Surrey County Council Looking for Best Interest Assessor at Woking , Surrey Full Time

The starting salary for this role is £40,227 per annum, working 36 hours per week (pro rata for part time role).

As part of our greener future strategies and our commitment to creating a healthy work-life balance, we welcome a conversation with you regarding our remote working options. Remote working to us is a balance of spending time in our communities, our offices and working from home or wherever works best.

Exciting opportunities have arisen to join the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS) Team at Surrey County Council.

We are expanding our DOLS team and inviting applications from skilled registered Social Workers or Occupational Therapists, qualified as Best Interest Assessors, to join our team as frontline Best Interest Assessors. We currently have two vacancies for Best Interest Assessors:

1 x full time (36 hours), earning £40,227 per annum

1 x part time (18 hours), earning £20,113.50 per annum

You will have a developed professional understanding and applied knowledge of The Mental Capacity Act principles and provisions as well as experience and confidence as a ‘safeguarding practitioner’.

You will carry out statutory Best Interest Assessments under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and as such will need to be willing and able to work flexibly and travel throughout Surrey and to other local authority areas.

Through demonstrating high quality best professional practice in your area of expertise you will help the council to implement and apply the principles of the Mental Capacity Act to support the personalisation agenda and safeguard Surrey’s most vulnerable citizens.

We are looking for experienced, skilled and knowledgeable practitioners who can evidence their commitment to rights-based professional practice, the application of the Mental Capacity Act in the context of the provisions and duties of The Care Act 2014, continuous professional development and reflective practice.

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards work will largely be carrying out Best Interest Assessments as well as providing support to a pool of Best Interest Assessors based in front-line teams.

You will also carry out a number of ‘Supervisory Body’ functions relating to DOLS requests and provide advice and support to frontline teams and ‘Managing Authorities’, whilst contributing to our DOLS Team Duty system.

You will be aware of the awaited Code of Practice Consultation for The Liberty Protection Safeguards, and the delay in the implementation of LPS. You will be expected to have an understanding of the anticipated changes and be involved in the implementation of them when they come about.

You will need to be willing to undertake any required additional training to enable you to convert and become an Approved Mental Capacity Act Professional (AMCP) when the new Safeguards come into force.

At Surrey, our values and behaviours are just as important as our skills and abilities. They shape who we are as an organisation. Find out more about the values we follow.

For more information please find the full job description below and refer to this before submitting your application. We also invite you to read our Life at Surrey handbook to see insights of the culture at Surrey and how as a valued employee, you can help shape our Council.

Additional Information

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 18 April 2022. 

Interviews date: to be confirmed. 

An enhanced DBS ‘Disclosure and Barring Service’ check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children’s and Adults’ Barred List checks will be required for this role.

Contact Details

For an informal discussion please contact Jim Poyser and Liz Lawson on .

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Benefits

From flexible working to job sharing (where possible) we are committed to providing a healthy work life balance. A laptop and mobile will be supplied if applicable to your role. You will benefit from 26 days annual leave, rising to 28 days after 2 years’ service, a generous local government salary related pension, as well as the option to join our car lease scheme. For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit MyBenefits for Surrey County Council staff.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer of first choice reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all under represented groups.