Independent Chair - Kingston Safeguarding Adults Board

About the Borough :
This special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else - it is where the first kings of England were crowned.

Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston's riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer.

Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London - with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink.

Kingston's people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other.

We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston's key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand.

Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK.

About the Service and Team :
The Kingston Safeguarding Adults Board (KSAB) is seeking an independent chair to lead the local safeguarding partnership.

You will need to be a strong leader and bring innovative ways of working to ensure robust and effective safeguarding partnership across Kingston Upon Thames cross-working with Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships, Community Safety and other local partnership networks.

Applicants are welcome from any professional background including health, local government and police. Our emphasis is on strategic and systems leadership and chairing skills. The Independent Chair will be accountable to the SAB Executive, consisting of Senior Officers representing the statutory partner agencies: Local Authority, Police and Health. This is an exciting opportunity for the right individual to make a real difference to local people.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate :
About the role

The successful candidate will be strategic and clear thinking, able to negotiate, support partners to constructively challenge each other to deliver high-quality adult safeguarding work across the partnership. This will be underpinned by the applicant's ability to communicate clearly and succinctly verbally and in writing with an ability to produce clear, accurate and concise written reports and communications on behalf of the SAB, including production of the SAB Annual Report.

To ensure that the Kingston Safeguarding Adults Board fulfils its statutory duties the SAB Independent Chair will:

• Chair the SAB Executive and other SAB strategic meetings.
• Draft, develop and publish a strategic plan setting out how the SAB will meet its objectives and priorities and how their member and partner agencies will contribute.
• To quality assure and contribute to the SAB's annual report detailing how effective the SAB has been.
• Ensure that Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) for any cases which meet the criteria for a SAR are undertaken.
• Link in with national and regional networks bringing new initiatives and publications to the membership
• Be connected to the safeguarding children's and community safety partnerships

Essential Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• A relevant academic or professional qualification in health, social care or police.
• Significant experience at operational and strategic level in a relevant field; social care, health, education or criminal justice.
• A working knowledge of the adult safeguarding agenda.
• A proven track-record of effective leadership at strategic level.
• The ability to lead a complex multi-agency partnership and support the SAB to deliver its strategic priorities and to offer assurance and changes in policy and practice to improve safeguarding outcomes.
• You will act as an ambassador for KSAB and promote the importance of safeguarding is everybody's business.
• You will seek to ensure that the voices of people who draw on care and support, their families and carers are heard and acted upon within Board work

Paid on a consultancy basis, it is anticipated that this role will require up to a maximum of 26 days per annum. The specific commitment required will be agreed as part of the appointment process and is open to negotiation. The daily rate will be £700 per day including any travel costs. The arrangement would be for an initial period of 2 years with an annually renewable contract subject to six months' notice by either party.

Our Offer to You :
As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we're committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We're constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. We operate hybrid working, a flexible working model which allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week. It enables staff to achieve a work life balance whilst still meeting the needs of the organisation.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Flexible and agile working arrangements
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Application Process :
Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

We are committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) so all personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc is completely anonymised during the shortlisting process. Our hiring managers review applications based on the knowledge, skills and experience demonstrated in your application, and how well these match the job profile. Our HR Shared Service with Sutton Council was recently recognised nationally for having the 'Best Inclusion and Diversity Programme' at the PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards 2023, something that we're incredibly proud of.

Hiring managers are encouraged to ensure that their interview panel is diverse, and representative of a range of protected characteristics, to help remove unconscious bias and ensure candidates are treated fairly during the selection process. Some characteristics may not be obvious, but our panels are diverse wherever possible. We have a number of measures in place to inform and support our approach, including mandatory EDI and unconscious bias training for all staff, safer recruitment training for diverse panel members, engaging with our staff networks and encouraging allyship. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information :
We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough. Our aim is to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and staff feel a sense of belonging. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.

As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to thinking differently about disability and taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role.

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are an accredited London Living Wage Employer and this means that everyone working at the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers receive the London Living Wage. The real Living Wage is higher than the government's minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.

The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.