This role is central to our commitment to ensuring that unnecessary drift or delay is avoided for children who are ready to return to their families and/or connected people with robust, realistic, and sustainable care and support plans that support families to succeed for the long term and prevent risk of re-entry to care.
Key Responsibilities
- Undertake increased frequency of young people's looked after reviews and provide enhanced quality assurance and scrutiny for children with reunification or discharge plans.
- Work closely with social work teams, legal services, and family networks to ensure timely and effective planning.
- Support and strengthen the existing SGO service, improving timescales for assessment and completion.
- Provide a period of ongoing QA and oversight post-discharge to ensure plans remain effective and prevent premature case closures or re-admissions to care.
- Contribute to the review and development of permanency policy and practice standards.
- Contribute to developing and implementing a performance reporting framework to track progress from reunification planning to discharge.
- Lead on consultation and feedback with children and families to evaluate the impact of the specialist IRO model.
About You
- Is a qualified social worker with extensive experience in children's social care.
- Has a strong understanding of care planning, permanency, and legal frameworks.
- Demonstrates excellent analytical, communication, and decision-making skills.
- Is committed to child-centred practice and continuous improvement.
- Has experience in quality assurance, scrutiny, or IRO functions (desirable but not essential).
What We Offer
- A chance to shape and lead a pioneering role within a supportive and forward-thinking team.
- Access to ongoing professional development and reflective supervision.
- Flexible working arrangements and a strong commitment to work-life balance.
- The opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of children and families.
For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Helen Goodridge, Service Manager, Safeguarding and Quality Assurance helen.goodridge@pembrokeshire.gov.uk or Martin Reynolds, Team Manager for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance martin.reynolds@pembrokeshire.gov.uk
Please refer to the job description above for more details on this vacancy and the person specification.Employment ChecksThis post is subject to a DBS disclosure check.
Where it is appropriate for your role and responsibility, the personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found by visiting https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.
Applicants should ensure they have the right to work in the UK before applying for a vacancy.
Please note that at this point, Pembrokeshire County Council is not accepting applicants who require a Skilled Worker visa as a prerequisite to a right to work in the UK. Applicants should ensure they have the right to work in the UK before applying for a vacancy. Safeguarding Safeguarding and protecting children and adults at risk is a high priority for Pembrokeshire County Council. We aim to support vulnerable children and adults at risk to ensure they are as safe as they can possibly be. We are committed to ensuring their safety and will take action to safeguard their well-being. The Council's Corporate Safeguarding Policy provides a framework for every member of staff and Service within the Council, setting out responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and protecting children and adults at risk as well as the methods by which the Council will be assured that it is fulfilling its duties.
This policy applies to all Council employees and workforce, councillors, volunteers and also service providers that are commissioned by the Council. Safeguarding is everyone's business whether they work for, or on behalf of, the Council.
Support & Additional Info - Please contact the HR Systems Team as early as possible if you're unable to apply online by emailing hrsystemsteam@pembrokeshire.gov.uk .
- Please contact the Recruitment Team if you have any queries relating to this vacancy by emailing Recruit@pembrokeshire.gov.uk .
- Local Government Employees on National Joint Council (NJC) terms are subject to national pay bargaining; all salaries currently stated in our adverts are as 01/04/2023.
- Please note, we have a legal obligation to consider employees for suitable alternative employment if their posts are at risk; therefore prior consideration will be given to existing employees who meet the person specification and are registered on our redeployment pool.
Welsh language skills are desirable. Applications may be submitted in Welsh and will not be treated less favourably than applications submitted in English.
