Principal Officer

About

The Role We are committed to Working Together to make Birmingham the greatest city to grow up in . Our mission is to deliver excellent social work and family support services for Birmingham's most vulnerable children and families. Every member of our team has an important role in achieving this shared ambition. As a Principal Officer for Child Protection, you will provide expert advice, oversight and support in relation to child protection planning.

We have an exciting opportunity to recruit Principal Officers to join our child protection conferencing service on a two-year fixed-term contracts . You will play an important role as the service transitions to the Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPT) and into the role of the lead child protection practitioner (LCPP) in 2027. You will also help facilitate Harm Outside the Home (HOTH) conferences as these are rolled out across the city.

HOTH conferences are for children and young people whose primary risk of significant harm arises outside the family home. This approach focuses on the wider contextual factors linked to harm, rather than placing the emphasis primarily on changing the behaviour of the child or their parents. You will be expected to work closely with our colleagues in Empower U. We are committed to using our resources wisely, ensuring that every penny is spent where it counts the most.

We foster collaboration among schools, health professionals, and the police, working together to create a supportive network for our young people. We believe that when we work as one cohesive team, the children and young people of Birmingham are more likely to thrive. Our unified approach ensures that we provide the best possible support and opportunities for their growth and development.

Join us and together, we can create a brighter future for all. We have been rated as 'Good' by Ofsted, following a 2023 inspection. This is a fantastic achievement for Birmingham Children's Trust, with many positive highlights focusing on areas including the quality of staff leadership, partnership working, safeguarding and corporate parenting. This is an office based role based in Birmingham so you must have the correct right-to-work documents to work in the UK.

Sadly, we do not support those who require sponsorship.

About you:

You will have extensive experience in child protection and ideally experience with contextual safeguarding.
• Be a team player, especially as an integral part of the Multi-Agency Child Protection Team (MACPT).
• Be experienced in child protection, able to attend strategy discussions as required, providing advice and guidance on best practice in child protection.
• Ideally have some experience in chairing meetings, especially child protection conferences, including Harm Outside the Home (HOTH) conferences.
• Able to use trauma-informed, relationship-based practice to engage effectively with families.
• Able to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in every aspect of your work. Onboarding Process Please note as part of our onboarding process, the successful candidate will be required undergo a series of background checks with Experian including Experian DBS, Experian Right to Work, and Digital . These are essential pre-employment requirements. Our Benefits
• A generous annual leave package of 30 days annual leave , plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days after 5 years of service and 35 days after 10 years of service.
• Free on-site parking at our offices on One Avenue Road (Aston) and Lifford House (Stirchley). We also provide onsite electric car charging ports which are free to use!
• Full access to our amazing internal employee benefits scheme including, Occupational Health services, Rewards Schemes, Benefits discounts (including the Blue Light Card), Health & Fitness and Personal Wellbeing support and much more!
• Flexible and hybrid working policy - we are well adapted to a hybrid model of working which includes a combination of time spent in the office and at home and we offer a variety of working patterns.
• Pension Scheme - You will receive a generous local government career average pension scheme in line with the local…