Job Description: Team Leader (Referral & Assessment)
Reports to Service Manager
Contract type Full time, Fixed Term until 30th September 2017
Location Administrative base in Southwark, working Pan London
Salary £29,000
About Safer London
We are an innovative, fast growing, award winning charity with a vision of young people in London feeling safe and achieving their potential. Our mission is to improve the safety and wellbeing of young people in London affected by violence and crime. We provide specialist support that addresses young people’s experiences of violence and vulnerability.
Our extraordinary team bring our values to life by focusing on empowerment and inspiring positive change in ourselves and others, by striving for excellence and always working with integrity, by being collaborative, working together with vulnerable young people and communities, and by valuing equality and diversity as being core to our work and our behaviours.
About the Role
This role is a new post within the London Gang Exit Service, which is a consortium led by Safer London in partnership with Redthread and Only Connect. Building on delivery of the programme over the last year we are now developing an integrated Referral and Assessment hub that will bring together the expertise of the consortium alongside multi-agency partners including London CRC and YJB.
As part of the referral and assessment team, you will line manage a team of staff responsible for dealing with initial enquiries right through to accepting referrals and carrying out initial assessments with clients to appropriately identify their needs from the service.
You will lead on developing and maintaining excellent relationships with stakeholders across key agencies and all London boroughs to ensure that the service is meeting the needs of young people affected by or involved in gangs. This role will involve working in close partnership with local authorities, the Metropolitan Police, criminal justice agencies, education, health and voluntary sector services to promote and deliver the service and achieve the required outputs and outcomes.
Extensive experience of supporting young men from BAME communities with multiple and complex needs would be an advantage.
Specific duties will include:
1. Act as the operational lead for the referral and assessment function of the London Gang Exit Service. Working with the service manager to develop and deliver an effective referral and assessment service.
2. Lead on the acceptance, assessment and allocation of all referrals into the London Gang Exit Service and ensure that young people accessing the service are referred into the appropriate strands of support.
3. Lead the team to pro-actively promote the service, deal with enquiries about the service and provide updates on activity, responding in a timely manner to all queries from professionals.
4. Establish and maintain effective working relationships with multiple delivery partners and key stakeholders across London
5. Lead on the development and maintenance of an up to date database of single points of contact (SPOCs) in each borough; ensure the team implement communication processes to ensure client updates are regularly provided to all SPOCs, relevant stakeholders and local gangs partnership forums.
6. Act as principal operational link with the Metropolitan Police Service, ensuring information sharing processes are efficient and effective.
7. Co-ordinate and work closely with relevant partners Pan London to increase appropriate referrals to the programme and ensure the programme is meeting its targets.
8. Lead on the delivery of workshops and presentations to promote the service and improve referral pathways.
9. Effectively line manage staff to enable them to deliver high quality work, find positive solutions to challenges and support good communication with the wider team.
10. Ensure the Referral and Assessment team, as the first point of contact into the Service, are effectively engaging with referrers and young people and appropriately identifying and assessing needs.
11. Lead the team in delivering effective face to face contacts with young people and referrers, including the following:
a. Undertake initial needs assessments with young people
b. Assess the young person’s motivation to engage in the service
c. Liaise with the young person and other professionals to agree strands of intervention
12. Ensure staff within your team maintain accurate records and conduct direct work with clients in accordance with Safer London’s policies and procedures and with all funders’ requirements.
13. Lead on developing and implementing effective engagement methods for young people during the referral and assessment process.
14. Ensure the team advocate on behalf of clients, ensuring the safety and well-being of the individual remains central at all times.
15. Lead on the mapping of local provisions, gangs partnership arrangements, trends and policy in relation to gangs and serious youth violence across London.
16. Ensure staff make appropriate onward referrals, signposting clients to other support services and positive activities, where the service can’t meet the client’s needs. Identifying creative solutions to any barriers they face in accessing these services.
17. Work as part of the wide team and if appropriate carry out lone working.
18. Attend and support service development, networking and external meetings as required.
19. Work creatively with colleagues to generate project resources and materials as required.
20. Develop and maintain effective relationships with partners and funders, co-delivery partners and other agencies to support the delivery of the project.
21. Positively contribute to the wider work of the partnership and actively support good communication between all members of staff and volunteers.
22. Undertake any other duties as required and commensurate with the level of this post.
23. Act in a manner that is in keeping with Safer London’s values.
Person Specification: Team Leader (Referral & Assessment)
Experience / Essential
Experience of developing and leading the delivery of services for young people
Experience of developing and managing partnerships and relationships
with multiple stakeholders and across multiple locations
Experience of working in partnership with agencies in the following sectors; criminal justice, secure estate, social care, housing, health, CSE/VAWG and voluntary and community sector
Experience of managing a team and line management of staff
Experience of working within the sectors of gangs and youth violence
Experience of working with vulnerable young people with complex needs
Experience of safeguarding young people
Track record of engagement and influencing stakeholders
Experience of case management, data collection and outcome monitoring systems
Desirable
Experience of managing staff on secondment
Experience of managing contracts and reporting back to partners and funders
Experience of working in agencies in the following sectors; criminal justice, secure estate, social care, housing and health / A + I
A, I + T
I
A + I
A I + T
I
I
I + T
I
I
I
I
Knowledge / Commitment to diversity and equality, and experience of applying these principles in the workplace
Health, safety and safeguarding legislation, and best practice procedures as they relate to working with children, young people and vulnerable adults
Putting principles of project management into practice
Problem solving techniques and decision making practices
Good practice in relation to serious youth violence and gangs and child sexual exploitation (CSE)
Good understanding of agencies working within the following sectors; criminal justice, secure estate, social care, housing, health, CSE/VAWG and voluntary sector and the relevant referral processes / A + I
A + I
I
I
I + T
I
Skills / Ability to support and develop a team
Effective performance management skills
Excellent interpersonal skills
Highly effective written and verbal communication skills
Extensive IT skills and use of databases
Ability to generate trust and credibility when working in a team and be reliable, approachable and discreet
Commitment to personal development and self-reflection / I
I
I
A I + T
I
I
A
Method of assessment: A=Application, I=Interview, T=Test
Additional Information: Team Leader (Referral & Assessment)
Disclosure and Barring Service
This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check.
Hours of work
The post is a full time role (37.5 hours per week) and may occasionally require evening and weekend working.
Annual leave
The annual leave entitlement for this post is 28 days per year (3 of which must be taken during
Christmas and New Year when the office is closed) plus public holidays.
Probationary Period
The appointment will be subject to a probationary period of 6 months.
References
All appointments will be confirmed only upon receipt of satisfactory references.
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