Royal Greenwich Children’s Services is an exciting place to work right now. Join us as we prepare to launch our exciting and innovative new Lifelong Links service for children in care and Care Leavers.

The Lifelong Links Coordinator role is an exciting and unique role undertaking lifelong links work with children and young people in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and promote the approach within the local authority.

The aim of lifelong links is to create a lasting positive support network for children and young people in the care system to help during their time in care and into adulthood. The Lifelong Links Coordinator will support the identification and engagement of relatives and other supportive adults of a child and young person with care experience, bringing the network together using the Family Group Conference (FGC) model to make a life-long support plan with, and for, the young person. Our approach will value continuity and permanence of relationships, be it with relatives or others connected to the child e.g. former foster carers, teachers or other individuals based within the community, that offer ongoing support, provide an explanation of historical events and reinforce identity and will help the young person to develop and maintain a sense of belonging.

The Lifelong Links Coordinator will also play a key role in raising awareness of, and integrating, the lifelong links approach across the Borough, ensuring that the benefits of lifelong links in creating a stable network to children in care are firmly embedded and sustained.

You will be joining a genuine value driven Children’s Services directorate which is rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted with a strong, inclusive, and accessible leadership and an innovative learning culture dedicated to improving the outcomes for children, young people, care leavers and their families.

You will have successful experience of working directly with children, young people and families to sustain good working relationships and have an understanding of the legal framework relating to young people in care and care leavers.

If you feel you have the necessary skills, experience, and creativity to join us at this exciting time, we would like to hear from you.

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact –

Carol Bilham carol.bilham@royalgreenwich.gov.uk

Sharon Brown Sharon.Brown@royalgreenwich.gov.uk

Kamaljit Birdee kamaljit.birdee@royalgreenwich.gov.uk

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact Carol Bilham; Carol.Bilham@royalgreenwich.gov.uk 020 8921 8746

Safer recruitment: Royal Borough of Greenwich is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. Any roles which involve working with children, young people or vulnerable adults, or roles in which the duties will involve access to sensitive information relating to children, young people or vulnerable adults, the Royal Borough will take up references prior to interview. You should provide details of referees including your current and previous employers, covering the last 5 years. Candidates can request for us not to send a reference request to their current employer prior to interview by emailing us at recruitment@royalgreenwich.gov.uk.

As part of our Safer Recruitment Policy, a full employment history is also required for this role. Please provide a full employment history, together with a satisfactory written explanation of any gaps in employment. Unless otherwise stated, a Basic DBS check will be undertaken as part of the pre-employment checks for successful candidates.

Diversity Statement: Royal Borough of Greenwich values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community.

High Volume Applications: Royal Borough of Greenwich reserves the right to close any vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date should there be a high volume of applications received.

DBS: This role requires an Enhanced DBS. (This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act,1974).

Advert Close: All vacancies close at midnight unless otherwise stated.

Full Employment History: A full employment history is required for this role. Please provide a full employment history, together with a satisfactory written explanation of any gaps in employment.

How Applications are Scored: Each application is scored according to how well the supporting statement addresses each point on the Person Specification for the role. Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the extent to which they meet the specific points within the Person Specification. The Person Specification is supplied with the job advert. When completing your application, please use the supporting statement section to tell us how you meet each of the points on the Person Specification. We need to have this information in order to consider your application.

Salary: Salaries advertised are for a standard working week of 35 hours unless otherwise stated. Please use this ‘Salary Calculator to help you calculate a pro rata salary.

Our Staff Values: Our Staff Values are important to us. Candidates will be continuously assessed against our staff values throughout the recruitment process. Where candidates demonstrate views and behaviours that do not meet the standards of our staff values, we reserve the right to reject their application/ registration.