Specialist Safeguarding Nurse

In Sutton, there is much for us to be proud of both as a council and as a borough. This includes high levels of resident satisfaction, the quality of our services, our success in addressing our financial challenges to date, the way that we involve and engage with residents on key issues facing the borough, and the enthusiastic and motivated staff that we employ. 

Looking ahead, there are plans for the delivery of new homes and new schools and the London Cancer Hub is being developed, while the Council is also seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment.

All of this demonstrates a good track record and an authority that is ambitious and set to deliver more improvements for the borough. We've set out our vision for the future of Sutton in our corporate plan - Ambitious for Sutton. This strategic plan will shape the outcomes we achieve, the services we provide, and the impact we have on residents, to make Sutton a great place to live, work and raise a family.

Situated in Zone 5, Sutton is less than 30 minutes by train from central London, and south and south west London are easily accessible by public transport. There are 10 train stations which serve key neighbourhoods within the borough providing direct connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars and St Pancras International. Sutton also has direct rail connections with Epsom, Dorking, Guildford and Horsham, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and West Croydon for the London Overground. There’s also an extensive road network which provides close and easy access to the M25 and M23.

Recruitment and Retention Package at Sutton including a Golden Hello and Retention Bonus

As of 1st September 2022, all new recruits to selected roles within Children’s Health Services shall receive a starting salary similar to the NHS. For example a newly recruited Specialist Safeguarding Nurse at Sutton would be placed at a mid range spinal point (SP 39) of Grade 9,  closely matching the NHS pay scale for the same role. The current LBS figure would be £47,805 to offset the NHS entry figure of £46,836. 

As part of our Recruitment and Retention Bonus and to support our colleagues with the rising costs of living, we have introduced additional benefits to make the role as competitive as possible:

• New recruits to selected roles within Children’s Health Services are entitled to the NHS passport scheme. This is the transfer of your continuous service from your previous employer, so you don't lose the benefit you may have acquired due to long service.
• Staff within selected roles within Children’s Health Services will receive a “Golden Hello”, a one off payment of £1,500 when joining, paid in your first months’ salary and a Retention Bonus of £1,500 after completing 2 years service.

Specialist Safeguarding Nurse

Salary £47,805 - £51,903 (unconsolidated maximum £53,946)

An exciting opportunity has arisen to be a part of the Safeguarding Children Team as a Specialist Safeguarding Nurse, working across organisational boundaries in Sutton. 

Key responsibilities include:

• To work autonomously, managing and overseeing practitioners and their caseloads of vulnerable children and families within the specialty.
• Act as a role model, demonstrating high standards of care and providing expert and professional clinical leadership in safeguarding children.
• Directly supervise, support and advise health professionals and provide relevant safeguarding supervision.
• Deliver levels 2 and 3 safeguarding training.
• Attend relevant local Authority safeguarding meetings as directed by the named nurse.  
• Be on a rota to provide input to MASH as the health navigator.

Childrens Health Service

The London Borough of Sutton is part of an alliance of local providers which includes Epsom and St Helier’s NHS Trust, the Sutton GP Federation and South West London & St Georges MH Trust. This is known as the Sutton Health and Care (SHC) Alliance. Together we want to improve local services for adults and children by joining up health and social care provision across organisational boundaries. The SHC Alliance is already starting to deliver innovative services in Sutton that are providing joined- up care. The first of these is Sutton Health and Care at Home which went live in April 18. We now have an opportunity to improve local services for our children, focusing in particular on improving school readiness, mental health and wellbeing and SEND provision.

The Safeguarding Children Team aims to ensure that all children and young people are effectively protected when using our services; that processes are robust for the early detection and any subsequent referral, and that colleagues are adequately supported to carry out such work. The team provides safeguarding supervision, expert advice and deliver safeguarding training within Sutton.   

For more information on the role and the service, please download the Candidate Pack which can be found towards the bottom of the page. For an informal discussion, feel free to contact the Children's Health Team - Jenny Giles, Head of Children's Service (Jenny.Giles@sutton.gov.uk) or Jean Crate, Service Manager (jean.crate@sutton.gov.uk)

To be successful in the role, we would expect all candidates to demonstrate the following competences:

• Registered on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
• A Registered Children’s Nurse or as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse
• Strong knowledge of safeguarding practices and relevant legislation. 

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.

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)
• Flexi-time (Please note, this applies to roles at grades 1-9 only)
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Local and national discounts for shopping, eating out and leisure activities
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Car parking 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.

To support our diversity agenda and reduce the risk of bias in our recruitment activities, our short listing process completely anonymises personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc. Our hiring managers review and short list applications based on the information provided as part of your application as to how well you meet the requirements and criteria for the role, as outlined in the job profile.

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 pride ourselves on being a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce. As part of our Disability Confident Committed status, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the 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.

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.