At Ceredigion County Council we are transforming the way individuals, families, communities and carers can receive help and support when they need it. Our vision is to ensure positive access to both universal and targeted services so that children and adults can develop the skills and resilience they need to lead fulfilled lives and achieve their goals. We are seeking to empower individuals in what matters to them and work with partner agencies to strengthen people’s independence, ensure safety and promote well-being.

Our Through Age and Well-being Strategy sets out how we will develop a skilled and innovative workforce who will provide through age services that focus on preventative support and early intervention with easy access to information, advice and assistance, proportionate assessment of need and care and support plans for those who need longer term help.

Find out more about our Through-Age and Wellbeing Model and how are teams are structured within it here.

Safeguarding Service & Quality Improvement Team Overview

The Safeguarding and Quality Improvement Service works closely with Police, Health, Education and other partner agencies in relation to responding to safeguarding reports of an adult or child at risk, planning and carrying out interventions to manage risk and increase safety, independent reviewing and service/provider quality improvement issues in accordance with the Social Services and Well-being Act and the Wales Safeguarding Procedures.

Roles under the Team Managers:

• Senior Practitioner
• Social Worker
• Independent Reviewing Officer
• Quality Service and Improvement Lead Officer
• Contract Monitoring Officer

Senior Practitioner social worker role is an experienced social work professional managing safeguarding enquires, undertaking strategy discussions and strategy meeting meetings. The Senior Practitioner will also supervise and support any social workers or students within the team. The Senior Practitioner will also manage a caseload in relation to the undertaking of Section 47 or Section 126 enquiries and any other subsequent further assessments or safeguarding investigations.

Social Worker role will be experienced and will receive specific section 47 investigation and section 126 enquiries training to develop knowledge of abuse and neglect. There will be opportunities to develop skills and knowledge and work on a through age basis whilst also maintaining expertise regarding children and adults.

Independent Reviewing Officers will be experienced social workers carrying out statutory reviews in relation to children who are looked after by the Local Authority and young people who are subject to Pathway Plan Support. The IRO will also chair all Initial and Review multi-agency Child Protection conferences and will facilitate the decision-making process in relation to whether children are deemed to be suffering from abuse or neglect and whether they should be placed on the Child Protection Register.

Quality Service and Improvement Lead Officer will work with all commissioned services for both children and adults to ensure that the care, support that people are receiving are of the highest quality and are meeting needs and maximizing independence and quality of life. They will mange a small contract monitoring team and lead on the team on a programme of contract monitoring for all providers, managing any concerns regarding providers that do not meet the threshold to be managed under Safeguarding Procedures. This post holder will be responsible for the chairing and managing the Escalating of Provider Concerns Process, the JIMP (joint Interagency Monitoring Panel Process) and the HOSG Process and would be responsible for making recommendations to the Director of Social Services in relation to the management of risk of that provider. This post is also responsible for the development of quality assurance process for safeguarding social work practice, including undertaking quality audits of safeguarding work and ensuring that processes are developed to enable the voice of children/adults at risk and their families are part of the quality assurance process.

Contract Monitoring Officer will work closely with the Lead Officer to carry out a programme of contract monitoring quality assurance visits to all commissioned providers for children and adults, in and outside of county. The Officer will also undertake monitoring visits to providers that are under escalating concerns process, and will monitor against any Developmental and Corrective Action Plans that have been developed for the providers and will report in to the Escalated Concerns/JIMP/HOSG Processes.