Senior Legal Counsel

Social Services Regulator; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

The Social Services Regulator (SSR) is Victoria's independent statutory authority safeguarding the rights of children, young people and users of social services. The Senior Legal Counsel will provide high-quality legal advice and manage litigation across regulatory matters under Victorian acts, and work with the Legal team to support cross-cutting schemes and collaboration with stakeholders.

This role offers varied work across complex regulatory frameworks, Organisational improvement and a focus

Responsibilities

• Support the SSR Legal team in high-quality, cost-effective legal services for complex matters, including WWES and other schemes.
• Provide strategic, risk-based legal advice on regulation, investigations, and governance issues.
• Support litigated matters, engage external counsel, and ensure model litigant obligations.

Job description

The Social Services Regulator (SSR) is an independent statutory authority that exists to safeguard the rights of children and young people as well as people who use social services in Victoria.

The SSR regulates the Social Services Standards, the Child Safe Standards (for organisations without a sector specific co-regulator as well as the social services sector), and also administers the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme (WCES), Reportable Conduct Scheme (RCS) and Working with Children Check (WWCC) scheme and NDIS Worker Screening Check.

The Social Services Regulator takes an integrated and intelligence driven approach to identifying, preventing and excluding unsafe people from working with children and young people, as well as ensuring organisations that work with children and young people keep children safe from abuse and harm by meeting the Child Safe Standards.

Now that multiple child safety regulation and worker screening schemes are under one roof at the SSR, we are implementing changes to the way that these schemes operate, including new and expanded powers to exclude people that pose a risk, from working with children.

As a co-regulator of the Child Safe Standards, the Social Services Regulator works with other co-regulators of the Child Safe Standards including the Department of Health, Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA), Victorian Early Childhood Regulation Authority (VECRA), and Workforce Inspectorate Victoria to keep children safe from harm and abuse.

THE ROLE

The Senior Legal Counsel provides high-quality legal advice and management of litigation in relation to the regulatory and operational requirements for the Social Services Regulator (SSR) arising under the Worker Screening Act 2020 (Vic), the Social Services Regulation Act 2021 (Vic) and the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (Vic).

The Senior Legal Counsel is a trusted legal advisor within the Legal and Internal Review team and will work as part of the SSR Legal team across SSR's operational areas including on complex matters arising under the various legislative frameworks. This includes, but not limited to, advice and management of litigation involving Working with Children Checks as well as regulation of the Social Service Standards, the Reportable Conduct Scheme and the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme. I

This means the work will be interesting and varied and have a strong focus on collaboration, teamwork, building relationships with internal and external stakeholders and organisational improvement.

ACCOUNTABILITIES INCLUDE

• Support the SSR Legal team in the delivery of high quality, stakeholder focused and cost-effective legal services in relation to highly complex and sensitive matters. This includes the management of matters in courts or tribunals particularly in relation to the Working with Children Check scheme.
• Provide strategic, risk-based legal advice on social service regulation and laws, and legal issues related to the Regulator's functions, including complaints, notifications, investigations, prosecutions and a broad range of administrative law, legislative interpretation and corporate governance matters that relate to the operation of the Regulator.
• Support and advise the SSR on litigated matters, including day to day carriage of matters, engaging counsel or external legal support (where appropriate) and providing advice on prospects as well as ensuring the SSR complies with its obligations as a model litigant.

For more details, please refer to the attached position description.