Advanced Practitioner

Job Introduction

The First Contact Team, engages with citizens of Staffordshire, carrying out strengths based, outcome focused assessments via the telephone and virtual technology. The service also deliveries a single point of access for all age carers who are supported to access information, advice and guidance. Assessments for all age carers are undertaken in person across the county. The Care Act 2014 compliant assessments determine citizens assessed eligible needs while promoting their assets and facilitating their independence. First Contact will develop care and support plans with people and work with Brokerage to put services in place to meet their residual eligible social care needs.

There will be a requirement for the post holder to participate in a weekend working rota.

The Advanced Practitioner will provide professional support and supervision to Social Workers and non-registered social care staff undertaking assessment, reviews, support planning, case management and safeguarding activities as part of the First Contact and All Age Carers Service. They are responsible for embedding quality in practice, performance, supporting the staff to understand, contribute to and effect change and act as a link between their team and senior leaders across adult social care.

They will carry out a range of tasks as allocated by the Service Lead and will provide guidance and support to Adult Social Care staff on a day to day basis. 

Main Responsibility

As an Advanced Practitioner you will:

• Be able to provide effective, professional supervision to Social Workers, other Social Care Staff and students on placement.
• Be responsible for the allocation of work based upon priority and capacity within the team and service ensuring time scales are met as set out in the performance requirements.
• Ensure practice in line with the relevant legislation and good practice guidelines whilst ensuring all interventions embrace the principles of least restrictiveness, personalisation and social inclusion.
• Oversee and support staff, providing guidance and direction in complex cases, working alongside Social Workers and Social Care Practitioners where appropriate.   
• Work closely with external partners including health partners and local councils to deliver the best outcomes and opportunities for learning disabled and autistic adults and for young people that will require support as an adult.
• Support the quality assurance of statutory documents within their scheme of delegated responsibility.

The Ideal Candidate

The successful applicant will have:

• Relevant management and leadership skills and experience.
• The ability to quality assure social care assessments to ensure that these are strengths based and show ambition for all people we support. 
• Experience in managing and resolving complaints at the informal stage to achieve early resolution and support formal investigations of complaints undertaken by senior leads to provide technical expertise.
• Passion and drive to improve social care and outcomes for people we work with. 
• Flexibility to meet demands of a high pressured service. 

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too. 

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. 

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.