Child Protection Advisor WCR 4
City of Westminster Council
Role
Who You Are
You are an experienced social work professional with the confidence, authority, and emotional intelligence to chair complex, multi-agency discussions and provide independent challenge. You hold a professional social work qualification, such as DipSW, and possess a strong knowledge of child protection legislation and London Child Protection Procedures. Your experience in safeguarding practice with children and families, along with work experience involving children who are Looked After or Care Leavers, equips you for this pivotal role at Westminster City Council.
What the Job Involves
This role requires you to provide independent oversight, challenge, and quality assurance across child protection and children looked after services. You will chair statutory reviews for children who are Looked After and Child Protection Case Conferences, ensuring effective decision-making, compliance with statutory timescales, and high-quality written records. As an advisor, you will provide consultation, guidance, and scrutiny to ensure child-centred and outcome-focused Care and Child Protection Plans. You will work collaboratively with multi-agency partners to drive meaningful change, improve safety, and enhance outcomes. Additionally, you will contribute to continuous service improvement, training, and workforce development within the safeguarding partnership.
Skills
- DipSW or equivalent professional social work qualification
- Strong knowledge of child protection legislation and procedures
- Experience in safeguarding practice with children and families
- Experience with children who are Looked After or Care Leavers
- Excellent communication, facilitation, and report-writing skills
- Ability to challenge respectfully and influence practice
- Effective relationship-building with families and partner agencies
- Systemic Practice qualification (desirable)
- Experience chairing Child Protection Conferences (desirable)
- Experience in LADO processes (desirable)
- Contributions to policy development or workforce training (desirable)