Job description
01/05/2023, 23:55
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 role of the Technology Enabled Care (TEC) Coordinator is an operational one and will be responsible for working closely with the adult social care operational teams (including hospital discharge, occupational health and community teams) to design and deliver a training and support programme so that the programme is embedded within the teams’ social work practice.
We want the TEC Coordinator to support the ongoing roll out of technology enabled care across the teams by rolling out training to all social care teams to raise awareness and build confidence on how technology can support practice, be the subject matter expert within service and work closely with health and housing partners.
You will work with the strategic digital commissioner to deliver the Council’s ambitious technology enabled care programme (due to be appointed in October 2023). You will also work closely with health partners to ensure technology enabled care pathways both in the community and from hospitals are aligned.
In this role, a typical day will consist of:
- Delivering some refresher training to long term social work teams about a new device that can be installed in peoples’ homes and how they work. At the end of the session answering questions from practitioners on cases where they think the individual could benefit from technology.
- Reviewing data where a sensor movement kit has been installed in an individual’s home and sharing with a social work practitioner to inform a care plan review.
- Attending a supported living housing provider forum with the digital commissioner to share learning on how technology enabled care can support and maintain peoples’ independence.
As the successful candidate will need to work closely with social work teams, there is an expectation to be on site at least two days per week.
The Council is embarking on an ambitious technology enabled care programme within adult social care to; keep individuals safe within their own homes, maintain or improve individual’s functioning and independence, facilitate timely discharge from hospital and have the ability where technology is integral in supporting the care planning for individuals within the service.
You will be based within one of the adult social care hub teams and report directly to the corporate head of service for adult operations. Additionally, you would work with social workers both within the community and within the hospital discharge team as well as occupational therapy and learning disability.
It is a really exciting time to join the Royal Borough of Kingston. It has a strong ambition to embed technology enabled care in our social work practice. We are a forward thinking and supportive team and we want to be at the forefront of innovation in this field.
We are looking for someone who is forward thinking, has lots of energy and a vision of how technology can support individuals who are in receipt of adult social care, keen to learn new things, curious and never feel worried about asking questions! This role would be a great opportunity for a newly qualified social work practitioner or Support coordinator.
To be successful in this role, you must have:
- Experience of a similar role in a Local Authority.
- General knowledge across all council services
- Experience/Knowledge of the Care Act 2014, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and other relevant legislation.
- Demonstrable understanding of the principles and application of excellent adult social care
- Experience researching and trialling assistive and communicative technologies
- Demonstrable experience of creating effective working relationships with internal and external customers
Please refer to the job description for more in-depth information.
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. The COVID-19 pandemic has required us to be even more flexible in how we work and manage staff workloads, ensuring they have the correct equipment and resources to be able to maximise their talents and looking after their wellbeing.
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
- 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
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, tolerant 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.
We are proud to be recognised as a Disability Confident employer, and 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 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.
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.