Independent Reviewing Officer / Child Protection Chair

Job Title: Independent Reviewing Officer / Child Protection Chair

Location: Durham County Council

Pay Rate: £35.45 per hour

Service: Children and Young People's Services

Are you an experienced, high-caliber social work professional ready to champion the rights and welfare of children? Durham County Council is seeking an accomplished Independent Chairperson to drive high standards across Children in Care Reviews, Child Protection Conferences, and specialist multi-agency planning meetings.

In this pivotal post, you won't just run meetings-you will act as an independent guardian of practice quality, ensuring every child's voice is genuinely heard, their permanency plan is robust, and their rights are upheld at every stage of their journey.

• Independent Chairing: Lead Child Protection Conferences, Children in Care Reviews, Foster Carer Reviews, Secure Accommodation Reviews, Private Fostering Reviews, and disruption/complex planning meetings.

• Child-Centred Advocacy: Communicate effectively with children, young people, and their families, guaranteeing their perspectives directly shape local authority decision-making.

• Constructive Challenge: Work confidently alongside senior managers and operational teams, offering a critical, objective perspective to drive continuous service improvement.

• Quality Assurance & Audit: Develop robust QA systems, participate in service audits, and monitor compliance against Department for Education guidelines and Working Together standards.

• Care Planning & Permanency: Put effective tracking systems in place to ensure every looked-after child has a timely, viable, and appropriate Permanency Plan.

• Multi-Agency Leadership: Build strong operational links across Children and Young People's Services and partner agencies within Local Safeguarding Children's Board frameworks.

• Experience: Significant, directly relevant social work experience within children's social care.

• Legal Expertise: Comprehensive knowledge of Care Planning Regulations, the legal framework for care leavers and looked-after children, Fostering & Adoption Regulations, and care order court processes.

• Safeguarding Mastery: Deep understanding of Working Together to Safeguard Children and best practices in risk assessment and family support.

• Communication Skills: Highly developed interpersonal skills with the authority to chair complex multi-agency forums and the empathy to connect directly with children.

This role offers a unique vantage point to directly influence practice quality, mentor teams on legal standards, and make a measurable difference in positive outcomes for children and young people across the county.

Randstad Care acts as an employment business when supplying temporary staff and as an employment agency when introducing candidates for permanent employment with a client. Randstad Care is an equal opportunities employer and decisions are made on merits alone.

Did you know that Randstad Care have been awarded a place on the National Clinical Staffing Framework for the NHS? This means we will be able to bring you more opportunities within nursing & midwifery and clinical staffing.

experience

Children services

skills

be able to manage challenging situations

qualifications

university

education

BA in social work