Violence Against Women and Girls Officer

This special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else - it is where the first kings of England were crowned.

Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston's riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer.

Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London – with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink.

Kingston’s people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other.

We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston’s key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand.

Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK.

The post holder will work to support the Violence against Women and Girls Manager with the improvement of community safety and social outcomes in Kingston, including the progression and development of a systematic and sustainable approach to tackling community safety issues, ensuring an effective community safety approach operates across the partnership. 

The post holder will work to support the Violence against Women and Girls Manager and Safer Kingston Partnership across key strategic partnerships so that policy-makers and decision-takers make community safety a priority.

The post holder will develop and maintain key working relationships and partnerships with various stakeholders, including Councillors, colleagues and partners across Kingston, particularly the responsible authorities under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

Key activities

Performance

• Oversee all work in relation to the Domestic Abuse Bill with support from the Violence Against Women and Girls Manager, Housing leads and local Domestic Abuse Services to ensure that the council is meeting the Domestic Abuse Bill requirements.
• Oversee all awareness raising and communications in relation to the Domestic Abuse Bill duties and responsibilities across the partnership.
• Works with manager and colleagues to define outcomes, set targets and monitor performance, within a culture of continual improvement.
• Support operational plans to ensure that the resources within the teams are used to best effect and impact.
• Support the Integrated Offender Management (IOM) Lead with coordination of monthly meetings.
• Main point of contact for the Prevent and Change (PAC) Domestic Abuse Perpetrator programme including submission of quarterly monitoring reports. 

Customers and Partners

• Builds strong working partnerships across the Housing landscape in Kingston including the Local Authority, Housing Associations, Homelessness sector and voluntary sector Domestic Abuse Services.
• Delivery pf specialist training across the Housing partnership in relation to Domestic Abuse and VAWG
• Supports Kingston’s commitment to community cohesion and valuing diversity and social inclusion

Digital/New Ways of Working

• Uses new technologies, particularly Google, to adopt modern, agile working practices, improve customer service and eliminating paper-based processes wherever possible.  

Delivery 

• Work with the Violence against Women and Girls Manager to coordinate,deliver and commission the multi-agency VAWG training for Kingston.                  
• Build strong relationships with the GLA, MHCLG and other relevant and key organisations in relation to meeting our duties around the Domestic Abuse Bill.
• Work closely with Housing providers across Kingston on their response to Domestic Abuse and ensure clear referral pathways between Housing and Domestic Abuse Services
• Work closely with RBK Housing in supporting them to prepare for the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) Accreditation process 
• Develop and prepare briefings and presentations for Partnership boards, particularly Safeguarding Boards to ensure appropriate responses to vulnerability and exploitation 
• To provide specialist advice, develop action plans, briefing papers, respond to requests for information and enquiries, relative to role. 

Equality and Diversity

• Embeds equity, equality, fairness and diversity into all aspects of team working and service delivery

The Community Safety team within the council is committed to working towards these recommendations and have created an exciting and to assist us in preparing and implementing the duties and responsibilities coming out of the Domestic Abuse Bill.

The role reports directly to the Violence Against Women and Girls Manager 

In order to successfully deliver the responsibilities of the role, you will need to: 

• Have a relevant degree or be able to demonstrate equivalent knowledge and skills through training in a relevant area
• Knowledge of working within the VAWG and or Community Safety setting
• Knowledge around Housing legislation in regards to Domestic Abuse and VAWG
• Proven experience of working in and leading a multi-agency setting
• Experienced of the VAWG (specifically domestic abuse) agenda and the roles and responsibilities of various agencies involved within it.
• Proven ability of developing successful partnerships, engaging key  partners
• Experience of delivering training sessions
• Have strong communication and engagement skills, being able to interest and motivate people about population safety and health
• Willingness to work flexibly and respond to the needs of the business and to  work evenings and weekends when required.
• Question and challenge ways of working, with an understanding of the bigger picture in terms of the corporate context and external environment  
• Demonstrate agility and adaptability in mindset and ways of working 

• Work successfully with key stakeholders within and outside of the Council 
• Demonstrate commitment to own personal and professional development to meet the changing demands of the role 
• Demonstrate innovation and creativity
• Actively engage in positive cross organisational communications and team working
• Communicate clearly, confidently and appropriately with colleagues using the best methods of communication for the task.

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, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. We operate hybrid working, a flexible working model which allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week. It enables staff to achieve a work life balance whilst still meeting the needs of the organisation.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Flexible and agile working arrangements
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. 

We are committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) so all personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc is completely anonymised during the shortlisting process. Our hiring managers review applications based on the knowledge, skills and experience demonstrated in your application, and how well these match the job profile. Our HR Shared Service with Sutton Council was recently recognised nationally for having the ‘Best Inclusion and Diversity Programme’ at the PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards 2023, something that we’re incredibly proud of.

Hiring managers are encouraged to ensure that their interview panel is diverse, and representative of a range of protected characteristics, to help remove unconscious bias and ensure candidates are treated fairly during the selection process. Some characteristics may not be obvious, but our panels are diverse wherever possible. We have a number of measures in place to inform and support our approach, including mandatory EDI and unconscious bias training for all staff, safer recruitment training for diverse panel members, engaging with our staff networks and encouraging allyship. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough. Our aim is to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and staff feel a sense of belonging. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.

As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to thinking differently about disability and taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role.

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are an accredited London Living Wage Employer and this means that everyone working at the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers receive the London Living Wage. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.

The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.