Principal Officer

As Principal Officer for Child Protection and Review, you’ll play a pivotal role in facilitating child protection conferences and providing expert advice around safeguarding, trauma informed and relational practice, for some of the City’s most vulnerable children and young people.

Our safety planning is underpinned by the Strengthening Families approach, whereby you will ensure that parents and children are enabled to actively engage, participate and co-produce, and the child’s voice and lived experience is at the heart of safety planning.

We have been rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted, following a 2023 inspection. This is a fantastic achievement for Birmingham Children's Trust, with many positive highlights focusing on areas including the quality of staff leadership, partnership working, safeguarding and corporate parenting.

This is an office based role in Birmingham so you must have the correct right-to-work documents to work in the UK. Sadly, we do not support those who require sponsorship.

About you:

• You will be a qualified social worker and will be registered with Social Work England. You will have extensive post qualifying experience in respect to safeguarding; preferably including some managerial experience.
• You will have experience of chairing complex meetings in respect to child safeguarding.
  Be able to work collaboratively with families and professionals to develop a plan to reduce the risk of harm to the children.
• You will have a sound knowledge of child protection practice, legislation, and policy.
• You will also have experience in working with key partner agencies to support children and their families.
• You will be able to maintain positive relationships, be an effective communicator, and be good at assessment, analytical thinking, and able to develop SMART child focused plans.
• You will demonstrate a willingness to be a practice lead for a specific area of expertise or project, further developing the quality of the child protection conference service for children and their families.
• You are a team player and self-motivated, able to work in a supportive and proactive manner with your colleagues and managers within a small team.
• Be confident to escalating concerns about safeguarding practice, drift and delay, with other managers, senior managers and partners.

Our Benefits

• A generous annual leave package of 30 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days after 5 years of service and 35 days after 10 years of service.
• Salary Sacrifice Car Scheme which gives you the chance to drive a brand-new car for an affordable fixed monthly amount as part of a salary sacrifice initiative. With no deposits or credit checks required a range of all-inclusive driving packages
• Free on-site parking at our offices on One Avenue Road (Aston) and Lifford House (Stirchley). We also provide onsite electric car charging ports which are free to use!
• You will receive a generous local government career average pension scheme in line with the Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Continuous Service Recognition - Thank You employee badge when first joining the Trust. Plus, Years of Service badge awarded for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35+ years of service.
• Full access to our amazing internal employee benefits scheme including, Occupational Health services, Rewards Schemes, Benefits discounts (including the Blue Light Card), Health & Fitness and Personal Wellbeing support and much more!

Onboarding Process:

Please note as part of our onboarding process, the successful candidate will be required undergo a series of background checks with Experian Including Experian Right to Work, and Digital ID verification. These are essential pre-employment requirements.

Benefits

Help us to change children and young people’s lives!

At Birmingham Children’s Trust, we are committed to making a positive impact on the lives of over 10,000 children and young people in our city every day. Our mission is to support the most disadvantaged children and young people in Birmingham, ensuring they are safe, happy, and healthy.

Why Join Us?

• Impactful Work - be part of a team that makes a real difference in the lives of the city’s most vulnerable children.
• Supportive Environment - enjoy a supportive and collaborative work culture where your contributions are valued.
• Career Development - benefit from tailored development programs, supportive supervision, and a range of learning opportunities to enhance your skills and advance your career.
• Generous Benefits - take advantage of our competitive reward package including generous leave allowance, Local Government pension scheme, and additional benefits.

Our Values

We approach our work with care and compassion, actively listening to the needs of the children and young people we serve. We involve them in the decisions that affect their lives, ensuring their voices are heard and respected.

We are committed to using our resources wisely, ensuring that every penny is spent where it counts the most. We foster collaboration among schools, health professionals, and the police, working together to create a supportive network for our young people.

We believe that when we work as one cohesive team, the children and young people of Birmingham are more likely to thrive. Our unified approach ensures that we provide the best possible support and opportunities for their growth and development.

Join us and together, we can create a brighter future for all.

Safeguarding

At Birmingham Children’s Trust, we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.

Depending on the role, you may be asked to undergo the appropriate level of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check to assess your suitability for working with children and young people.

The level of check (Standard, Enhanced, or Enhanced with Barred List) is determined based on the specific responsibilities of the role and the level of contact with children and young people.

We are committed to the fair treatment of all applicants, including those with criminal records. Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar an individual from working with us. This will depend on the nature of the position and the circumstances and background of the offence.

Please note that we reserve the right to close the job early should we reach the required number of applications, therefore please ensure you submit your application and supporting statement early to avoid any disappointment.