At Kent County Council, we’re passionate about supporting vulnerable children. To do this, we need the best people on our team – people whose energy, skill and professionalism we can invest in and rely on. Kent’s children’s services are on a strategic and planned journey, and our progress has already been recognised in a recent unannounced Ofsted Inspection (2011).
With a clear plan in place to build on our recent successes, we’re now looking for creative, innovative and highly professional individuals who are passionate about young people to come and join our team of social care staff (see our job advert opposite).
We are currently implementing a clear, three-phase strategy to make sure we offer the very best care to Kent’s most vulnerable children – and that strategy is already showing real results:
• We’ve created a central duty team to operate across the whole county
• We have no unallocated LAC or CP cases
• We’re exceeding our targets on timescales for initial assessments
• We’re ensuring our staff have the capacity and time to do a great job – with average caseloads between 15-20 per staff member
• We’re improving our core assessment timescales every month, and are on target to meet our annual targets
Over the past year we have worked hard to embed these better ways of working right across Kent. We
have just completed a major restructure of the service, giving us a solid basis to keep improving and putting in place the support that staff need to really excel. This has been a huge undertaking - involving a review of all service areas from early intervention and prevention at one end, to the creation of dedicated teams and services for looked after children at the other – an approach which is showing real promise for the future.
We are working hard to create a culture in which our staff can grow and develop by focusing on effective performance management, sound and informed professional judgement, and an emphasis on the principles set out in the Munro review of Child Protection.
Our staff already benefit from high quality supervision, smaller caseloads, administrative support and a minimum of 5 days of training per year.
Kent is one of the largest counties in the country, with a population second only to Birmingham. Our
teams work in settings from rural outlying communities in the East and West through to urban
environments in the North. As a result we can offer you an unrivalled range of work, which, alongside very manageable caseloads and first class supervision, is a great reason to come to Kent. As part of our team, you’ll enjoy an attractive benefits package, a competitive salary and training opportunities to help you achieve your full potential. And to top it off, with golden beaches, open countryside and vibrant cities, all a stone’s throw from London and the continent, Kent is a great place to live and work.
Like many authorities who are in intervention, we know we have a long way to go. We have a clear plan for the future to realise our ambitions of becoming a good, and ultimately, an outstanding authority for children’s services. We have the resources, the political will and the professional drive to turn our aspirations into reality; now we need the people who can help us to accelerate the progress we have made.
You can find full details of job opportunities by visiting www.kent.gov.uk/jobs
Click here to view our advertisement that appeared in COMPASS 2013
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