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Job description

As this role is part of an independent appeals process relating to the council, current employees should not apply.

We are looking to fill several independent Panel member positions, to work with an Independent Chair to impartially review and determine Appeals to the Support Payment Scheme. The Support Payment Scheme is open to applicants, and provides financial support for eligible survivors of non-recent abuse, suffered whilst placed in Council run care homes between 1965 and 1996. It forms part of a wider support package which encompasses counselling, care support and specialist advice in certain fields. The Panel will consider any Appeals that are submitted by applicants who have been deemed to be ineligible for payment by our independent legal advisors. Panel members will have absolute discretion in any decision making, and expected to work confidentially and impartially.

This is a challenging yet rewarding role. Panel Members will be expected to uphold the highest standard of impartiality, confidentiality and objectivity in making determinations.

As the Independent Appeals Panel member, you will be expected to attend meetings to consider Appeals and:

• Read the circulated agenda and papers carefully before the meeting and to attend the meeting prepared to raise issues and to contribute to the Appeal Panel discussion work towards a recommendation
• Be able to makes Appeal assessments based on the written information provided
• Adhere to confidentiality of papers and discussions
• Attend meetings of the Panel, as requested, usually on a rotational basis with other Panel members
• Take responsibility for participating in the making of a recommendation, on each appeal, drawing on personal and/or professional knowledge and experience
• Take part in complex discussions, in accordance with Islington’s values and practicing and promoting inclusive and diverse practice
• To provide leadership to the panel by being well prepared, reading panel papers carefully, identifying key issues and alerting the Panel Advisor, if necessary to any concerns
• Work with the Chair and other Panel member to focus, manage time and create a safe space to consider issues and evidence, work towards evidence-based decisions
• To ensure the experience of the survivor is at the centre of all discussions
• To engage in ad/hoc meeting with the Panel advisor, as required
• A willingness to increase knowledge and understanding of issues through reading, discussion and training
• Participate in induction and other training as required

This is sensitive and challenging work that will involve detailed consideration of supporting information and survivors’ own accounts of the abuse they suffered while in care. Panel Members should, therefore, have an understanding and personal commitment to embodying trauma informed principles. They should be guided by a human rights approach, which has underpinned key areas of work in seeking justice and remedies for survivors of historical child abuse.

• We are looking to recruit independent people, each bringing their own individual perspective.
• You will be working on a sessional basis, with Appeal Panels convened as and when required for either a full or half-day, depending on volume
• For example, you may be a working legal professional or social worker with relevant experience. You might be a care experienced person with lived experience. You perhaps might be from the Community or Voluntary Sector.

Closing date: Sunday 1st October 2023 at 23:59

Interviews: week commencing Monday 16th October 2023

Essential criteria

• Willingness to learn more about the needs of survivors and Islington’s trauma centred approach to providing support to people
• An understanding of, and a commitment to, the need for confidentiality
• Excellent Interpersonal and listening skills. The ability to communicate well and clearly both verbally and in writing
• The ability to work with the Chair and other Panel members with strongly held but possibly conflicting views, but to work towards reaching a recommendation about Appeals which takes account of all these views
• A valuing of diversity in relation to issues of ethnicity, religion, gender, disability and sexuality. Showing commitment to and promoting the council’s ‘Dignity for All’ policy
• Ability to engage and work effectively with people from diverse backgrounds, with differing opinions, in a group setting
• Ability to confront difficult issues openly and sensitively
• Ability to ask probing, focused questions and challenge positions in a sensitive but objective manner
• The ability to work professionally, as required, with the Council and its advisers, liaising with the Panel advisor, and other senior managers, as requested
• Ability to recognise the validity and limitations of different and sometimes conflicting sources of information, in order to arrive at a balanced judgement
• Confidence to identify and responding to information gaps, and/or ask for clarification when required