Independent Scrutineer for Luton Safeguarding Children Partnership

**Job number**

LBC03624

**Contract Type**

Permanent

**Posting End Date**

21 February 2025

**Job Area**

Children's Social Care

**The Role**:
**_Circa 30 days per annum for an initial 2-year term | Hybrid-working | £600 per day _**

As Luton Safeguarding Children Partnership’s Independent Scrutineer, you will make a real difference to the lives of children and young people in Luton. You will be tasked with assessing safeguarding practice to improve outcomes for children and young people. Acting as a critical friend, you will have a genuinely key role: providing assurance on the effectiveness of the multi-agency safeguarding arrangements in Luton, offering constructive challenge, allowing the statutory partners to hold each other and the wider partnership to account, and enabling the partnership to deliver their ambitious safeguarding agenda.

As part of the role the following groups the Independent Scrutineer will chair the Luton Safeguarding Children Partnership’s Case Review Group, Performance and Voice of the Child groups. Collaborating with the Independent Scrutineer for the Central Bedfordshire and Luton Safeguarding Children Partnership’s to share the chairing of the Pan Bedfordshire Scrutiny and Improvement group.

**The Partnership**:
The Luton Safeguarding Children Partnership is a statutory multi-agency partnership led by Luton Council, Bedfordshire Police and Bedfordshire, Luton, and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, who are responsible for overseeing and co-ordinating local safeguarding arrangements for children and young people in Luton and ensuring they are a safe, thriving and heard within a community where safeguarding is a shared responsibility. In addition to the statutory partners, Luton schools and education partners continue to be a prominent voice in the safeguarding partnership and moving towards them being our fourth safeguarding partner.

**Your responsibilities**:

- Provide assurance to the entire system in judging the effectiveness of our Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements through a range of scrutiny methods.
- Ensure that statutory duties are addressed, and quality assurance mechanisms are in place.
- Ensure that our child safeguarding practice reviews, national reviews, and thematic reports are analysed, with key learning areas identified and effectively implemented across the safeguarding system.
- Ensure where appropriate the voice of children, young people and families is part of scrutiny and that this is at the heart of arrangements through direct feedback, informing policy and practice.
- Provide Luton Safeguarding Children Partnership with independent, rigorous, and effective support and challenge at both a strategic and operational level.

**Next steps**:
If you think you have the skills, knowledge, and experience that we are looking for, we would like to hear from you. For an informal discussion, please contact either of the following.

**How to apply**:
Send us your CV along with a covering letter explaining how you meet the criteria and why you feel you would be the best fit for the role.
- Please ensure your full employment history is outlined in your CV; and that where there are essential criteria, competencies and/or qualifications you make clear how you meet these. We may wish to verify this information during the recruitment process.
- Please share with us in your supporting statement, the values, and behaviours that you bring to your leadership, and how you will transfer your skills and experience into this role.
- Please complete the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form when you upload your details.

**Applications will close at 5pm on 21/02/2025.