Community Solutions Domestic Abuse Advocate

Community Solutions Domestic Abuse Advocate

Salary/Grade: PO1 - £33,324-£35,751

Hours per Week: 36

Nature of employment: Fixed Term ends 31/3/2022 - Full time, 36 hours per week

Number of posts: 1

Location: Hounslow House / community settings and remote

DBS Required: Enhanced

Would you like to be a part of The London Borough of Hounslow, whose diverse workforce are committed to making a positive difference for our residents and visitors by ensuring the quality of our services are maintained to a high standard?

The Council is embarking upon a major programme of change to modernise the way we work and reduce our carbon footprint. In April 2019 we moved to Hounslow House, a new landmark building located in Hounslow town centre, our new technology will enable staff to work remotely and flexibly to improve the service we provide to residents and to help our staff achieve a better work/life balance.

About the Team

Hounslow Council has received funding for an innovative and exciting post providing early help, specialist, wrap-around support to victims of domestic abuse across the London Borough of Hounslow.

The role will be part of Hounslow Domestic and Sexual Violence Outreach service (HDSVOS). HDSVOS sits within the Community Safety Team which is responsible for providing life-saving frontline services, co-ordinating work across different disciplines, strengthening partnership and collaborative work, implementing innovative projects, and ensuring the Council fulfils its statutory duties to make Hounslow safer for everyone.

The successful candidate will be co-located with the councils new and developing Community Solutions Team. Community Solutions is a team of dynamic forward-thinking individuals who will be helping residents with a range of support needs to help find solutions to the enquiries. You will play a pivotal role as the team moves out into a physical, in person offer, at locations across the borough.

Key responsibilities:

1. To manage a caseload of safeguarding victims and their children affected by domestic abuse
2. To increase the safety for victims of domestic violence abuse and their children by risk identification and management
3. To conduct risk assessments on all referrals to the service and existing cases when required
4. To develop individual safety plans with each victim to meet their client's needs and in conjunction with the client victim as indicated by the risk assessment
5. To undertake safety planning with each client

Your skills:

1. To have excellent knowledge of current legislation both criminal and civil relating to domestic abuse including data protection and confidentiality
2. To have a thorough understanding of the impact of domestic violence abuse on adults and children, including how to use legislation and best practice to safeguard them
3. To have proven experience of managing a complex workload i.e. those affected by mental ill health and substance misuse, when working with victims and their children affected by domestic abuse.
4. To have substantial experience of working with a broad range of diversity issues including barriers to accessing services
5. To have a proven working experience of delivering a support service to adults and children and support groups for adults affected by domestic abuse.

Essential for the Role:

This post is considered by the authority to be a customer-facing position; as such it falls within scope of the Code of Practice on English language requirement for public sector workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the employee specification.

In light of the nature and context of the work, the organisation considers that the candidate's gender (woman) to be an occupational requirement in accordance with Para 1, Schedule 9, of the Equality Act 2010

Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check

If you would like an informal conversation regarding the position, please contact:

Interviews will be held during week commencing: 20 th December 2021

Closing date: 12:00 Noon 14 th December 2021.