Independent Chair - Safeguarding Adults Board

The members of both the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Adult's Boards are committed to driving continuous improvement through scrutiny and challenge, whilst carrying out our duties outlined in the Care Act 2014.

We are looking to recruit a Safeguarding Adults Board Independent Chair to provide our partnerships and relevant agencies with independent, rigorous, and effective support and challenge at both a strategic and operational level.

The location can be discussed at interview and some travel around the county will be required.

This is a fixed-term contract until 31 March 2027.

For more information about the role, please contact Hannah Thorpe at (Hannah.Thorpe@Peterborough.gov.uk).

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage:

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family.
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme.
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances.
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings.
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth.
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day.
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network.
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards.
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes.

Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.

You'll use your previous experience to chair multi-agency meetings at a senior and strategic level in an efficient, professional and effective manner, gaining assurance over the outputs and performance.

You will communicate confidently to cultivate and maintain excellent working relationships, across multi-agency and professional boundaries, and to challenge practice effectively in a way that leads to improvement.

The Safeguarding Adults Board chair is required to:

• Provide effective leadership to the board, 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.
• Lead the Safeguarding Adults Board meetings including setting the agenda, approving and distributing minutes and following up on decisions taken by the board.
• Ensure sound governance and due diligence is always in place.
• Take the lead in producing and publicising the board's strategic plan and annual report, and monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the plan.
• Promote collaborative work and a culture of learning, constructive criticism and support within the board.
• Work with any conflicts or concerns within the board, supporting members to reach a positive resolution.
• Contribute to developing a culture where the prevention of abuse and neglect is paramount, including sharing learning from SARs within the local area, regionally and nationally (where appropriate).
• Ensure that the work of the board and the outcomes from SARs inform wider training plans and learning and development priorities.
• Champion and promote the prevention of abuse and neglect to adults across all relevant agencies, contributing to the broader safeguarding preventative agenda.
• Ensure that the voices of people who draw on care and support and their families are heard and acted upon within the board's work.

You will have substantial experience of the safeguarding agenda at a strategic and operational level and have the ability and credibility to command respect across all agencies.

You will understand the operational context of the full range of safeguarding work within frontline services across a partnership.

You will be self-motivated and dynamic with a keen analytical eye and the ability to assess information to problem solve and make informed decisions on key issues.

You will have a proven track record of strong independent leadership within a partnership setting and be able to provide rigorous challenge at a system-wide level.

You'll need extensive knowledge and understanding of the relevant frameworks and legislations that guide adult safeguarding and a passion to improve outcomes for adults in both Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don't meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don't be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers