Best Interest Assessor
The starting salary for this role is £44,614 per annum based on a 36-hour working week. This is a 9-month fixed term/secondment opportunity.
We are excited to be hiring a new Best Interest Assessor to join our fantastic Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Team. The team is a County-wide team based at Quadrant Court; however, there is an opportunity to work flexibly, including from your own home and at other Surrey County Council offices.
The team consists of administrative staff and Best Interest Assessors who work collaboratively with an ethos of supporting each other and team working to ensure that the objectives of the team are achieved. This role offers a fantastic opportunity to further develop your understanding and experience of the Mental Capacity Act and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, and you will be helping to support MCA practice across adult social care in Surrey. Furthermore, you will receive regular supervision, reflective practice sessions and annual BIA legal update training as part of your role.
About the role
Primarily, you will be undertaking Best Interest Assessments in care homes and hospitals where people are being deprived of their liberty; often these will be the more complex requests and will require you to have detailed understanding and knowledge of the application of DOLS and the Mental Capacity Act. On a weekly basis, you will also contribute to the team's busy duty system, including triaging incoming DOLS authorisation requests, quality assuring assessments completed by other assessors, responding to email and telephone queries, and providing support and advice to both external agencies and other adult social care teams. You will also support the development and training of trainee Best Interest Assessors.
To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your application should clearly evidence the following:
- Best Interest Assessor qualification and relevant post qualifying experience.
- Ability to prioritise workload and to make decisions concerning people's liberty.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to communicate in a clear and concise manner.
- Ability to use IT systems with confidence and capable of producing reports of a high standard that will bear legal scrutiny.
- Excellent working knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and other related legislation.
The job advert closes at 23:59 on 19/11/2023 with interviews to follow.
This is a 9 month secondment opportunity.
An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.
We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.
Benefits
From flexible working to job sharing (where possible) we are committed to providing a healthy work life balance. A laptop and mobile will be supplied if applicable to your role. You will benefit from 26 days annual leave, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service, a generous local government salary related pension, as well as the option to join our car lease scheme. For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit our website.
Our Commitment
Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:
- The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
- The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form
Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.
We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.