Social Care IDVA (LBHF)

Advance Charity; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 28,000 - 35,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

35-hour week

30 days holiday

Pension scheme

Enhanced maternity/adoption

Employee Assistance Programme

Eye-care scheme

Refer a Friend £250

Career development pathways

Job summary

Advance Charity is recruiting a Social Care IDVA to work across LBHF Children Social Care offices and our head office in London. You will manage a caseload, provide crisis intervention, advocacy and information to women referred to the service, and work with social care professionals to improve responses to domestic violence.

The role requires extensive IDVA experience, strong risk management and safeguarding knowledge, and an ability to train and support colleagues.

Qualifications

• Minimum substantial experience as an IDVA or equivalent in domestic violence.
• Strong knowledge of domestic violence effects on women and children.
• Experience with safeguarding procedures and child safeguarding responsibilities.
• Ability to manage risk and safety planning in crisis situations.

Responsibilities

• Co-locate with LBHF Children Social Care Offices and support victim/survivors referred to children's services.
• Manage a caseload, deliver training and consultations to social care professionals.
• Provide high-quality crisis intervention, information, advocacy and support (phone or face-to-face).
• Develop and promote partnership responses and refer to appropriate services.
• Work with Social Workers on cases to improve outcomes.

Skills

IDVA experience

Risk management

Safety planning

Advocacy

Training delivery

Job description

Are you looking for a dynamic and rewarding role working for an organisation with the feminist agenda at the core of its ethos? Then Advance Charity could be the career choice for you!

We are looking for a Social Care IDVA

Salary: £28,000 - £35,000 (salary dependent on skills and experience and whether you are a qualified IDVA)

Location: LBHF Children Social Care (Kings Street) and Hammersmith Head Office. You will be in the colocation 3 days per week depending on the service's need, this is subject to change if need in colocation increases.

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 35 hours per week, 9am-5pm standard hours with occasional duty between 1-9pm done from home

This post is open to female applicants only as being female is deemed to be a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

Please note: Any offer of employment will be made subject to references, confirmation of the right to work in the UK, and satisfactory enhanced DBS check.

About us

Advance is an award-winning and innovative women-only organisation, established in 1998, providing emotional and practical support to women and girls survivors of domestic abuse and supporting women with short-term sentences to reduce offending. We believe in empowering women and girls to lead safe, non-violent, equal lives so that they can flourish and contribute to the community.

We are a community-based organisation who lead in best practice approaches to supporting women in their local community. We achieve this by being available to meet and support women in local settings and at our women's centres, and by working in close partnership with other agencies.

Our values are to listen and support, to empower and respect, collaboration, innovation, and accountability.

About the role:

You will be co-located at LBHF Children Social Care Offices and will be directly supporting victim/survivors known to children's services. You will manage a caseload, deliver training and consultations to social care professionals and help raise their awareness, identification of and response to those experiencing domestic violence. Working jointly with Social Workers on cases you will support service users and improve partnership responses. You will provide high-quality telephone or face to face crisis intervention, information, advocacy and support to women referred to the service, in respect to risk management and safety planning, criminal and civil remedies, housing, health, welfare rights, and children's legislation.

About You:

You will be an experienced IDVA with an excellent understanding of domestic violence and its effects on women and children and of best practice within the domestic abuse in various areas of need, with particular knowledge on children safeguarding/legislation. As an experienced domestic violence advocate who has worked with complex and multiple needs, you will be skilled in risk management and safety planning, remaining calm in a crisis and in handling sensitive information on a daily basis. Experience of direct work with female survivors of domestic violence, of supporting women with child safeguarding, needs, and of working within safeguarding procedures is essential for this post, as is the need to adopt and promote a strong partnership approach to service provision.

Your abilities extend to assessing the needs and risks of survivors, carry out short and longer-term risk management, safety planning and support and identify and refer to services appropriate to their needs. Advising women of their rights and options for seeking help and support from other agencies and proactively advocate to ensure barriers to accessing support and protection are reduced. You will work as an advocate and educator to raise awareness and upskill professionals within Children Social Care plus work with colleagues to successfully develop and deliver training.

What we can offer you - Employee Benefits:

• A 35-hour working week
• An exceptional 30 days of paid holiday per year (pro rata for part time), PLUS public holidays on top (that's nearly 40 days paid holiday per year!)
• Additional days off to celebrate International Women's Day, and for religious observance and moving home
• Perkbox - an employee discount platform where you can receive free rewards as well as take advantage of savings on clothes, groceries, travel, leisure and more
• Pension scheme
• Enhanced maternity/adoption provision
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Employee eye-care scheme
• Clinical supervision for front line staff and first line management roles
• Refer a Friend Scheme - £250 for each referral who passes probation
• Organisation wide away days
• Thorough induction and training
• Career development pathways

Under the Equality Act 2010, we are required to make any reasonable adjustments. If you have a disability as defined under this act and/or have special needs, please email the Talent Acquisition Team via the Advance website and we will aim to make the necessary arrangements to accommodate your needs.

We are committed to providing equality of opportunity and actively seek to recruit people from groups underrepresented in our current team. We have policies and processes in place to ensure that all employees are offered an equal opportunity in recruitment and selection, promotion, training, pay and benefits.

Advance is committed to safeguarding and creating a culture of zero-tolerance of harm and expects all staff, including volunteers to share this commitment. We believe all individuals have the right to live their life free from violence and abuse and the right to feel and be safe. We have a suite of safeguarding policies, procedures and practice guidance, accessible to all staff, which promotes safeguarding and safer working practices across all our services and activities. When we recruit staff, we follow rigorous safer recruitment practices, this involves carrying out pre-employment checks including references, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, and identity checks. We ensure all staff undertake mandatory safeguarding training relevant to their role and responsibilities, to empower them to be competent and feel confident in recognising and responding appropriately to safeguarding issues and promote wellbeing.