Personal Advisor

Personal Advisor

Pay Band G / SCP 26– 28

£22,937 - £24,472 per annum

Job reference: CVP 487

Contents

1.Letter from the Human Resources Manager

2.The council’s vision and objectives

3.Job description

4.Person specification

5.Conditions of service

6.Pension contribution rates

7. Information on exempted posts

8.Equality and diversity sub groups

Dear Applicant

Post of Personal Advisor

This post is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act which means you must provide details of any convictions (including those which are ‘spent’), in addition to any cautions and bindovers orders that you have received in the last 12 months.

Thank you for your enquiry about the post at Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council.

Please find enclosed further details about the post and an application form for you to complete and return by Friday, 8 May 2015. You can find out more about Knowsley Councilfrom our website at

Interviews are likely to take place within four weeks of the closing date. If you have not heard by then you should assume that your application has been unsuccessful. If you would like receipt of your application to be acknowledged, please enclose a stamped addressed envelope with your completed form.

The council places great importance on maintaining high levels of attendance at work and all Directorates operate under well-established guidelines to monitor and control absence. If you are successful at interview, the council willbe seeking references and your present or last employer will also be asked to give details of your sickness and attendance record over the last three years.

If you require any assistance during the selection process due to a disability, please contact us as soon as possible on telephone number 0151 443 3434. For example you may need a sign language interpreter, require an accessible interview room, or need help completing a written application (taped applications may be submitted by prior agreement).

Please note that the Council will disqualify any applicant who directly or indirectly seeks or canvasses the support of any Councillor for any appointment with the Council.

You should email your application to:

I look forward to receiving your application and thank you for your interest in this post.

Yours sincerely

Jaci Dick

Human Resources Manager

Our shared vision - to make Knowsley: The Borough of Choice

“We want Knowsley to have a sustainable and diverse population with successful townships that provide a sense of place and community.”

Our Council Values

CORE VALUES:
Act with integrity / Being accountable / Openness and transparency / Respect for people
Demonstrates honesty, reliability and trustworthiness
Does the ‘right’ thing
Demonstrates consistency
Acts according to a consistent set of morals, values and principles at all times / Acknowledges and assumes responsibility for actions and decisions
Takes ownership and responsibility for resulting consequences and does not seek to apportion blame on others / Makes decisions in an open and transparent manner
Shares information whenever possible
Explains when information can’t be shared
Is open to new ideas and new ways of working / Champions equality and diversity with all people at all levels
Treats people in the way they would like to be treated
Values people and their contributions
Shows consideration for others through thought and action
Job description
Job title / Personal Advisor.
Grade / Pay Band G / SCP 26 - 28
Service Area / Children’s Social Care
Section/team / Young Persons Team
Accountable to / Team Manager

Purpose of the job

To help support young people who have left or are leaving care realise their potential and make a successful transition towards independence.

Duties and responsibilities

This is not a comprehensive list of all the tasks, which may be required of the post holder. It is illustrative of the general nature and level of responsibility of the work to be undertaken.

To continue developing pathway plans with young people and other relevant professional staff and to review such plans as appropriate in line with the Leaving Care Act 2000

To attend Social Services Department Planning and Review Meetings, as appropriate.

To take responsibility for a given caseload of young people and to assist other young people who may not be allocated.

To work with such young people in a “young person’s centred” fashion, involving them at all times in planning and decision making, and seeking at all times to maximise each young person’s potential.

To ensure individual young people are fully informed and consulted about the service available to them, and that they are empowered and able to complain about the service if they so wish to.

To work with young people across a range of Leaving Care issues:

Accessing and maintaining the most suitable housing options.
Maximising young people’s income by assisting them to access both the State Benefit and Social Services financial system, and help and encourage them to budget their money.
Helping young people with their employment/training/further education options – to liaise with Employability Officer.
Ensuring young people make use of their right to primary health care, give consideration to issues such as healthy eating and healthy living, have access to physical and sexual health promotional information, and are supported fully where issues such as drugs, alcohol and mental health become a significant issue and to refer them to mainstream services if required.
Encourage young people to access, re-access or develop an interest in social and leisure opportunities.
Individually supporting young people to help them talk through past issues, and gain confidence and self esteem to address current and future issues.
To directly assist the young people to gain the necessary skills to have a clean and tidy property.
Helping individual young people, as appropriate, to address their racial, cultural, religious and linguistic needs.

To take co-responsibility, with either leaving care workers/employability workers or workers from other agencies in running groups for young people leaving care.

To keep abreast of the services provided by other relevant agencies within Knowsley which could benefit young people leaving care, and in turn ensure they know of the work of the leaving care service.

In conjunction with young people, to act as an advocate with, or on behalf of, individual young people to get the best possible service from benefits agencies, utility supplies, health agencies, accommodation providers, agencies providing counselling or personal support etc.

To especially work positively and constructively with staff of Knowsley MBC, be they Social Workers, Residential Workers, Foster Carers, Family Placement Workers, Youth Justice etc.

To maintain a regular and accurate record of work with individual young people.

To maintain files and other client records in keeping with Knowsley MBC both manually and/or on computer.

To write summaries and/or reports on individual young people, or particular pieces of work, as required, including in certain specified instances reports for the court, child protection conferences etc.

To work positively and collaboratively with other member of the Leaving Care Team.

To participate fully and constructively in team meetings.

To participate fully and constructively in personal supervision sessions and to bring issues of relevance to such meetings.

To ensure that all matters of concern on individual cases, especially such issues as child protection matters or serious risk, are quickly and appropriately discussed either with the line manager or service manager.

To participate fully in any training opportunities deemed necessary or desirable to enhance service delivery, and to bring back to the service as a whole any relevant issues.

To be prepared to raise ideas, opinions and suggestions as to the service’s improvement with colleagues, managers and at meetings.

To contribute, as requested, to overall evaluation of the work of the Leaving Care service.

To assist managers within the service, in whatever ways are felt most appropriate, to ensure that the collective voice of young people leaving care is expressed and used to influence existing and future service design and delivery.

To promote equality of opportunity and anti-oppressive practice in all aspects of work, whether with individual young people, colleagues or the service as a whole.

Health and safety

To use equipment as instructed and trained
To inform management of any health and safety issues which could place individuals in danger

Data Protection and Information Security

Implement and act in accordance with the Information Security Acceptable Use policy and Data Protection Policy,
Protect the council’s information assets from unauthorised access, disclosure, modification, destruction or interference,
Report actual or potential security incidents.

Person specification
Post title / Personal Advisor / Grade / Pay Band G / SCP 26 - 28
Section/team / CHILDREN & FAMILIES – YOUNG PERSON’S TEAM

* * * This post is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act – applicants must disclose all criminal convictions including those which are ‘spent’, in addition to any cautions and bind over orders received in the last 12 months

Criteria /

Essential requirements

/ * M.O.A
Skills, knowledge, experience etc
1 / Ability to embrace KMBC Values / A,I
2 / Extensive experience of working with children and young people in a voluntary or paid capacity / A,I
3 / Possess a sound demonstrable understanding of human growth and development, and ability to assess the individual needs of young people / A,I
4 / Evidence a working knowledge of children looked after and care leavers, with specific reference to understanding the issues faced by looked after children and transition to adulthood. / A,I
5 / Evidence an understanding of and ability to work within the legal and leaving care policy framework / A,I
6 / Ability to engage with and form appropriate professional working relationships with young people on an individual basis and in group settings, and their families. / A,I
7 / Ability to establish and maintain links and work in partnership with children, young people, their families, partner agencies and colleague professionals and evidence experience of effective multi agency working. / A,I
8 / Evidence a knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of partner agencies to support multi agency working. / A,I
9. / Ability to deal with challenging and difficult behaviour and situations in a positive and professional manner / A,I
10. / Verbal communication skills appropriate to a variety of settings, e.g. with colleagues at all levels, young people and their families and staff of other departments and agencies / A,I
11. / Literacy skills of a sufficient quality to produce clear, concise and appropriate written communications for a variety of purposes, e.g. care and action plans, statutory reviews, planning meetings, and day to day recording / AE
12. / Planning and implementing individual programmes for children and young people, and their families as appropriate / AI
13. / Helping children, young people and their families to express themselves, and have their voice heard / AI
14. / Facilitating, enabling, guiding and motivating children and young people to learn through interaction and through leisure activities / WI
15. / Be aware of issues with regard to equal opportunities and anti discriminatory practice and to act accordingly / AI
16. / Skills in examining own work and development of further abilities through supervision and other training opportunities / IE
17. / To have an understanding of the social, physical, sexual, intellectual and emotional needs of children and young people / IE
18. / To be able to work effectively in a team / AIE
19. / Experience of managing financial arrangements and being responsible for handling money. / A,I

Qualifications

20. / NVQ 3 in Care (GSCC recognised), or ability to work towards NVQ 3 / AI
21. / Teaching, Connexions, Careers, Social Work Qualification or willingness to work towards similar qualification. / AI
Health and safety
22. / To use equipment as instructed and trained / AI
23. / To inform management of any health and safety issues which could place individuals in danger / AI
24. / To follow required health & safety guidance e.g. as per Manual Handling Training / AI
Personal attributes and circumstances
25. / Able to drive and possess a full driving licence / AI
26. / Will need to demonstrate patience, flexibility, integrity, resilience, enthusiasm, sensitivity / IE
27. / Seeing the young person as an individual, but set within a context of family, community and society / E
28. / To be available to work a pattern of rostered hours between 7.00am to 10.30pm / AI
29. / Undertake key working duties for individual children and young people / AI
30. / Ability to demonstrate the necessary personal qualities, to become an effective professional with the ability to advocate for the young person so they are supported to reach their potential. / AI

*Method of assessment (*M.O.A)

A = Application formC = CertificateE = ExerciseI = Interview

P = PresentationT = TestAC = Assessment centre

Date / Approved by authorised manager / Designation
Where the post involves working with children, in addition to a candidate’s ability to perform the duties of the post, the interview will also explore issues relating to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, including:

Motivation to work with children and young people
Ability to form and maintain appropriate relationships and personal boundaries with children and young people
Emotional resilience in working with challenging behaviours
Attitudes to use of authority and maintaining discipline

We have a positive attitude to the employment of disabled people and guarantee an interview to those who meet all the necessary criteria of the person specification.

SUPPORTING JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION INFORMATION

KNOWLEDGE / INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
Human growth and development
Sound understanding of human growth and development:

Understanding of normal growth and maturation;
Basic understanding of how normal development can be disrupted. Understanding of how adverse family experiences impact on children and young people;
Common developmental problems.

Understanding of the dimensions of children’s needs41 with an awareness of developmental, familial, social and environmental factors that impact on young people’s well-being and capacity to make the best use of educational opportunities.
Basic ability to distinguish emotional and cognitive limitations and recognize when these may amount to significant mental ill-health. / Demonstrable skills in communicating with young people, their parents, other adults and professionals. With an understanding of when it may be necessary to access specialist assistance with communication. (It will be the professional’s responsibility to ensure that they can communicate with the young person).
Capacity to relate to care leavers to encourage their resilience.
Ability to produce concise, literate assessments using the accepted agency frameworks, which specify evidence based interventions and related outcomes.
Legal Awareness
Basic understanding of the law relating to young people with the potential to develop their understanding of the legal framework and its practical implications.

Understanding the framework of the 1989 Act

-how children become looked after;
-the meaning and implications of parental responsibility;
-knowing the relevance of ‘Section 8’ and Special Guardianship Orders.

Potential to develop knowledge of the statutory framework for providing services and support to eligible, relevant and former relevant children.
Understanding of the youth justice system and the respective roles and responsibilities of youth justice and children’s services.
Understanding the legal framework of rights and responsibilities given to young people at various ages.
Understanding of the law and professional codes relating to client confidentiality.
Understanding the legal framework governing housing services.

/ Ability to work within their agency’s framework for confidentiality and data protection, demonstrating an understanding of the circumstances when it may not be appropriate to maintain absolute client confidentiality.
Demonstrate respect and consideration for individual child service users; but able to set appropriate boundaries and accept responsibility as a professional adult in appropriate circumstances.
Demonstrate the capacity to recognize parents as real partners and to treat them with respect.
Assessment skills relevant to professional role – including an understanding of when they may lack the necessary specialist skills.
Ability to inform young people and their families about agency roles and how these may be enlisted so that they are receiving relevant support.
Understanding the agency process for problem resolution, representation and complaints.
Ability to meet agency requirements for making referrals of child protection concern. (Understanding of information requirements and timescales.)
Capacity to contribute to assessments complied by others (e.g. social workers making safeguarding enquiries).
Competence in applying knowledge to individual young people’s circumstances.
Negotiation and conflict-resolution skills.
Assessment skills
Knowledge of various professional frameworks for the assessment of children - and the differences between them.
Organizational and administrative awareness and competence.
Understanding of the specific roles of individual children’s services agencies – recognizing their professional boundaries and responsibilities.
Detailed knowledge of local procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people. / Capacity to constructively engage young people and families with different ethnic/cultural backgrounds – providing non-stereotypical services, recognising what is culturally valuable but focusing on the needs of the individual young person.
Ability to work with young people to support measurable improvements in their financial capability.
Ability to support young people to raise their aspirations and encourage their personal career development.
Ability to self-evaluate interventions in order to assess their effectiveness. Commitment to measuring self-effectiveness.
Ability to reflect on self working style and the impact of this on service users and other professionals.
Communication with young people and their families
Knowledge of a repertoire of communication techniques to elicit information from young people and their families. / Skills in building relationships with young people and others in their network.
Health needs
Knowledge about local arrangements for accessing primary and specialist health services, including mental health for young people and adults.
Knowledge about the roles of local well-being and mental health services for young people and adults.
Valuing diversity
Understanding of ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic diversity that recognizes the fundamental needs of the individual child.
Understanding discrimination which may stem from being in ‘care’ and being a ‘care leaver’.
Economic and social need
Understanding interventions for supporting young people to develop their financial capability.
Knowledge of local services providing careers information, advice and guidance and support in employment.
Knowledge of the welfare benefits system and respective agency functions and sources of financial support for young people.

Benefits agency (ies)
Housing agencies
Student financial support
HE bursary
College bursaries and access funds

/ Potential to negotiate with and work in partnership with other agencies to
secure sound economic outcomes on behalf of care leavers.
Intervention skills
Ability to relate research evidence to professional practice