Business Officer- Children's Services

Human Resources & Development - Form 35 Version 15- Issued October 2022 JOB DESCRIPTION AND PARTICULARS OF APPOINTMENT Job Title: Business Officer Post Number: TBC Grade and SCP: Grade 7 Directorate: People Where your role fits at Shropshire Council As Shropshire Council we are rightly proud of our achievements and we have proven to be a resilient local authority in our response to the many challenges we overcome, particularly over recent years. We will be continuing this momentum with ambition and a focus on delivering our four key priorities outlined within the Shropshire Plan: Healthy People, Healthy Environment, Health Economy, and Healthy Organisation. We are committed to achieving this by aligning everything we do to our vision 'Shropshire - living the best life'; to tell everyone that Shropshire Council is a great place to be. We will enable a skilled, happy, healthy, diverse, inclusive, empowered, and proud workforce that influences and leads change, addressing any inequalities. As a member of the All-Age Business Team within the People Directorate you will support the achievement of these key priorities, making a real difference to the lives of people in Shropshire. Overview of your role You will contribute to the achievement of both the Council's Vision to deliver The Shropshire Plan and the Directorate's Vision and Values Statement. You will also play your part in helping to deliver the Executive Director's service plan objectives and the targets set in the Performance Assessment Framework. You will work with the Senior Business Officer to provide a positive, proactive and innovative business service that is aligned to our vision and goals for adult and children's social care in the People Directorate. You will exercise considerable discretion to ensure that confidential information is not inadvertently disclosed. In addition, duties may change day-to-day depending on the Business & Directorate requirements. Who will your manager be and what will you be responsible for? Reporting to the Senior Business Officer, who is in turn responsible for your health and safety, training and development You will be responsible for providing essential administrative functions, handling financial tasks, and/or performing tasks related to maintaining system and data accuracy. This includes, auditing, assisting in data entry and compliance, resolving data quality issues, retrieving missing details, and inputting data timely as per local government benchmarks and legal reporting requirements As part of the administration service, the role also involves handling requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and the Data Protection Act (SAR), coordinating complaints, ensuring data quality and compliance with relevant legislation and policies for the People Directorate You will also need to work effectively with a wide range of internal & external colleagues and communicate clearly and professionally with them, sharing relevant information and providing support as needed. You will follow the Council's policies and procedures for data protection, confidentiality, and safeguarding Provide support to prepare and deliver clear, accurate, and timely responses to various enquiries or requests from internal or external stakeholders, such as complaints, MP enquiries, Information Governance/Subject access requests, customer enquiries, media enquiries, HR staff investigations etc., following Shropshire Council's corporate procedures and national/regulatory/statutory frameworks. Ensure that the responses meet the quality standards and deadlines set by Shropshire Council's published policies and/or case allocation emails and discussions Complete all the required training for your role and the organisation within the expected timeframe. You can find out what training you need to do during your corporate induction and in your Personal Development Plan (PDP). You can access the courses through the council's Learning Management System on the Intranet What will you be doing? This is an outline of the competencies, principal duties and responsibilities required for the post holder. The post holder will be required to carry out various aspects of the role which will change from time to time to strengthen skills and experience and to meet service needs. Individual guidance will be provided through Supervision and Personal Development Planning. Deliver high-quality and consistent services to customers, responding to their queries, requests, complaints, issues, and incidents in a timely and professional manner. Ensure that feedback and learning from complaints are incorporated into service improvement and staff development Provide guidance and advice to staff and senior management, on handling FOI and SAR requests also carry out second edits and final checks within the team, prior to disclosure Evaluate all requests and compile necessary information, applying expert knowledge to appropriately redact or exempt details according to the Data Protection Act and Shropshire Council guidelines Demonstrate personal accountability for handling complex cases, which may involve giving guidance to social care professionals and engaging directly with the young person/adult or their representatives Provide support for a range of administrative duties, ensuring all tasks are completed accurately and on time, while maintaining effective communication with stakeholders and customers Oversee data entry and compliance activities of colleagues, ensuring high standards of accuracy and adherence to established procedures. Provide timely and effective support to team members, either remotely or in person, as needed Leverage technology to enhance workflow efficiency, track progress and generate Power BI reports for workflow monitoring. Collaborate with other teams and departments to develop and implement business improvement initiatives that simplify processes, improve systems, and foster new ways of working Evaluate the teams' outcomes and performance by using various tools and techniques to analyse data, compare with others, and collect feedback, and ensure compliance with statutory and contractual requirements Champion and communicate change effectively and ensure that everyone understands and commits to the goals and benefits of business change and organisational transformation Ensure that all relevant legislation, policies, procedures, and standards are adhered to and liaise with internal and external auditors as required Build and maintain effective relationships with senior managers, stakeholders, partners, and customers, and represent the service at meetings when required Support the implementation of any audit recommendations or suggestions that affect your areas of work Be flexible and adaptable in supporting the work of your colleagues when they are away from the service, ensuring that the quality and continuity of the service is maintained Collaborate with stakeholders to define project objectives, deliverables, benefits and resources related to the development of ContrOCC, LAS/LCS, Portals and new IT solutions Produce and present reports on data and statistics to a range of stakeholders and partner organisations The above duties are an illustrative outline and are not an exhaustive list. You will be expected to become involved in a range of work to enable the service to respond effectively to the changing requirements of the Council and changes affecting the workforce. What we expect of you You will: adopt a customer focused approach when delivering your service, ensuring engagement with service users and maintenance of an appropriate personal profile, act as an advocate for your service and work collaboratively with colleagues across the whole Council to meet the needs of the people of Shropshire, meet individual, service and personal development targets agreed through the Personal Development Review Process, learn from experience, and are committed to continuous improvement individually and as an employee of the Council, work with colleagues to meet your team's key performance indicators, support a culture of team working and ensure the team functions successfully in support of the Council's corporate and service objectives. meet the behaviours and competencies adopted by the Council in the way in which they achieve their objectives and carry out their work. What are your conditions of Service The conditions of service are those laid down by Shropshire Council, which have been adopted and amended as necessary from those laid down by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. Your primary work base will be at Shirehall with the flexibility of working from home where appropriate. During a Pandemic, Epidemic or Major Incident, Emergency or Business Reason you may be asked to work from home or other location and on occasion to undertake duties that are not stated in your Job Description or Person Specification where there is a skill, competency, and experience match. Your post is subject to the following: The post is Permanent/ for 37 hours per week, Normal office hours are 7am - 7pm Monday - Friday and 8am - 1pm Saturday with a minimum lunch break of 30 minutes. Occasional eveningevening work may be required, The post is subject to the Council's annualised hours scheme as implemented within the specific work area. This post carries eligibility to join the Local Government Pension Scheme. Information about this will be sent with any formal offer of appointment. Annual leave entitlement is a pro rata flat rate scheme of 207 hours (28 days) annual leave plus ...