Independent Reviewing Officer

CIH International Housing Group; Luton; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading organization as an Independent Review Officer, dedicated to safeguarding children and driving improvements in care planning. You'll lead teams, chair critical reviews, and ensure the needs of children are prioritized. This role offers a chance to make a real difference in the community while benefiting from a supportive work environment and excellent perks.

Benefits

Annual leave from 25 to 32 days

Buying annual leave scheme

Career Pathways

Generous pension scheme

Relocation package up to £8,000

Employee Assistance Programme

Flexible working options

Unlimited access to development courses

Staff offers and discounts

Friday Funday Socials

Qualifications

• Substantial experience in working with looked after children and foster carers.
• Involvement in complex legal proceedings.

Responsibilities

• Chair Reviews for Looked After Children and Child Protection Conferences.
• Ensure statutory timescales and high standards are met.
• Advocate for best practices and contribute to service improvements.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Conflict Resolution

Child Care Legislation

Job description

About the job

Salary: £48,710 - £51,802 a year plus £3,203 car benefit allowance and £5,500 market supplement allowance
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Permanent

Are you a dedicated social work professional with a passion for safeguarding children and ensuring their voices are heard? Do you have the expertise to oversee care planning, challenge delays, and drive real change? If so, we want you on our team!

We are committed to the highest standards of child welfare, operating within the framework of the updated IRO Handbook and relevant legislation, including The Children Act 1989, The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011, and National Minimum Standards. Our Independent Review Officers play a crucial role in improving outcomes for Looked After Children and those subject to Child Protection Plans.

As an Independent Review Officer, you will take a proactive approach to care planning, ensuring that the needs of children and young people remain the central focus. You will chair Reviews for Looked After Children and Child Protection Conferences, maintaining oversight of cases, monitoring progress, and ensuring that all reviews are completed within statutory timescales and to the highest standards. This role extends beyond review meetings-you will actively challenge drift and delay, advocate for best practices, and contribute to the continuous improvement of service standards.

Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.

About you

We are seeking a dynamic leader with substantial experience in working with looked after children, foster carers, and those subject to child protection plans, including involvement in complex legal proceedings.

As a key member of our team, you will:

• Lead and manage teams effectively, ensuring high-quality service delivery.
• Communicate confidently with diverse audiences and resolve conflicts with professionalism.
• Champion the involvement of young people and carers in meetings and decision-making processes.
• Work within set timescales while maintaining high standards.
• Oversee and quality assure the work of front-line staff, fostering strong relationships to drive service improvements.
• Apply in-depth knowledge of child care legislation, drawing from significant supervisory experience in complex child care settings.

If you are passionate about making a difference and have the expertise to lead in this challenging yet rewarding role, we would love to hear from you!

About us

Luton Council has been selected to deliver the government's Families First for Children Pathfinder programme.

Luton is one of seven new areas in the second wave to be chosen with the aim of protecting vulnerable children from harm and improving services to help more children stay with their families in safe and loving homes.

The programme is an amazing opportunity for Luton to shape future social care practice, which includes closer working relationships with our health, police, education and voluntary sector partners.

Children are at the heart of everything we do in Luton, and we are very proud of the tremendous work that is already taking place together with our partners, including the development of our Family Hubs and working towards making Luton a child-friendly town where our children and young people can grow up feeling happy, healthy and secure.

Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision - that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty - is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.

The people of Luton depend heavily on this council - and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?

We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough.

Application process

Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person's criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.

Additional information

We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:

• From 25 to 32 days' annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
• Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
• Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
• Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
• Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
• Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
• Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
• Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
• Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
• Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
• Friday Funday Socials - One Friday every 2 months where we encourage our staff to get together to socialise after work