Children's Advocate

Children's Advocate (18129)

Contract type: Permanent

Hours: 27

Salary: £28,283 - £37,326 FTE (£20,639 - £27,238 pro rata)

Closing Date: 23 February 2024

Barnardo's London Children's Rights Service: Advocate (Project Worker 2)

You may contact the following manager for further information:

Sam Sweeney  – Barnardo's Advocacy Team Manager: 07712 400 022

When completing your application form, please refer to the skills, knowledge and experience required as detailed in the Person Specification and also any further information included in the Additional Information Sheet. This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

Barnardo's Children Rights provides is multidisciplinary service which provides Independent Visitor (IV) and Advocacy services to children in care. The IV and Advocacy services are separate provisions which are housed under the umbrella of Children Rights in Barnardo's.

The Advocacy service provides independent advice to children in care about their rights and entitlements. It seeks to empower young people by - amongst others; supporting them to access legal advice, access information about the care system, support with accessing housing and improving communication with professionals involved in their care.

The Advocacy service, often responds to urgent referrals where prompt action and negotiation with a number of professionals is needed. Most advocacy cases close within 3 months as we aim to achieve a timely resolution for young people. Most of our cases are fast turning and thus you would be expected to work in a dynamic environment. Children and young people are at the centre of our work and we operate to a high degree of confidentiality and safeguarding. The nature of the Children's Rights services is complex and it requires a careful balance of competing priorities whilst ensuring safeguarding at all times.

Reporting to the Advocacy Team Manager, you will be based in our Crystal Palace office, which is close to public transport links. As a general practice we also aim for the advocate to be based in the relevant local authority once a week to promote the service.

Whilst your base will be in Crystal Palace, our services expand across London and sometimes we support children who are placed around the UK. Some travel and working hours' flexibility will be needed.

When completing your application please refer to your skills knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification, Job Description and Additional Information document (if applicable). This should be done with an understanding of the context of the service described.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

The world of work has changed. We are understanding of what works best for our colleagues both current and future as we look to embrace this new way of working. Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or any combination of these.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing after 5 years service
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our HolidayPlus scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is reflected in our values and our practice, and we have invested in this area of our work to ensure that we can deliver on our commitments to be an inclusive employer. EDI is a key enabler of our purpose as a charity and we want to ensure that the diversity of our teams is reflective of the communities we serve and that we continue to learn and develop our work with a focus on inclusion. We particularly encourage applications from candidates from Black, Asian and  Minoritised Ethnic Communities, candidates who are LGBT+ and Disabled candidates. 

Our basis and values

Documents

Recruitment of Ex-Offenders Updated Version July 2021.pdf (101.44 KB)

Barnardo's Workplace Offer Visual Summary.pdf (27.58 KB)

Project Worker 2 - Job Description and Person Specification.pdf (0.59 MB)

Children's Rights Advocacy - Additional Information Sheet.pdf (59.38 KB)