Civic Offices, Bridge Street, Reading (Hybrid)
Permanent, Full time
Enhanced DBS check required
includes £6,000 annual market supplement
Brighter Futures for Children
Independent Fostering Agency
(Duty, Data & Carer training & payments)
Full time, permanent post
Salary: £47,418 - £53,420 (includes £6,000 annual market supplement)
Work location: Civic Centre, Reading (hybrid working available in-line with BFfC agreed expectations and service needs)
About us:
Brighter Futures for Children is a not-for-profit company, owned by, but independent of, Reading Borough Council. Although we are independent, we are very much part of the Reading Family. Our people enjoy all of benefits as other Council employees including membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme and continuous service.
We work closely with partners in the local community and key organisations including Reading Borough Council, policy, public health and voluntary groups. We are responsible for the delivery of children’s social care, early help & prevention, education services (including SEND). This also includes fostering and adoption, the Youth Offending Service and traded services with schools.
Our main aim is to protect and enhance the lives of the children of Reading. We help families find long-term solutions to ensure children lead happy, healthy, and successful lives.
Brighter Futures for Children’s Independent Fostering Agency (BFfC’s IFA) sits within our Children’s Social Care Service and was first registered with Ofsted in January 2019. We were subject to an IFA Inspection in July 2024 and received an overall judgement of ‘Good’: ‘The independent fostering agency provides effective services that meet the requirements for good’.
About the role:
Our BFfC IFA is responsible for providing mainstream fostering services for BFfC, including the recruitment and retention of foster carers able to provide a range of placements for BFfC CLA. This is an exciting opportunity join our IFA service at a time when we are invested in expanding and improving the service in order to enable us to significantly expand our in-house fostering resource.
As part of this expansion, we are part of Local Authority Fostering Southeast and are working closely with the other local authorities that are within our sub-cluster (Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Wokingham, Bracknell Forest, Slough, Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston, and Richmond) on developing our shared central foster carer recruitment hub, and harmonising and joining up on aspects of carer recruitment and retention. We are also working with Fostering Network around establishing our first foster carer support hub, based on the Fostering Network Mockingbird Family Model.
Working in partnership with the IFA Registered Manager and Assistant Team Manager, our Consultant Practitioner will hold accountability for the day-to-day operation of our IFA duty system and Out of Hours rota and for maintaining enquiry and placement data. You will also be responsible for responding to initial enquiries from members of the public who are interested in becoming foster carers and will provide professional supervision to a small number of IFA approved foster carers who are providing long-term placements for children or young people who have complex care needs and may present with challenging behaviours.
Working under the guidance of the Registered Manager you will normally be responsible for the supervision of specific staff, work allocation, resource and performance management, quality assurance, and the efficient and appropriate escalation of significant incidents.
This is a leadership role which will require the post holder to demonstrate good leadership and the ability to positively influence the professional development of the team and staff group and the experience of children, young people, carers, and their families. The post holder will also need to work closely with the Team Managers and Assistant Team Managers in BFfC’s Together for Families, Children Looked After and Children & Young People with Disabilities Teams, BFfC’s Adoption & Permanence Service, data and finance managers and other placing authorities, in order to ensure the provision of timely and well-co-ordinated services.
A key element of the Consultant Practitioner’s role is also to support service improvement within the IFA and more widely across BFfC’s Social Care teams; therefore, the post holder may be required to be involved in areas of practice that need additional support, research, innovation, or application. The role requires an excellent knowledge of relevant legislation, regulations, best practice guidance, National Minimum Standards, and our IFA policies, and the post holder must be able to apply research and learning to improving practice.
For more information about the role, please read the job description and person specification.
Please note: Brighter Futures for Children operates a flexible working model; however, all Social Care social workers and managers are generally expected to be office based for three days a week (average), and to maintain a flexible approach in responding to service demands.
This role offers an exciting opportunity for you to join our Independent Fostering Agency and play a key role in its future growth and development.
Our offer:
We offer a supportive environment to grow and develop your career with the opportunity to put your ideas across. Innovation and ambition are strongly encouraged, and you’ll get a great feel for that working in our friendly and collaborative environment.
A competitive salary alongside a range of benefits including:
- Local Government Pension Scheme with generous employer contribution.
- Incremental holidays starting with 26 days plus public holidays (rising to 33 after 10 years’ service).
- Discounted Childcare (on site nursery).
- Cycle to work scheme.
- Season train ticket loans.
- Salary Sacrifice Car Lease Scheme.
- A range of local shopping discounts.
Post specific training will be made available to the successful applicant dependent on previous experience.
Training will also be made available around:
- Relevant BFfC policies, procedures and Practice Guidance.
- The BFfC Mosaic records system.
Professional supervision will be available and Individual professional objectives will be set as part of your continuous professional development and will be reviewed through professional supervision and annual appraisals (with six monthly review).
Inclusion and Diversity
We want Brighter Futures for Children to be a great place to work and to ensure that our children, young people and families are represented in leadership roles and positions of power. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking.
We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and those of Other Ethnicities, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our children, young people, and families, so that equalities and justice remain at the heart of everything we do.
Asking for Adjustments
Brighter Futures for Children is committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and as accessible as possible for everyone. This includes making adjustments or changes for disabled people, neurodiverse people or people with long-term health conditions.
If you would like us to do anything differently during the application, interview, or assessment process, including providing information in an alternative format, please let us know.
Closing date: Sunday 6th October 2024
Interview dates: Monday 14th and Thursday 17th October 2024
We look forward to hearing from you!
JD_-_IFA_Consultant_Practitioner__IFA_Restructure__-_September_2023__v2_.pdf