Head Of Social Care And Litigation (Legal Services)

Bexley is an outer London Borough with the best of both worlds, located between the hustle and bustle of London and the Garden of England, Kent. Within the borough we have award winning parks, open spaces and listed heritage sites.

Our Legal Services Department is Lexcel accredited, offering a modern working environment and practices, which include flexible and remote working.

The postholder will have direct management of 3 Principal Lawyers and will be a key member of the Legal Services Department leadership team.

We wish to recruit an experienced Head of Social Care and Litigation Lawyer who will play an integral role in delivering the Council’s corporate strategy, the Bexley Plan 2022-2026.

You will be a confident and self-assured lawyer with excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Main duties and responsibilities will include:

• Manage your own caseload of Adult Social Care and/or Childcare files, providing legal advice to local authorities to Children’s Services and Adult Social Care service with a focus on Court of Protection work as well as matters such as ordinary residence, responsibilities under the Care Act 2014, funding disputes, and Mental Health Act queries.

• Conduct legal proceedings within the Court of Protection/High Court/County Court, including advocacy.

• Conduct childcare cases and effectively oversee work in this area

• To deputise for the Monitoring Officer as and when the need arises with the potential to be appointed as the Deputy Monitoring Officer.

Please refer to the Job Description attached for more information.

The work is high profile and your advice and support will make a real difference for the residents and stakeholders of the London Borough of Bexley.  

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Patricia Narebor, Deputy Director of Legal and Democratic Services,  020 3045 3983 or by email at Patricia.Narebor@bexley.gov.uk

We will offer you in return a package that includes a competitive salary, an excellent pension scheme and generous annual leave plus bank holidays. For more information on the benefits package on offer please refer to the Candidate Information document attached.

We reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date.

You will have substantial post qualification experience in Adult Social Care and/or Childcare experience with knowledge of litigation; a minimum of 5 years pqe with excellent management experience.

You will be a qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Legal Executive, a technical expert in this field of law, with a proven track record.

For the full list of essential and desirable criteria for this role then please refer to the Person Specification within the Job Description attached.

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

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Additional Information

As a disability confident employer Bexley welcomes applications from people with all disabilities, including hidden disabilities and mental health conditions. We will interview any disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made to any part of the recruitment process due to your disability, please contact us on  recruitment@bexley.gov.uk