Panel Advisor

Full Job Description

Job Title: Panel Advisor

Location: Home based

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Salary: up to £44,020 per annum (this includes a car allowance)

Our Core Benefits include: Up to 39 days annual leave (including BH, One Moment in Time day and opportunity to buy 5 extra days), Minimum 9% Contributory Pension, Life Assurance, ‘The Hub’ discount marketplace, EAP, Occupational Health, Sick pay, Family Friendly leave, Expenses and Mileage, Tech Scheme.

About the Role

The National Fostering Group have a brand-new role for a Panel Advisor. This role will be within our National Panel Service Team, and will be linked to one of our three (virtual) regional panels, providing a high quality service to NFG registrations throughout England. 

The role is essential to ensuring the smooth operation of our fostering panels, maintaining compliance with Fostering Regulations and ensuring NFG are upholding the highest professional and ethical standards. As a Panel Advisor, you will provide expert social work advice to the fostering panel and support the panel chairs with decision-making. You will also be responsible for ensuring procedures are up to date and compliant with legislative and policy requirements.

In this position, you will oversee the recruitment, induction and appraisal of panel members, fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce. You will collaborate with panel administrators and chairs to maintain accurate records, organise training days and ensure panel outcomes are of the highest quality. 

Additionally, you will keep panels informed about key legislative and practice changes, liaise with legal and medical advisors on complex cases and provide quarterly reports to senior leadership. This is a highly collaborative role that requires strong partnerships with fostering teams, agency decision-makers and other stakeholders to ensure the best outcomes for our foster carers and children.

Who we are looking for

The ideal candidate for our Panel Advisor role will have extensive expertise in fostering and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by vulnerable children, their families and foster carers. You will be up to date on all the relevant legislative, policy and practice frameworks related to fostering including the Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 & 2013 and the National Minimum Standards. You will also demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities, anti-discriminatory practice and sensitivity toward children’s cultural and personal experiences.

Our Panel Advisor will be a highly skilled communicator who can build and maintain professional relationships with foster carers, external partners and senior leaders. You will have experience in quality assurance processes, an excellent eye for detail and the ability to manage sensitive information securely. You will be organised and flexible to enable you to work autonomously and meet demanding service deadlines. But above all, you should bring dedication, resilience and a commitment to delivering outstanding outcomes for children. 

A recognised social work qualification and registration with Social Work England are essential for this role.

About the Group

Its official, we have been rated as a Great Place to Work 2024! 

88% of employees at National Fostering Group say it is a great place to work, compared to 54% of employees at a typical UK based company! Please read more about why our employees love working here: https://www.greatplacetowork.co.uk/certified-company/1574411 

With over 20 years’ experience, National Fostering Group is the largest independent children’s fostering group in the UK with a community of over 3,000 foster carers. We support just over 4,000 cared for children through 31 agencies across the UK.

As a Group, we work with Local Authorities to provide the highest quality of care for children and young people. All of our fostering agencies are officially recognised by Ofsted, Welsh and Scottish regulators as either ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’ which we are extremely proud of.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and we expect all employees to share this commitment and undertake appropriate checks.

We are an Equal Opportunities Employer.