Safeguarding Manager (Social Worker)

Safeguarding Manager (Social Worker)

G4S Care and Rehabilitation Services

Oakhill Secure Training Centre, Milton Keynes, MK5 6AJ

Salary £49,115.00 per annum

Permanent - Full Time (40 hours per week)

Benefits: Company Pension, free on-site parking, uniform, on-site canteen, access to High Street Shop discounts and ongoing training and development

At Oakhill Secure Training Centre we look after young people aged 12 to 18 years old who have been remanded or sentenced to periods of detention. The vulnerable young people in our care can be challenging with a wide range of social and emotional complex needs. This is an environment that calls for high standards of social care and service delivery to provide a secure and stable environment for young people to develop their life skills and address the behaviours that have led them into custody.

Oakhill Secure Training Centre works closely with the Youth Custody Services to ensure that its regimes and designs reflect best practice in residential care to prevent offending.

We are now looking for a Safeguarding Social Worker who has experience in working with vulnerable children and young people in a social work capacity.  The successful candidate must hold a degree in Social Work and we will consider those that are newly qualified.

The aim of the role is to positively contribute to the safeguarding and welfare of children in this unique environment, ensuring the action we take to promote the welfare of children, protects them from harm, making defensible not defensive decisions and taking action to enable all children to have the best possible outcomes.

Some of the Key Responsibilities:

• Promote the safeguarding of children, acting as the Social Work Safeguarding lead for the centre and ensuring that a stable and secure environment is provided for all children.
• Develop and maintain external links with safeguarding teams (including those within other custodial establishments), bringing community expertise into the strategy of the centre.
• Support and develop staff undertaking Social Work Training and student social workers completing placements at Oakhill STC.
• To ensure that all staff understand the expectation that everyone is responsible for contributing to keeping children safe, supporting the prevention of harm and promoting well-being.
• To effectively conduct robust investigations of all child protection concerns raised by children, their families, colleagues and/or external parties/professionals to legislative and best practice requirements. It is expected that the post holder will conduct evidence based investigations and be empathetic towards the needs of our children and staff concerned.
• To have oversight and effectively record all matters of safeguarding concern including allegations, external enquiries and action undertaken.
• Line manage, coach, support and develop staff, including supervision & appraisal, to maximise their performance and ensure high standards of care, values, ethics, equality and diversity, policies and procedures, legislation and contractual and inspection framework requirements are met.</li>
• Ensure there are processes and procedures in place to listen and capture children’s views about what they need to be kept safe. These views will be used to contribute to decisions, policy and procedures.
• Ensure information sharing supports timely and appropriate decision making, which is based on individual need and prevents harm and supporting wellbeing.
• Develop effective Partnerships, sharing knowledge and expertise in the spirit of stimulating reform and being inclusive of others. Maintaining relationships with other child-focused stakeholders for the benefit of children and their communities.
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with external stakeholders including YOTs, MASH and the LADO with the internal responsibility of managing allegations through the appropriate pathways.
• Attending external led Strategy meetings and Managing Allegation Meetings facilitated by the local LADO service.
• Ensuring any allegation of serious harm is appropriately recorded and referred to the relevant local authority and any allegations against a person in a position of trust is referred to the LADO for investigation.
• Support the Team around the Child approach that identifies priority needs of children and addresses barriers to education, integration and resettlement success within the TAC meeting through weekly contributions.
• To provide analysis of data within Quarterly Contract Review Meetings (QCRM) and the required quarterly reports.
• To assist with internal Fact Find investigations initiated to investigate staff misconduct, gathering evidence and completing a final report for HR submission. 
• To encourage collaboration between departments working towards the reduction of children’s risk and to ensure adherence to operational policies relevant to the safeguarding of children, staff and visitors.
• Develop and co-ordinate delivery of Safeguarding training with the Social Work Assistant and in partnership with Milton Keynes Safeguarding Partnership (MK Together) to ensure training is delivered in line with national guidance and research.
• Monitor and review management information to ensure contractual compliance for Complaints and Safeguarding and best practice.
• Role model a positive health and safety culture to meet and maintain relevant external accreditations thereby ensuring that children are fully supported to achieve their potential.
• To attend a number of safeguarding meetings including at times chairing the multi-agency Safeguarding meeting and internal strategy meetings.

The successful candidate must hold a social work degree and be eligible for registration with Social Work England.

Experience of working with vulnerable children is essential together with an understanding of current legislation around safeguarding in particular around children.

At G4S, we invest heavily in our people.  If you join us you will have a job specific induction programme to equip you with the skills and knowledge for the job. As well as ongoing support and development opportunities we offer generous holiday entitlement, company pension, an onsite gym, free onsite parking and the chance to do an extraordinary job – every day.

For more information on Oakhill Secure Training Centre please visit, https://oakhillstc.co.uk/

Equality and Diversity is an important part of G4S Care and Rehabilitation Services. We actively encourage applications from all backgrounds and are a fully inclusive employer who aims to support all employees to be their true selves. We are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments for either the role or during the recruitment process

G4S Care and Rehabilitation Services is committed to safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of children and adults at risk and each employee is expected to support these goals.

Safeguarding children and young people is our primary focus and the welfare of the child is paramount. Therefore we have a corporate responsibility to ensure that the safeguarding and our G4S values are at the centre of all we do.​

To apply for this role, you must be eligible to work in the UK and must have been resident in the UK for a minimum of 3 years.   You will also be required to undergo DBS enhanced level security clearance and will need to provide full details of your work and educational history covering the last 10 years as part of the screening process.