Durham County Council

SERVICE: Children and Adult Services
SERVICE GROUPING: One Point Service
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POST TITLE:
2POST NUMBER:
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3GRADE:
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LOCATION:
One Point Service - Early Help Coordinator
Grade 12
Job Evaluation Ref No: N8405
One of the One Point Service Hubs across the County
RELEVANT TO THIS POST:
Flexible Working:
Subject to service needs the council’s flexible working policy
is applicable to this post
Disclosure & Barring Service:
Subject to DBS Enhanced disclosure
ORGANISATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS:
All officers employed within Children and Young People’s Services (CYPS) have, as well as their
specific post related responsibilities, a general responsibility to contribute to the successful
operation of CYPS by recognising that the purpose of the Service is facilitating and supporting
learning in the County and that doing so requires staff to work together in teams and co-operate
to achieve this objective.
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DESCRIPTION OF ROLE:
As part of the One Point Service, to act as a senior practitioner and role model and provide
management, leadership and practice supervision to OPS DCC staff providing services for
children and young people aged 0-19 years in an identified sub-locality of one of 10 Hub areas
across County Durham. To work alongside the Locality Manager to ensure OPS DCC staff and
services within the locality are effectively focussed on early intervention and prevention leading to
improved outcomes for children and young people. To lead practice transformation with OPS
DCC staff in the locality to ensure the service is focused on meeting the needs of the most
vulnerable families. The post holder to hold a small caseload of Think Family cases.
The post holder will be responsible to the Countywide Strategic Manager reporting
directly to the Locality Manager.
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DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES SPECIFIC TO THIS POST:
Listed below are the responsibilities this role will be primarily responsible for:
 To provide effective and visible leadership to OPS DCC Staff, to secure and sustain the
cultural change of integrated working and to ensure that services perform well in line with
council agendas
 Practice supervision and caseload management of a OPS DCC staff in the locality.
 Ensuring the effectiveness of OPS DCC services in the locality in meeting the needs of
vulnerable families.
 Deployment of staff in line with operational procedures.
 Ensuring that integrated processes are fully utilised by OPS DCC staff to enable focus on
meeting the needs of the child or young person and their family.
 Ensuring that all OPS DCC staff in the locality are supported and developed
 Practice delivery in accordance with own professional background and needs of the service.
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Prepared by: Joanne Atkinson
Approved by:
SERVICE: Children and Adult Services
SERVICE GROUPING: One Point Service
9.
9.1
KEY RESULT AREAS:
Partnership Working:
 To develop and maintain positive working relationships with partners and agencies in the
locality for the purposes of delivering integrated services and improved outcomes for children
and young people and their families;
 Contribute to partnership activity where relevant.
9.2
Leading Integrated Working:
 Deliver practice in accordance with the principles of effective integrated working.
 Support OPS DCC staff to deliver integrated services to children, young people and families in
the locality
 Implement new integrated working processes that compliment and ensure the effective
delivery of the Early Help, Think Family strategies and the 0-19 Children’s Integrated Pathway
and other commissioned services.
 Develop and deliver agreed new ways of working across the locality in close liaison with other
teams and connected services, using a transformational change approach, with full
involvement of frontline practitioners .
 Ensure the locality team contributes effectively to continual service improvement in the
delivery of integrated working;
 Ensure the effective delivery of the Single Assessment across the locality.
9.3
Safeguarding & Promoting the welfare of the child and young person
 Ensure effective safeguarding practice is applied to all aspects of the work of the OPS DCC
Staff in the locality in line with LSCB policies..
 Ensure OPS DCC staff receive regular supervision commensurate with the complexity of
caseload and locality needs.
 Make sure that at all times within the locality there is a pro-active approach to early help
through early intervention and prevention in meeting the needs of children and young people
 Ensure there is a seamless transition between universal, targeted and specialist services in
the delivery of effective safeguarding;
 Ensure OPS DCC staff in the locality teams share information appropriately to support early
intervention and prevention and ensure seamless service delivery where needs escalate
requiring a more specialist response.
9.4
Managing Quality & Performance
 Contribute to the implementation of agreed locality improvement targets;
 Ensure all OPS DCC staff in the locality team receive effective performance appraisal and
review and supervision
 Deliver agreed targets for OPS DCC staff in the locality as agreed by the Countywide Strategic
Manager and the Integration Programme Board;
 Contribute to agreed quality assurance measures;
 Contribute to the development and implementation of area plans that will improve performance
and outcomes for children and young people in the team locality.
 Support the management team and OPS DCC staff in the preparation and all associated
requirements for Inspection.
9.5
Managing People:
 Lead and support OPS DCC staff in the locality team in the delivery of a high quality effective
integrated service;
 With the Strategic, Service and Locality Managers contribute to the development of the service
across the County Durham Children & Families Trust;
 As required, ensure appropriate allocation and , coordination of OPS DCC team activity, in the
locality to meet peaks and troughs of activity
 To promote and develop excellent performance and manage poor performance of OPS DCC
staff, escalating issues to the Locality Manager as necessary;
 Ensure the development of potential of all OPS DCC staff and teams in the locality.
 Ensure feedback and recognition of accomplishments is provided to all team members;
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SERVICE: Children and Adult Services
SERVICE GROUPING: One Point Service
 Ensure continuing professional development and training of OPS DCC staff is effectively
delivered through regular appraisal, supervision and review;
 Create an environment conducive to effective working and learning , respecting and supporting
OPS DCC frontline staff to deliver high quality integrated children’s services
9.6
9.7
Service User Engagement & Involvement:
 Ensure the service delivers the agreed Children & Young People Promises
 Actively pursue service user feedback on the quality of services delivered and use the
information gathered to develop the quality of the service user experience;
 Ensure at all times children and their families are at the heart of service provision and
developments;
 Ensure children and their families have opportunities to engage in genuine dialogue and service
improvements
 Ensure children and their families are effectively engaged in the governance of the service at a
local level.
Governance
To assist the Locality Manager in ensuring the One Point Service at locality level complies with
the required governance and assurance frameworks, risk management and inspection regimes
of the council ensuring the involvement of practitioners to improve the delivery of services and
outcomes for service users
 In line with council policies and in collaboration with the Locality Manager, contribute to the
investigation of incidents and complaints and action planning to address issues and avoid
reoccurrence.
 To ensure the One Point Service maintain a high standard of record keeping is achieved in line
with council governance requirements
 Provide professional advice as required (dependant upon professional background) to the
Locality Manager and OPS DCC staff.
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10.
COMMON DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
10.1
Quality Assurance
To set, monitor and evaluate standards at individual, team performance and service quality so
that the user and the Service’s requirements are met and that the highest standards are
maintained.
To establish and monitor appropriate procedures to ensure that quality data are reported
and used in decision making processes and to demonstrate through behaviour and
actions a firm commitment to data security and confidentiality as appropriate.
10.2
Communication
To establish and manage the team communications systems ensuring that the Service’s
procedures, policies, strategies and objectives are effectively communicated to all team
members.
10.3
Professional Practice
To ensure that professional practice in the team is carried out to the highest standards and
developed in line with the Service’s stated objectives of continual improvement in quality of its
service to internal and external customers.
Version No:
Date:
Prepared by: Joanne Atkinson
Approved by:
SERVICE: Children and Adult Services
SERVICE GROUPING: One Point Service
10.4
Health and Safety
Manage health and safety in their area of responsibility in accordance with the relevant section(s)
of the Corporate/Service Health and Safety Policy and to ensure that the Health and Safety
policy, organisation arrangements and procedures as they relate to areas, activities and
personnel under your control are understood, implemented and monitored.
10.5
General Management (where applicable)
To provide vision and leadership to staff within a specialist team, ensuring that effective systems
are in place for workload allocation and management, the application of the Authority’s and the
Service’s policies and procedures, including those relating to equality, supervision and appraisal
and all aspects of their performance, personal development, health and welfare.
10.6
Financial Management (where applicable)
To manage a designated budget (as required) ensuring that the Service achieves value for
money in all circumstances through the monitoring and control of expenditure and the early
identification of any financial irregularity.
10.7
Appraisal
All members of staff will receive appraisals and it is the responsibility of each member of staff to
follow guidance on the appraisal process.
10.8
Equality and Diversity
As an organisation we are committed to promoting a just society that gives everyone an equal
chance to learn, work and live free from discrimination and prejudice. To ensure our commitment
is put into practice we have an equality policy which includes responsibility for all staff to
eliminate unfair and unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity for all and foster
good relations.
These policies apply to all employees of Durham County Council.
10.9
Confidentiality
All members of staff are required to undertake that they will not divulge to anyone personal
and/or confidential information to which they may have access during the course of their work.
All members of staff must be aware that they have explicit responsibility for the confidentiality and
security of information received and imported in the course of work and using Council information
assets. The Council has a Personal Information Security Policy in place.
10.10 Induction
The Council has in place an induction programme designed to help new employees to become
effective in their roles and to find their way in the organisation.
Version No:
Date:
Prepared by: Joanne Atkinson
Approved by:
SERVICE: Children and Adult Services
SERVICE GROUPING: One Point Service
Person Specification
Qualification
Essential
Desirable
Method of
Assessment
 Degree or professional qualification in
 Management qualification
Application form
Selection Process
Pre-employment
checks
Education, Early Years, Information Advice &
Guidance, Social Work, Youth & Community
Work or equivalent
Experience
 Experienced practitioner working with children  Team Building and development
and families
 Staff management, appraisal and development
 Experience of leading a team or effecting
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Skills /
Knowledge
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improvement in practice in relation to service
delivery children and young people
Experience of
effecting and implementing
successful practice and service improvement
Experience of performance management and
achieving results.
Experience of engaging children, young people
and families in service design and improvement
to services;
Demonstrate effective team working to achieve
results
 Knowledge relevant to working with children  Good
and families, underpinned by theory and
experience.
 Knowledge of the Children’s agenda as it
relates to Health, Social and Education service
delivery
IT skills and ability to
Management Information Systems
Prepared by: Joanne Atkinson
Approved by:
Application form
Selection Process
Pre-employment
checks
interrogate Application form
Selection Process
Pre-employment
checks
SERVICE: Children and Adult Services
SERVICE GROUPING: One Point Service
Personal
Qualities
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Good inter-personal communication skills
The ability to lead staff from different agencies;
Ability to work under pressure
Good presentational skills
Capacity to manage a diverse and complex
workload through to results
Ability to demonstrate and carry out analytical
thinking
Good motivational and leadership skills
Vision
Decisive
Work on own initiative
Prepared by: Joanne Atkinson
Approved by:
Application form
Selection Process
Pre-employment
checks