Job title: Practice Improvement Officer

Salary: PO2 £39,862 to £42,839

Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract: Permanent

Location: Hybrid – working from home and from LCC buildings where necessary

As a Practice Improvement Officer, you’ll thrive on supporting colleagues in Children and Families to work in the most effective ways, providing them with the tools, resources and information they need to make a positive difference in people’s lives.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

As a Practice Improvement Officer, you will bring to the role:

An ability to work flexibly and at pace
Skills in reviewing, analysing and constructively challenging the work of others
An ability to research, interpret and present a range of information.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
Experience of supporting the implementation of improvement activity, supporting a culture that drives up standards and performance and delivers sustainable change

About the role

As a Practice Improvement Officer, you’ll be working with both senior leaders and the wider Children and Families workforce to develop robust systems for collating information about learning from local and national reviews, offering project support to ensure that recommendations and actions are completed, and disseminating information to the workforce to help support evidence-based practice improvement. The role sits within the Capacity and Change team, whose remit is focused on quality assurance, best practice and inspection preparedness through ensuring that we use what we know about practice in Leeds to share innovation and identify and address areas for improvement.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
a range of staff benefitsto help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidance for further advice on completing your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact Sophie Barker, Project Improvement Manager. Call 0113 37 83592 or email Sophie.barker@leeds.gov.uk.

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s or Adults’ barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visa route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Job purpose

The flexible support of practice improvement activity, and ensuring inspection readiness to improve outcomes for children, young people and families.
To lead on identified practice improvement projects.

Responsibilities

Management of people – Management of support staff as required.
Inspection Coordination - Support inspection planning and readiness activity as required.
Programme or Project Management – Act as Project Officer for identified improvement projects.
Practice improvement - Provide flexible support for innovative approaches to improve practice.
Development of Policies and Procedures - Lead and support identified development projects for Policies and Procedures.
Change Management - Support change management activities in an engaging way which mitigates the risks, delivers business benefits and sustains improvement
Performance Management and Quality Assurance - Support identified performance management and quality assurance activities in line with legislation and/or best practice
Research - Support research and analysis activities required to inform or drive the delivery of the city’s and Children and Families Services plans; ensuring that priorities are delivered in line with legislation and/or best practice.
Reports, strategies and other communications - Support and lead on the development of specific reports and other communications. Support the development of strategies.
Undertaking a number of ongoing responsibilities that support improvement within Children and Families Services, including:
- Working closely with colleagues across the service to organise effective meetings and events, including facilitating working groups, agenda planning and co-ordinating follow-up actions where appropriate/required.
- Working with senior officers to co-ordinate and quality assure key communications produced by and on behalf of the service
- Working with senior officers to ensure that reports required by and on behalf of the Children and Families Leadership Team Members meet required standards in terms of timeliness, quality and key messages.
To maintain a high level of confidentiality and be sensitive to the personal nature of data handled within the leadership support office.
To work within all relevant policies, procedures and systems established corporately or locally and to support the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policies.
To carry out duties in accordance with the Council Values and culture.
Any other duties commensurate with the post.

Qualifications

First Degree or equivalent experience

Essential requirements Candidates will only be shortlisted if they can demonstrate that they meet all the following essential requirements.

Ability to work flexibly, at pace and deal with a demanding work load
Adaptable to changing circumstances and priorities.
Ability to interpret, advocate and disseminate key messages on behalf of senior leaders
Confidence to lead projects and meetings
Able to work on own initiative and as part of a team
Able to review, analyse and constructively challenge the work of others
Ability to research, interpret and present a range of information.
Competent in the use of ICT
Ability to develop productive working relationships with relevant council members, partners and staff across the authority and influence their work
Ability to demonstrate excellent communication and interpersonal skills
Ability to co-ordinate a range of different work to meet objectives and timescales.
Knowledge of outcomes-based methodologies for service development and improvement
Understanding of different communication tools and the benefits and limitations of each
Knowledge of the current operating context for local government and Children’s Services
Knowledge of research methods and sources of academic research
Understanding of political context
Evidence of maintaining and applying up-to-date knowledge of current thinking and developments within area of expertise
Experience of carrying out research projects and interpreting and summarising published research
Experience of writing reports and documents for a wide variety of audiences
Experience of managing competing priorities and risks and adapting to changing circumstances and priorities
Experience of contributing to delivery within complex environments involving various stakeholders to achieve positive outcomes
Experience of supporting the implementation of improvement activity that improves outcomes and service quality, supporting a culture that drives up standards and performance and delivers sustainable change
Experience in challenging existing ways of working
Experience of leading and supporting projects that have delivered improved outcomes for service users and colleagues.
Experience of delivering organisational change by working with others
Experiencing of working with senior leaders in a large, customer focused organisation
Experience of dealing with sensitive issues
Experience in the use of IT software packages

Essential behavioural and other characteristics

Understand and embrace Leeds City Council values and behavioursand codes of conduct
Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Leeds Ambitionsof health and wellbeing, inclusive growth, thriving strong communities, and a resilient sustainable city
Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council policies and procedures
Carry out duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Participate in appraisal, training and development activities to ensure up, to date knowledge and skills
Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding equality and diversity of Leeds City Council
Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person
Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters

Desirable requirements Candidates are not required to meet all the following desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates.

Ability in developing policies and procedures
Detailed knowledge of one or more particular area of Children and Families services work including that which is: practice facing; performance management; quality assurance; change management; or project management.
Experience of producing and presenting significant reports.
Experience of working with elected members.
Experience of producing website materials or maintaining the content of websites.