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About the Job

Salary: £29,540 to £32,061 per annum
Contract Type: Fixed Term / Secondments until 30.05.2027 and 31.03.2028
Working Pattern: Full time - 37 hours per week
Location: County Hall North, Horsham with hybrid working on a rota basis

• Do you want to join a dynamic team where no two days are the same and your decisions make a real impact?
• Are you ready to take ownership of priorities, solve challenges quickly and influence positive outcomes?
• Do you enjoy using your communication skills to build strong relationships and deliver outstanding service?

Then this might be the role for you!

The Integrated Front Door is a busy and fast-moving service and is the access point to Children's Social Care in West Sussex. Every day you will assess and prioritise a high volume of contacts and referrals, often managing competing demands and changing priorities while ensuring children and young people receive a timely response. Your work will play a key role in ensuring children and families receive the right support at the right time and that safeguarding concerns are identified and responded to appropriately. Success in this role requires resilience, sound judgement, strong organisational skills and the ability to work accurately under pressure.

The work will involve regular contact with people who access or need the service who may present challenging behaviours, and/or subject matter which may be distressing, for example, dealing with vulnerable individuals and families or those with complex problems.

Just some of the things you can expect from the role:

• Communicating effectively with people accessing the service, which could include children, families, general members of the public as well as other professionals both internally and externally.
• Completing initial assessments to review the needs of the individuals and families you are working with.
• Triaging incoming requests for support across several mediums, including an email inbox.
• Maintenance of accurate records and reports to ensure highly accurate record keeping and data.
• Being a representative for the service by delivering services to those people who access or need the service, acting with integrity, professionalism, and respect on behalf of the organisation. This ensures that the needs of individuals are paramount.

Key Skills and Experience

To be successful in this role, you will need to:

• Analyse and interpret information to complete initial assessments of the level of need on a case-by-case basis. Also ensuring that if the level of risk for harm is high, that it is escalated accordingly.
• You will thrive in a high-volume environment where there are competing priorities and tight deadlines.
• A genuine commitment to improving outcomes for children and families, with the ability to make child-centred decisions that balance risk, need and available support services.
• Work within a multi-agency setting to support the decision-making process and respond sensitively and flexibly dependent on the audience of the communication.
• Be able to identify range of interventions and apply the most suitable or appropriate service for a child or family in line with their needs.
• Understand and reflect on the impact of your work and the effects it may have on the individuals you are working to support. Know when you need to escalate and seek help to ensure the needs are met.
• Experience of working successfully in a high-volume, fast-paced environment, managing competing demands and meeting strict timescales while maintaining high levels of accuracy.
• Experience of prioritising a varied workload and making effective decisions within tight deadlines.
• Experience of applying relevant legislation, policies, and procedures to individual pieces of work.
• An awareness of the policies, practices, and procedures relevant to providing support to children and families as well as the role of social care.
• Sound and accurate IT knowledge with experience of maintaining databases with clear, accurate records of all work undertaken and producing records, reports and correspondence for a variety of audiences.
• GCSE English and Maths (Grades 9-4 or A-C) or equivalent to demonstrate experience of operating at this level of literacy/numeracy.

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.

Rewards and Benefits

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where you can achieve your full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work you do. Upon joining us you will have access to a range of benefits such as:

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

About Us

The Integrated Front Door brings together Children's Social Care, Early Help and a multi-disciplinary team to provide an effective way to manage referrals in West Sussex. As the first point of contact with children and families, the IFD can influence their entire journeys. As a fast-moving service everyone can make a difference and we build strong relationships with a wide range of partner agencies including police, health and housing professionals who are co-located and working together to ensure the best outcomes for children, young people and families.

You will be joining our service at an exciting time of recent change, bringing an opportunity to influence our ways of working, utilising and developing your skills in an evolving team.

For further information about us and about working in Children's Social Care at West Sussex County Council, please visit Careers in children's social work in West Sussex.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CAFHE06463.

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and our short application form. In your application form please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.