Social Worker Safeguarding and Child Protection Officer

Job summary

This is a unique opportunity to develop skills in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults within a law enforcement agency focusing on serious and organised crime.

The Safeguarding & Child Protection Team require individuals who have a social work degree or accreditation, registration with Social Work England, significant post- qualifying experience, and necessary skills to respond to complex safeguarding and child protection concerns.

The officer will utilise their specialist skills and experience to provide advice and support investigations across different threat areas to ensure the NCA fulfils its safeguarding duties and obligations effectively and to this highest possible standard.

Alternative working arrangements will be considered on a case-by-case basis, depending on business demands.

The team currently runs on an internal rota basis to ensure that tasks are shared fairly among the team and that cover is always available Monday to Friday

Job description

The role will support the triage and response to the reports received daily from vulnerable children and young people, their parents/ carers through the CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) Safety Centre reporting service.

The team also provides specialist safeguarding support and advice to officers across the agency which is essential to ensure high standards of safeguarding during investigations. The successful candidate will be required to support this function including providing specialist tactical advice, developing safeguarding strategies, engaging with multi-agency partners and deploying alongside investigators in instances where safeguarding risks have been identified.

** Due to the nature of the role social workers will be exposed to indecent imagery of children, relevant well-being training and regular psychological reviews will be provided**

Duties and Responsibilities

• To develop safeguarding and child protection strategies to be used by investigation teams to support the safeguarding and welfare of children and vulnerable adults.
• To work as part of law enforcement led investigation teams to give specialist advice on potential risks to children and vulnerable adults at any stage of investigative activity and to support the Senior Investigating Officer in the risk management of operational tactics.
• To provide direct operational support during national deployments, including safeguarding, supporting, assessing, and where appropriate interviewing children and vulnerable adults.
• To help identify and safeguard children who are at risk of harm or are experiencing abuse online.
• To participate in the triage and management of referrals from the public by undertaking risk assessments and communicating directly with vulnerable children, their parents, carers, and local safeguarding professionals.
• To provide advice directly to children, parents, carers, and professionals who report child sexual abuse and exploitation to us through the CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) Safety Centre.
• To contribute to training, awareness and knowledge sharing within the Safeguarding and Child Protection Team as well as with wider NCA colleagues.
• To work with multi-agency partners such as; Social Care, Health, Education and Local Forces, to coordinate safeguarding responses and provide advice whilst engaging in localised safeguarding procedures such as strategy meetings.
• Maintain accurate and confidential records and reports in accordance with legal, professional and organisational standards.

Person specification

• Knowledge of child development.

• Understand theoretical concepts, legal frameworks and to able work within policy and procedures relating to safeguarding and child protection.

• Ability to value diversity by treating people as individuals, valuing their input and contribution and work across cultures.

• Competent in the use of computer-based technology.

• Significant experience of working with complex child protection cases in a statutory social work setting.

• Skills in working effectively with children and families in varied and complex circumstances.

• Ability to manage time and competing demands effectively.

• Able to use supervision positively to reflect and continue to professionally develop.

• Ability to work effectively as part of a team and with professionals from other safeguarding/child protection agencies.

• Strong knowledge of child protection legislation and national guidance.

• Able to demonstrate conflict resolution skills.

• Experience of effectively managing professional challenge.

• Able to take personal responsibility for seeking out training and development opportunities to enhance skills and knowledge.

• Able to demonstrate a commitment to equality and diversity.

Licences

Full DVLA Driving Licence (includes Full EU licences)

Qualifications

Social Work degree or Social Work qualification as detailed below:

Bsc in Social Work
BA in Social Work
MA in Social Work
Msc in Social Work
Diploma in Social Work (DipSW)
Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW)
Post-Graduate Diploma in Social Work

Memberships

Social Work England Registration

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Understanding and experience of completing joint child abuse investigations with the police, applying relevant statutory knowledge and guidance (lead criteria).
• Understanding of online child sexual abuse and exploitation and how to respond to the risks to children.
• Understanding and experience of effectively safeguarding children within a multi- agency environment.
• Commitment to the improvement of culture in a team, and how you would measure success.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £36,057, National Crime Agency contributes £10,445 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

New entrants to the NCA receive 26 days annual leave, rising to 31 on completion of 5 years continuous service, plus 8 bank holidays.

If qualifying criteria is met new joiners from UK Police Forces or the UK Intelligence Community (UKIC) will have service with those employers taken into account for continuous service purposes for annual leave entitlement only, this will be up to a maximum of 31 days leave (including 1 privilege day).

Other benefits include:

• Flexible working, including flexi-time, compressed hours and job sharing (in line with business requirements)
• Family friendly policies, notably above the statutory minimum
• Learning and Development opportunities
• Interest free loans and advances, including season tickets, childcare and rental deposits
• Housing schemes - Key Worker status
• Discounts and Savings with a wide variety of services including Cycle to Work, Smart Tech schemes, dental insurance, gym discounts and savings on everyday spending, available through the Reward Gateway , Edenred and Blue Light Card schemes.
• Staff support groups/networks
• Sports and social activities, including membership to the Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC)

Further information is available on the NCA Website.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

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 and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.Your application will be assessed against the following:Technical - this will be assessed by 250 word examples on:

• Understanding and experience of completing joint child abuse investigations with the police, applying relevant statutory knowledge and guidance (lead criteria).

• Understanding of online child sexual abuse and exploitation and how to respond to the risks to children.

• Understanding and experience of effectively safeguarding children within a multi- agency environment.

• Commitment to the improvement of culture in a team, and how you would measure success.

Experience - This will be assessed:

CV

Please include your full career history, training, qualifications, key responsibilities, and achievements. Explain any employment gaps in the last two years. Ensure all accreditation dates are accurate.

Details of what is expected within you CV are as follows: Please can you provide a comprehensive career history to demonstrate a significant post qualifying experience in a statutory social work role.

A panel will assess how well your application demonstrates the requirements outlined above.

Longlist

In the event of a high number of applications, we may operate a longlist. Applicants will need to meet the minimum pass mark for the lead criteria.

- Understanding and experience of completing joint child abuse investigations with the police, applying relevant statutory knowledge and guidance (lead criteria). .

Candidates who do not meet the minimum pass mark for the lead criteria will not progress to having their other criteria assessed. Applications must meet the minimum criteria to be progressed to the assessment stage.

You will receive an acknowledgement once your application is submitted.

We aim to have sift completed and scores released within 10 working days of the closing date of the advert. For high volume campaigns this timeframe may be extended.

Scores will be provided but further feedback will not be available at this stage.

For guidance on the application process, visit:
NCA Applying and Onboarding

Assessment 1

The format of this assessment will be Interview which will be tested on the criteria listed in the Success Profiles at Assessment section.

Success Profiles at Assessment

Behaviours

• Working Together

• Delivering at Pace

Technical

• Understanding and experience of completing joint child abuse investigations with the police, applying relevant statutory knowledge and guidance (lead criteria).

• Understanding of online child sexual abuse and exploitation and how to respond to the risks to children.

• Understanding and experience of effectively safeguarding children within a multi- agency environment.

• Commitment to the improvement of culture in a team, and how you would measure success.

Assessment OutcomeOutcomes will be communicated via the NCA recruitment portal.
If successful but no role is immediately available, you may be placed on a reserve list for 12 months.
Reserve lists can be used to fill similar role types across the Agency where the assessment criteria is considered a match by the recruitment team and the business area.

In the event of a tie at the assessment stage, available roles will be offered in merit order using the following order:

1. Lead criteria (behaviours/technical/experience)
2. If still tied, desirable criteria will be assessed (if advertised)
3. If still tied, application sift scores will be used

Feedback is provided only to those who attend an assessment.You will be subject to vetting and pre-employment checks before appointment.Once the vacancy closes, the advert will no longer be accessible. Please save a copy for your records. We encourage all candidates to visit the NCA Careers Page for more information.Full advert details for this vacancy can found on the advert on the NCA Recruitment Portal. Please follow the link to apply at advertisers' site.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk
• Email : central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk

Further information

If you believe your application has not been treated fairly, email: Central.Recruitment@nca.gov.uk (quoting the vacancy reference).
If unresolved, you may escalate your complaint to the Civil Service Commission.