and Early Help Brokerage and EHA processes with practitioners and managers across relevant agencies by giving advice and support including organising and delivering training and other activities such as single and multi-agency briefings, EHA training and working lunches, to improve outcomes for children and young people.
• Provide telephone and some hands-on guidance and advice to practitioners and managers from Cheshire East Council and partner agencies (such as schools, health services and voluntary community and faith sector organisations) who need support with EHA and Lead Professional processes, to ensure they are able to assess the needs of children and young people holistically and at an early stage.
• Complete home visits with families to triage and assess the needs of the families to determine the support offered through Early Help Services.
• Provide individual support in the form of guidance, coaching and mentoring to practitioners and managers in Cheshire East and partner agencies to enable them to devise, implement and review multi-agency action plans for children and young people which meet their assessed needs.
• Provide parents, carers and young people with advice and guidance in relation to EHA, primarily over the telephone and model positive ways of engaging them in assessment, action planning and reviewing processes to enable practitioners and managers from Cheshire East and partner agencies to involve families fully in EHA processes.
• Design and develop publications such as briefings, newsletters and leaflets to ensure managers and practitioners across relevant agencies receive up to date information and guidance around EHA and Lead Professional processes.
• Collect, record and report relevant quantitative and qualitative data to ensure performance management systems facilitate a needs led approach. Coach practitioners across agencies in the use of data tools to enable them to measure progress and improvements in outcomes for children and young people.
• Contribute to the development of an electronic EHA system and deliver training to practitioners and managers in Cheshire East on using the system.
• Evaluate the provision of services and contribute to the policy development and planning processes within the Integrated Front Door.

The successful candidate will bring:

• NVQ Level 3, or equivalent qualification/experience, in a relevant discipline
• Experience of providing practitioners with advice, guidance and support to enable them to deliver quality services
• Experience of multi-agency partnership working
• Experience of using a holistic assessment framework to assess children and young people’s needs and develop individual package of support
• Experience working in an organisation which delivers services to young people and their families, preferably including child protection work
• Experience of working with children and young people with targeted and complex needs, and their parents/carers
• A comprehensive working and theoretical knowledge of Early Help Assessment (EHA) and Lead Professional processes

To find out more about the essential and desirable criteria for the role please view the attached job description specification document.

In return we are able to offer:

• Enhanced annual leave - Start with an impressive 34 days of annual leave (including bank holidays) from day one, and watch it grow to 39 days after just five years of service
• Purchase of annual leave – Want more time off? You can purchase up to 10 extra days of annual leave each year, giving you the flexibility to balance work and life just the way you want (Pro-rata for part-time staff)
• Flexible working pattern - Enjoy a 37-hour standard full-time work week with the added perks of flexi-time and hybrid/remote working arrangements where possible. Your work-life balance just got a whole lot better
• Salary sacrifice green car scheme - Drive green and save green! Lease a brand-new electric or hybrid car through our salary sacrifice scheme. There’s no credit checks, no deposits, just significant savings and exclusive offers on a three-year lease
• White goods salary sacrifice scheme - Upgrade your home with ease. Purchase home and electronic items through our salary sacrifice scheme, spreading the cost of big-ticket purchases like appliances, computers, and tech gadgets directly from your salary
• Enhanced public pension - Secure your future with our career average pension, where contributions are built at a rate of 1/49th of your yearly pensionable pay
• Cycle to work scheme - Save up to 25-39% on the retail price of bikes and safety equipment through Income Tax and National Insurance savings. Get fit and save money!
• Employee assistance programme - Access a completely free and confidential assistance service to help manage, reduce, and overcome life’s challenges, both at work and in your personal life
• Discounted gym membership - Stay active and healthy with corporate membership prices for Everybody Leisure, including:
• Gym, Swim and Group Fitness at all 16 facilities
• Off-Peak Racket Sports
• Athletics Tracks
• Sauna/Steam/Spa

How to apply

We’re delighted that you’re considering applying for this role!

As an equal opportunities’ employer, we warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds. We believe that a diverse workforce helps us better reflect and serve our local communities, and together, we can build something truly special.

To join our team, simply click ‘Apply for this job’ at the bottom of the page. If you’d prefer an informal chat first or have any questions about the role, feel free to reach out to Jade Bradshaw at: jade.bradshaw@cheshireeast.gov.uk, they will be happy to hear from you! Please remember to include the job reference so we know which role you are interested in.

Once you’ve applied for the position, please keep an eye on your email inbox (including your junk and spam folders), as we’ll send any correspondence there to stay in touch with updates about your application.

If you haven’t heard from us within four weeks of the closing date, it likely means we weren’t able to move forward with your application at this time but please don’t let this discourage you as your interest means a lot to us, and we’d truly love to hear from you again in the future!

We wish you all the best in your application and if you run into any technical issues, our friendly team are here to help at: childrenssocialcarerecruitment@cheshireeast.gov.uk.

Cheshire East Council is committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults across the Borough. As such, any cautions, convictions, reprimands or final warnings that are ‘not protected’ as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) order 1975 (as amended in 2013) relating to the non-disclosure of spent convictions do not apply to this job. You must therefore, disclose whether you have any previous convictions where prompted to do so within the application process.

Attachments

• Job Description and Specification - Practitioner Support Officer.pdf