Contact Referral and Information Officer

About the Borough

The London Borough of Sutton is situated less than 30 minutes by train from Central London, with direct connections to London Victoria and London Bridge. Found in zone 5 with good transport links in and out of London, Sutton boasts award winning parks and open spaces, low crime rates, affordable housing and great schools. As well as high levels of resident engagement and satisfaction, providing quality services and success in addressing our financial challenges, whilst involving residents in key issues and high street changes.

Sutton is continuously investing in the health, wellbeing and education of our residents and the future generation, as set out in the “Ambitious for Sutton” corporate plan. We are home to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together with the development of the London Cancer Hub, Sutton will be the world’s leading life-science district, specialising in cancer research and treatment. Our vision will create around 13,000 jobs while contributing £1.2bn to the UK economy each year, a vibrant community of scientists, doctors and innovative companies intended to deliver real benefits for cancer patients and drive economic growth. With the regeneration of the local areas with new homes and schools, Sutton is passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

The Council is seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment. As we strive to improve our services and spaces for our residents as set out in the ‘Ambitious for Sutton’ corporate plan, Sutton aims to shape the future of the borough and adapt to the needs of its residents to make our Borough a great place to live, work and raise a family.

About the Service and Team

CFCS is a multi-agency team that includes CRIOs, Social Workers and practitioners from Early Help, Domestic Abuse, Education, Health, Police and CAMHS.

CFCS aims to ensure that:

• All referrals are dealt with in a timely and effective manner
• Decisions on referrals are of a high quality following good information sharing from agencies
• Thresholds for services are consistently applied across agencies
• Families are referred on to the most appropriate service at the first point of contact
• Partner agencies are confident that they can share information safely and securely - sharing information outside of MASH is a controlled activity done only with the agreement of the relevant agency
• Decision-making for families is streamlined and transparent
• Information is gathered from additional sources in order to best inform decisions made about the welfare and safeguarding of a child/young person

This is a non-social work role to work with partner agencies, including the voluntary sector, to gather information related to children and families, undertaking high quality assessments of need and risk, and making recommendations for appropriate service delivery.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

The role of a CRIO would be regarded as a "front line" service delivery role.

The successful candidate should demonstrate the following competences (not limited to:

• Applicants must have the ability to multi-task and a willingness to learn;
• Children's Social Care background and experience NVQ level 4 SW degree, DipSw, CQSW, CSS or recognised equivalent (This role does not require you to be a qualified social worker);
• Up to date knowledge of relevant legislation, related statutory regulations and guidance, child development, research and different methods of intervention;
• Able to assess and analyse the needs of children and young people and their families and using excellent written and verbal skills; in order to assess and recommend services for children and young people that meet their assessed needs;
• Have effective written and verbal communication skills. Use of good English language to produce high quality reports;
• An ability to develop and maintain effective relationships with children, young people and their families, and professionals;
• Able to maintain accurate and up-to-date records on children;
• Able to make use of learning opportunities to keep up-to-date with latest relevant research, findings and practice developments and to incorporate into practice;
• Able to provide a service that is culturally sensitive and empowering for all service users;
• Able to manage contacts which can present challenging and disturbing aspects;
• Able to organise and prioritise own workload (with appropriate supervision), to meet deadlines and complete tasks;
• Able to work as part of a team, be able to demonstrate effective working across agencies, partnerships and other professionals;
• Ability to pass on knowledge and experience to other professionals, use initiative and act independently.
• Engage in supervision and appraisal, undertake appropriate training and to learn new methods of intervention.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-32 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
• Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Two volunteering days per year
• Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
• Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle leasing scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Sutton we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our PRIDE values.
Here at Sutton we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.