Member Job Opportunity: St Christopher's - Referrals & Placements Officer – Residential & Children’s Homes

Location: Head Office
Salary: £27,081 - £32,100 depending on experience
Contract Type: Permanent
Specific Hours: 37.5 hrs a week Monday to Friday
Closing Date: 26 March 2023​

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Putney Office, Hybrid working and travel to London & West Midlands children’s homes

We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our referral and placements team providing children and young people the opportunity to live in one of our residential homes.

About Us
Our vision is for every child and young person to be safe, loved and happy, to achieve their potential and have a bright future.

St Christopher's is a leading charity for children and young people. We are proud of our history of providing fostering, children's homes and innovative leaving care services across the UK & Isle of Man.  We have a passionate commitment to our young people, placing them at the centre of everything we do.  We provide positive life experiences for young people who are unable to sustain a placement in their parental or foster home.

Want to know about the achievements of our children, young people, foster carers and staff? Check out our Impact Report here

We are an equal-opportunity employer keen to develop an inclusive workforce where people feel they belong.  We hope to attract applications from under- represented groups, including people from different cultures, nationalities, socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, disabilities, religions, faith, sex, orientation, childcare responsibilities, and gender-diverse identities.

​​Watch our short video to gain an insight into our working life here at St Christopher’s here

About the Role
The post will play a key role in the successful placement of children and young people in St Christopher’s services.  Operating as the central point of contact for referrals to all St Christopher’s spot purchasing teams, the post will ensure a prompt and consistent response to local authorities and other agencies, and will involve close liaison with fostering, residential and semi-independent accommodation teams to deliver high quality recommendations for placements within required timescales. 

Applicants should have:

• Experience of building strong and effective working relationships with individuals and teams remotely and face to face.
• Knowledge of children’s residential or fostering services.
• A good understanding or willingness to learn of data protection, GDPR and confidentiality, relevant to the post.
• A good understanding or willingness to learnof Children’s Safeguarding relevant to the post.
• Outstanding customer service skills and the ability to communicate professionally and courteously with a diverse range of people.
• A high standard of literacy and IT literacy with excellent report writing and presentation skills.
• Good organisational skills with flexibility to respond quickly to changing circumstances.
• The ability to prioritise work to achieve required deadlines.
• The ability to work autonomously, without direct supervision, and to use initiative within appropriate boundaries.
• Awareness of discrimination and of good equal opportunity and diversity practice.
• A commitment to teamwork.
• Excellent IT skills and knowledge of developing and maintaining electronic record keeping systems.
• The ability to travel to services across the UK.

What you should expect from us

• £27,081 - £32,100 per annum depending on experience.
• Annual salary review based on performance.
• A friendly working environment, a fun, open and honest culture.
• 25 days holiday rising to 27 days after 3 years’ service, plus Bank Holidays, pro-rata.
• Industry Leading training programme including access to level 3 qualifications, children’s right and participation, CSE, empowerment, mental health and Social Pedagogy,
• Contributory pension scheme, Enhanced Maternity and Company Sick Scheme.
• BUPA Employee Assistance Programme, offering counselling, financial advice and legal support.
• Interest-free season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme.
• Discount shopping scheme at hundreds of retailers across the UK.
• Discretionary Funded Training Programs.
• Employee Awards based on performance and length of service.
• Fantastic opportunities to develop your career within our range of services.

Recruitment Process
At St Christopher’s we are committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people in our care. During the recruitment process you will be expected to complete an online application form to ensure we capture essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements.

Your online application must include a supporting statement addressing the criteria stated in the Person Specification. For the full Job Description and Person Specification click here.

For more information or assistance during the application process, please contact [email protected]

Closing date: 26th March 2023

We advise to apply as soon as possible as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

St Christopher’s Fellowship has a minimum age requirement of 21 for roles working directly with children and young people in our residential and semi-independent Homes.

Full details and application documents here