Independent Reviewing Officer

Job Title: Independent Reviewing Officer

Salary: £49,282 - £54,785

Hours per Week: 37

Location: Worcestershire

Team: Safeguarding & Quality Assurance

Employment: Permanent

The Role

• Do you love working with children and young people?
• Are you looking for a new challenge or change?
• Do you want to further develop your social work career and knowledge working with permanent experienced colleagues and line managers?
• Do you want to work in an environment where equality and diversity is recognised, promoted, and practiced?
• Do you want to work for a service that has been rated as 'Good' by Ofsted?

Worcestershire needs you to fill one full time Independent Reviewing Officer position for Looked After Children.

This is an exciting opportunity to join an experienced and supportive team in the Safeguarding & Quality Assurance Service.

Independent Reviewing Officer Responsibilities

We are looking to recruit 1 full time IRO; your role will be allocated to children and young people who are looked after. You will fulfil the statutory role and function of the IRO, chairing their reviews, and ensuring progressive permanency plans and achieving outcomes for our children - a key priority is ensuring children's voices are heard, they contribute to their plans, and we support them to attend their meetings.

Ofsted said: "Children's plans are regularly reviewed at meetings, which are well attended by parents and professionals involved in children's lives. IROs appropriately visit most children before their reviews to gain their views and encourage them to attend their meeting."

"Children's views are well considered at the meetings and IROs ensure that the record of the meeting is written in a child friendly way. IROs appropriately and successfully escalates their concerns about the progress of children's plans."

In this role you need to have the ability to scrutinise, challenge and support both Social Care Teams and partners, alongside strong quality assurance experience and skills.

You will be an experienced and qualified Social Worker with Management Experience, registered with Social Work England, who has a solid knowledge of policy, legislation, and good practice experience, and can demonstrate a strong commitment to strong multi agency working and child focused practice. You will have extensive experience of chairing complex and challenging meetings with the ability to manage difficult conversations.

So, what's next?

If you would like more information on this position, please contact Sally Branchflower (SQA Practice Manager) on .

Applications can be submitted by completing the online application process.

Benefits

You'll find an overview of the benefits Worcestershire County Council has to offer on our webpage.

• Worcestershire County Council - Why work for us?
• Great Holiday Entitlement: As well as bank holidays, you'll get 26 days paid holiday (pro rata for part time staff). This goes up to 31 days when you have been with us for 5 years. If you get more than 26 days where you work now, we'll match your holiday up to 31 days. If you're successful and want to take advantage, let us know!
• Brilliant Pension Scheme: The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is a nationwide, career average pension scheme and is a valuable part of the pay and reward package for employees working in local government.
• Professional Learning & Development: We actively encourage learning and development for all our staff should they want to progress further or explore other areas within the organisation.
• Flexible Working: We are proud to offer hybrid working to provide a better work/life balance where possible.

Disclosure Barring Service (DBS)

This post is exempt under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of criminal records via the Disclosure and Barring Service before the appointment is confirmed. This will include details of cautions, reprimands, or final warnings, as well as convictions. The County Council has a commitment to safeguarding service users in our care.

Equality & Diversity

The County Council is committed to equality of opportunity for all citizens and celebrates the diversity of all its residents.

Application Closing Date

31/07/2026

Anticipated Interview Date

11/08/2026

Attached documents

• PS - Independent Chair updated.doc
• JD - Independent Chair updated.doc