FGC Business Officer

Job Title: FGC Business Officer
Starting Salary: £30,559 progressing to £33,366 per annum
Hours: 37.0
Location: Stevenage
Contract Type: Fixed Term until 30th November 2025
Directorate: Childrens Services

About the team

A Family Group Conference is a meeting for a child or young person, their family, and friends. It's a safe space where everyone can talk through concerns that have been raised, then come up with a plan to make things better.

We are looking for a dynamic, organised, and positive individual to provide a wide range of professional business support to the Family Group Conference Service.

Working alongside Managers and Independent FGC Coordinators you will help us to deliver our Accredited Service to Children and Families who are currently working with Children Services in Hertfordshire.

About the role

To provide a full and wide-ranging professional administrative support to the Family Group Conference Team, (FGC Team) so that it is efficient and effective in meeting its performance standards.

The job specifically relates to managing the intake of referrals from other departments to the FGC team and liaising with a Team of self-employed (contracted staff) to ensure that the work is allocated and completed within timescales, with Family Plans being sent out.

• To be an initial point of contact for the FGC Team in relation to enquires and referrals being made by professionals and the public. To understand the thresholds for the Team and provide advice on when referrals are appropriate for a service.

• To assess, manage and prioritise the intake of referrals to the FGC team, checking that all information is present and correct on referrals received, ensuring that all cases are recorded onto the Teams databases and cross referenced with other systems within the Council.

• To allocate work to the Team's contracted staff, as part of the tendering / procurement processes in line with the Council's procedures.

• To provide professional support to the Manager and Staff team, dealing with confidential and sensitive matters, responding to enquiries and providing the required information to the professionals and public when appropriate.

• Utilisation and management of computer databases and spreadsheets, provide reports and compile information such as statutory returns, analyse the data, identify trends and themes, and manage and track expenditure, procurement and tendering systems.

• To liaise with FGC staff to ensure that children's / family's reports, plans, and case summaries are submitted and uploaded onto the appropriate databases for the team in a timely manner.

• To manage and undertake the provision of a full range of administrative duties such as note and minute taking, filing, scanning and photocopying and deal with all general matters including cash handling, correspondence, purchasing equipment processing invoices and timesheets according to local procedures.

• To line manage the work of other support staff; Apprentice, Intern or Support Officer in their work to support the FGC team effectively meet the performance standards.

• To undertake research work, compiling reports / briefing notes, assessing the impact of changes and making recommendations.

About you

Essential:

• A good working knowledge of Children Service's objectives, procedures, thresholds and issues.

• In depth awareness of software packages such as Microsoft Office and good knowledge of local systems.

• Ability to manage and update databases, manipulate data, reconcile issues and produce information and reports

• Ability to coach and guide other workers and provide advice to management.

• Ability to communicate sensitively and well with others, including in meetings and by telephone.

• Ability to work accurately and independently with minimal referral to management.

• Ability to manage demands in own workload and in direct reports.

• Positive approach to the workplace and commitment to working flexibly to achieve service and team needs.

• Good general education.

Desirable:

• There are no specific qualifications required for this job although experience in Children Services or a business-related qualification would be beneficial.

This job role is within the Health and Social Care Services, level HSC8 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Health and social care

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Louise Hagger on 07970 193884 or email louise.hagger@hertfordshire.gov.uk . for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: 5 th & 6 th December 2024

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Secondment
This position is open to secondments. If you work for HCC or any other Local Authority and would like to be considered as a Secondment contract, please ensure you complete the Secondment Form as part of your application. If you do not, your application will be considered as a Fixed Term Contract only.

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.