Independent Chair for Luton Safeguarding Adults Board

The Role

Circa 30 days per year for an initial 2-year term | Hybrid-working | £600 per day

As Luton Safeguarding Adults Board Independent, you will make a real difference to the lives of adults with care and support who need safeguarding in Luton. You will be tasked with assessing safeguarding practice to improve outcomes for vulnerable adults. 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 Safeguarding Adults Board to deliver their ambitious safeguarding agenda. As part of the role, the Independent Chair will chair the Luton Safeguarding Adults Strategic Board, oversee development of the Board and provide direction to its constituent subgroups.

The Safeguarding Adults Board

Section 43 of the Care Act requires every Local Authority to establish a Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) for its area. The SAB operates at a strategic level, helping and protecting adults in its area who are at risk of, or experiencing abuse and neglect. It does so through co-ordinating and reviewing a multi-agency approach across all member organisations. The approach that the SAB takes directly influences how frontline safeguarding operations are undertaken in each member organisation.

Although the Local Authority is responsible for establishing and maintaining a SAB, the SAB is concerned with much more than the safeguarding activity of the Local Authority. It oversees and leads on all adult safeguarding across the entire locality area. To do this effectively it must concern itself with a whole range of matters that contribute to the prevention of abuse and neglect.

The Luton Safeguarding Adults Board as a statutory multi-agency safeguarding partnership is 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 adults with care and support needs 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, a range of provider organisations including the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) have a significant role to play in safeguarding adults. The members of the SAB all have a role to play in making safeguarding personal and co-producing strategic plans with those who have lived experience.

Your Responsibilities

• Provide assurance to the entire system in judging the effectiveness of the local multi-agency safeguarding system through a range of scrutiny methods.
• Ensure that the SAB statutory duties are addressed, and quality assurance mechanisms are in place.
• Ensure that there are effective mechanisms for hearing the voice of those with lived experience of safeguarding services and that this part of scrutiny is at the heart of arrangements through direct feedback, informing policy and practice.
• Provide Luton Safeguarding Adults Board with effective leadership, ensuring that they complete all tasks and responsibilities to a high standard, in a timely and proportionate manner, and in accordance with the requirements of the Care Act (2014) and other relevant legislation.
• Ensure sound governance and due diligence is in place at all times and takes the lead in producing and publicising the board’s strategic plan and annual report, and monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the plan.
• Instigate Safeguarding Adults Reviews, ensuring that current guidance and processes are followed and that all learning is appropriately shared.
• Promote collaborative work and a culture of learning, constructive criticism and support within the board.
• Ensure that national learning and thematic reports are analysed, with key learning areas identified and effectively implemented across the safeguarding system.

Candidates

This exciting role calls for a safeguarding professional with demonstrable experience of ensuring that the voice of the community and those with lived experience of safeguarding is at the heart of all aspects of safeguarding. They need to be able to develop and maintain good working relationships with people from different organisations and professional backgrounds, including local services and a range of different stakeholders, including people who need care and support and their families. With the ability to communicate effectively in a range of settings (from the front-line to chairing complex strategic partnership meetings); and you will need to know how to apply legislation and statutory guidance in relation to safeguarding adults with care and support needs.

Next Steps

Skills

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:

• Jill Britton, Director of Adult Social Care (DASS) on 01582 748892 / 747503 or via email jill.britton@luton.gov.uk

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 provide the details of two referees. Note that we will only approach referees for candidates proceeding to final selection and only with your permission. Please clearly indicate whether we can approach each referee before the selection date.
• 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.
• Please return your application by the closing date – no applications will be accepted once the long listing process has begun.

Please do not apply direct on this website - please send your application to lsab@luton.gov.uk

Applications will close at 5pm on 21/02/2024.

We are also recruiting for the LSCP Independent Scrutineer role. If you are also interested in applying for this post, please view the job here and submit your application.