About the Role
and our Ideal Candidate
Join Children Social Care as an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) and enjoy a Golden Hello along with a Recruitment and Retention Bonus, outlined as follows:
1. £1, paid with your first month's salary
2. £1, for your first completed year of service
3. £2, for your second completed year of service
4. £3, for your third completed year of service and each year thereafter
With a total salary package of up to £62, (subject to pay scale), inclusive of bonuses and benefits, this is an excellent opportunity to elevate your career in social care.
5. Are you passionate about advocating for children's rights and welfare?
6. Do you have experience in child protection and want to help shape positive outcomes for young people?
7. Do you want to be part of a dedicated team that prioritizes the well-being of children in our community?
Reporting to the Safeguarding Service Manager, your responsibilities as an Independent Reviewing Officer will include:
8. Chairing statutory Looked After Children (LAC) reviews, ensuring that care plans are robust, effective, and child-focused.
9. Advocating for the best interests of the child, ensuring their voice is heard and acted upon in all aspects of their care.
10. Monitoring the progress of care plans and ensure compliance with statutory requirements and best practice guidelines.
11. Working closely with social workers, foster carers, legal representatives, and other professionals to ensure coordinated and effective care planning- (High support)
12. Providing independent oversight and scrutiny of social work practice, promoting high standards of care and welfare
13. Maintaining detailed and accurate records of all review meetings, decisions, and recommendations.
14. Contributing to service improvement and development by providing training, identifying trends, highlighting good practice, and recommending changes where necessary.
For more information about the role and/or an informal conversation, view the Role Profile or contact Karen Walls, Safeguarding Manager on or Denise Walford, Senior CP Chair on
This role is a great opportunity for:
15. Experienced social workers: Qualified social workers with a strong background in child protection reviewing social care practice, gained at Team Manager level. If you are passionate about growing your career, this role is an opportunity that focuses on chairing and facilitating critical discussions that impact children's lives.
16. Current and Former Independent Reviewing Officers : Individuals who have significant experience in child welfare, social work, or safeguarding roles, with a proven track record of chairing multi-agency meetings, especially within a children's services framework and local authority setting.
We would expect the suitable candidates to fulfil the following competencies:
17. Be a qualified Social Worker with a relevant professional qualification in Social Work and registered with Social Worker England
18. Significant experience in child protection or safeguarding with strong understanding of child protection legislation, local authority processes, and multi-agency collaboration.
19. Knowledge and experience of effectively chairing statutory meetings within children’s services.
20. Strong knowledge of The Children Act,, IRO Handbook, and other relevant legislation and statutory guidance.
21. Experience of managing performance, setting and monitoring standards and challenging poor practice
22. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage with families in a sensitive manner and make sound decisions in complex and challenging situations
23. Ability to challenge poor practice constructively and escalate concerns effectively.
If you are passionate about making a difference in the lives of children and young people and possess the skills and experience required for the role, we encourage you to apply! Join our dedicated team and take on a rewarding challenge that allows you to advocate for children, collaborate with diverse professionals, and contribute to meaningful outcomes.
About Us
The London Borough of Sutton “is uncompromising in its focus on improving quality of frontline social work” – Ofsted
London Borough of Sutton works closely with Kingston University and regional partners as part of the Developing Together Social Work Teaching Partnership (SWTP). The partnership offers staff a wide range of pre and post qualifying education opportunities to promote continuous learning and development. This includes staff being encouraged to support the practice education of Social Work students and those in the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE). Staff are also given the opportunity to attend conferences, workshops and have access to research and practice resources to support their ongoing professional development.
Children's Social Care is going through an important change to meet the growing needs of the children and families we support. We are making many improvements to ensure that care for children is better and to create positive working environments for our staff. With committed leaders and experienced managers, we are bringing fresh ideas to our work and are helping to make real improvements in how we support children and families. Our aim is to provide high-quality care that helps children thrive while also creating an inclusive, diverse, and supportive environment for our staff to develop their careers.
Our Offer To You
As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across - however big or small - will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.
In addition, we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff, supported by our IT infrastructure, including Google Chromebooks and Google Apps. Our Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme embraces new ways of working. It provides improved work life balance for our staff as it allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week.
Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:
24. Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
25. General Council Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
26. Public Health Service Localised Flexi-time Scheme - accrual of up to 5 days per year
27. Three volunteering days per year in Sutton
28. Comprehensive learning and development programme
29. Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
30. Interest free season ticket loans
31. Local Government Pension Scheme
32. Car parking scheme
33. Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
34. Zip car scheme
35. Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
36. Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
37. Subsidised gym membership