Mockingbird Liasion Officer - #140186

About The Job

Salary: £41,511 - £44,711 a year pro rata plus £963 essential car user allowance (subject to criteria)

Hours per week: 18.5

Contract type: Fixed-term for 1 year

This position is available as a secondment opportunity for 1 year. If you are a permanent LBC employee, you must have written approval (an email will suffice) from your manager prior to applying and a copy will need to be submitted with your application. Please note: we will not be able to proceed with your application form without your manager’s permission.

Luton Borough Council has partnered with The Fostering Network to deliver the Mockingbird Family Model. This is an extended family model that aims to improve the stability of fostering placements and strengthen the relationships between carers, children and young people, fostering services and birth families.

This is a vital new role where you’ll collaborate with key partners to develop the understanding and commitment needed to sustain the Mockingbird Model. The Liaison Worker will have a lead on identifying Foster Carers to the constellation, and work with families in the constellation to create an extended family community for children and young people.

You’ll provide effective communication about the offer and work of the Mockingbird Constellation and ensure that the Fostering and social work teams work effectively with the constellation and Hub Carer.

Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.

About You

You are a passionate and experienced social work professional, bringing substantial post-qualifying expertise in fostering and child and family social work. With a deep understanding of the needs of young people in care, you have developed a high level of competence in the fostering field, aligning your practice with national standards and best practice guidance.

Your skills and knowledge will help to support/supervise the hub foster carer to arrange support groups, activities and coffee mornings for the other foster carers/children in the constellation. You will need to have a good understanding of the challenges that foster carers face and have experience of working directly with children who have experienced trauma, attachment challenges, and associated disorders, and you bring both empathy and insight to your approach.

A skilled communicator, you’re able to present complex reports and deliver impactful presentations tailored to a range of audiences. You thrive in collaborative environments, contributing to team-based problem-solving with a solution-focused mindset.

Building meaningful relationships is at the heart of your work—whether with children, carers, or colleagues—and your ability to engage people from all backgrounds is one of your key strengths.

You hold a DipSW, CQSW, or an equivalent recognised qualification in social work, and you are registered with Social Work England.

About Us

Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision – that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty – is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.

The people of Luton depend heavily on this council – and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?

We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough

Application process

Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person’s criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.

Additional Information

We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:

• From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
• Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
• Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
• Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
• Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
• Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
• Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
• Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
• Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
• Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
• Friday Funday Socials - One Friday every 2 months where we encourage our staff to get together to socialise after work