Do you have experience of holding safeguarding cases, managing risk, providing consultation, delivering training, supporting survivors of abuse from a social work, probation, police or other relevant professional background? Looking for a new challenge? Why not join the Roman Catholic Westminster Diocese Safeguarding Team as a Safeguarding Officer?
What you’ll be doing
Working in a vibrant team at the heart of the Diocese, you will be responsible for the management of safeguarding concerns and holding casework, in addition to supporting the Head of Safeguarding/Deputy in their work when required. You will also work collaboratively with, safeguarding personnel in parishes, religious orders, and across other organisations within the wider diocese.
Additionally, you will be integral to the implementation of the National Safeguarding Policies of the Catholic Church on behalf of the Bishop and Trustees of the Diocese of Westminster. Some of the main responsibilities of this role will be the assessment of safeguarding complaints/concerns and managing the associated risks, undertaking risk assessments to inform safeguarding plans, along with speaking with and responding to survivors. Furthermore, you will be involved in the delivery of Safeguarding training for different stakeholders.
As part of this role, you will develop strong working relationships both within the Safeguarding team, related Curia departments, and across the Diocese in the communities we serve through your work.
This means there’s lots to get involved in – and to be excited about.
What we’re looking for
You love working in a person-centred role, using your keen eye for detail and strong organisational skills to ensure the efficient and smooth-running of a busy department. The successful candidate will have excellent communication skills, both written and verbally, and will have the ability to work discreetly and with confidentiality at the centre of their practice. Also, they will be confident working with sensitive information and have knowledge of current legislation affecting safeguarding. Of course, your safeguarding experience means you have a depth to your working knowledge of safeguarding and assessing risk.
To be successful in this role, you will need to be able to effectively prioritise your working time, managing conflicting deadlines and workload with a calm and measured approach to your work. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in the Safeguarding department, a friendly, professional and approachable member of the team who is a real asset to the day-to-day operation of the Safeguarding Service.
We welcome applications from practicing Roman Catholics, those of other faiths, or none. What we require above all else is that you respect the values we share to help others and support decent and dignified work for all without prejudice.
What we offer you
In return for your hard work and commitment to us, you will receive a competitive reward package which will include, but is not limited to:
- Life Assurance
- Access to Healthcare Cash Plan
- Discounts scheme through Edenred-shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets gift cards and much more
- Season Ticket Loan
- Cycle to Work scheme
- Access to low cost loans with Churches Mutual
- Employee assistance programme– free, independent 24/7 help and advice for work-related issues as well as problems affecting home life
Who are we?
We are the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, a faith-based charity with offices close to Victoria Train and Underground Station and just a short walk from St James Park and Westminster Underground stations.
We are home to the Archbishop of Westminster (Cardinal Vincent Nichols) & our beautiful Westminster Cathedral. We are one of the leading Catholic dioceses in the country, delivering our charitable mission through our network of 208 schools in which over 90,000 pupils attend daily, 212 parishes and several hundred social justice initiatives. We seek to positively impact the lives of all members of society.
Our core values are Competence, Reliability, Honesty, Perseverance & Love.
Our values are at the centre of everything we do and as such we are looking for a Safeguarding Officer who is able to clearly demonstrate and evidence them
Application details
Our people are incredibly important to us, and we value and respect diversity in all its forms (seen and unseen). We particularly welcome applications from those from Black and Asian backgrounds, as well as candidates with disabilities and from the communities in which we work. We would like to increase representation of these groups among our staff as we know greater diversity will lead to an even greater impact for our work.
To be considered for the role, please complete an online application. CVs will NOT be considered, therefore, please do not send them. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted. Please note that you will need to be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this position. You must provide proof of Right to Work in the UK. We reserve the right to remove the vacancy before closing date.
Equal Opportunities & Living Wage Statement:
The Diocese of Westminster is an Equal Opportunities and accredited Living Wage employer. To be successful, we aspire to be person centered at all times and place human dignity at our centre. We aim at all times to recruit the person who is best suited to the job, and we welcome applications from all communities and underrepresented groups, regardless of race, sexual orientation, disability, faith, age and gender. We guarantee an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria. We strive to take a holistic approach to the development of our people so that we may better serve and empower the mission of our Church as ministered by the parishes, deaneries, schools and communities that we support. Our ambition is to work together to promote a more inclusive environment, which attracts all candidates and signals our commitment to celebrating and promoting diversity.
We want people from all walks of life to feel valued for their individuality, thrive in our organisation, share a sense of belonging and demonstrate our values. With this in mind, we positively celebrate Diversity & Inclusion at the Diocese of Westminster and place it at the heart of our aim which is to reflect and connect with the diverse communities that we serve.
Actions we take to provide equality of opportunity for all candidates include:
- We anonymise application forms during our shortlisting process to ensure that candidates are assessed without any consideration of their name, gender or background.
- As part of this anonymisation, we don’t take into consideration where candidates studied, or the method of that study e.g. full-time, part-time or distance learning.
- We apply a consistent approach to our question setting across our applications and interviews to ensure that everyone is assessed against the identified values, competencies and job requirements. Our values are important to us and as such we use a scoring framework that marks candidates based on values, behaviours and competencies.
- We provide guidance and brief all our interviewers throughout the selection processes in recruitment best-practice to mitigate against any potential for conscious or unconscious bias or discrimination. Whenever possible we will have multiple interviewers when assessing each candidate to ensure marking is accurate and fair.
- We ensure all our assessment venues are accessible. We offer alternative formats of our application forms to encourage applicants with disabilities or who require reasonable adjustments to perform at their best.
- We will work together with candidates with a disability or health condition to implement reasonable adjustments to enable them to feel comfortable and strive during the assessment process.
