Sparks Fostering currently has full panel membership; however, you can send your CV if you wish to be kept on the waiting list. 

Job Description:

• Panel members are paid £140 to review a full (initial) fostering assessment and £35 per hour for the panel meeting. Panel chairs and experienced social workers are paid £180 per full (initial) report and £45 per hour for the panel meetings. Reviews are paid at 50% of the full assessment fee and each ‘any other business’ item is charged at 25% of the full assessment fee (hourly panel meeting fees remain the same). 
• Panel members read and review fostering assessments (and other documents as required) and contribute to discussions about them.
• Panel members must also be able to give feedback about the performance of Sparks Fostering, based on the reports provided to them.
• The panel chair ensures that each member of the fostering panel is able to contribute meaningfully to discussion about panel business.  The panel chair ensures written minutes of panel meetings are accurate and clearly cover the key issues and views expressed by panel members and record the reasons for its recommendation. And the chair completes the annual performance reviews of other panel members. 
• Panel members are expected to engage in induction (to be completed within 10 weeks of signing the engagement agreement), training (attend at least once/year) and annual appraisals (once/year). There is no additional fee for this aspect of the work. 
• Panel members are expected to understand and adhere to expectations around record keeping and confidentiality. 
• Panel work is very flexible and panel members can attend when they are available – there is an expectation that panel members would attend at least one panel every two months.
• Panel members can also work as recruiters, support workers or social workers if they meet the person specification.

Person Specification:

• Panels are multi-disciplinary teams with relevant experience; panel members include health professionals, education staff, current or previous foster carers, care experienced young people or adults, social care professionals, elected council members, or faith/community leaders.
• Fostering assessments are lengthy and detailed, so good literacy and analytic skills are required.
• Panel members must show motivation to learn about the needs of children in care and should have had a look through the information on the Sparks Fostering website. Training will be provided.
• The panel chair is required to have a sound understanding of the fostering process; the authority and competence to chair the panel; the ability to analyse and explain complex information; the ability to identify key issues, problems and solutions; and excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skill. 
• The panel chair must be independent of Sparks Fostering

Social work can only be allocated when new foster carers are taken on by the agency, so any interested applicants should submit their CV with a view to being contacted when work becomes available. 

Job Description:

• Qualified social workers are paid £200 per month per foster carer and an additional £200 per month for every child who is in the fostering placement (or an additional £400/month to support a child with additional needs). 
• Social workers may also complete the fostering assessments and are paid £45/hour for the work.
• Social workers complete fostering assessments, offer advice and support to applicants and attend panel. Social workers offer any support needed to applicants to help them to complete the application process. 
• Qualified social workers provide professional supervision and support to foster carers, provide supervision to support workers, and attend professional meetings.
• Social workers may need to provide out of hours support if there is no allocated support worker or if the support worker is struggling.

Person Specification:

• Social workers have professional qualifications and are registered with the social work regulator.
• It is expected that social workers have read the information about fostering on the Sparks Fostering website.
• Social workers need to have good social skills and good written skills. Written work must be ‘court-report’ quality.
• Full employment checks are carried out.

Job Description:

• RMs are offered partership opportunities with Sparks Fostering. RMs may work as social workers until there is enough work for them to work as RMs, then subsequently they have share ownership for their region. 
• Social workers who do not meet the specification, but are interested in progressing to RM level are supported to do so.
• Sparks would offer additional training, supervision, a Responsible Individual, support and access to the agency processes, templates, panels, and other infrastructure (including accounting, contracts and other business related needs).
• The RMs would only need to focus on line-management responsibility of their social work team, facilitating their team’s support needs, producing management reports and managing Ofsted communication for their team.
• If social workers within the team need out-of-hours support, RMs are required to be available for this.

Person Specification:

• Registered Managers have a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care and Children and Young People’s Services qualification (or they will enrol for the qualification within 6 months and obtain the qualification within 3 years).
• RMs have at least two years’ experience relevant to fostering within the past 5 years. Sparks Fostering can support social workers to gain the relevant experience if needed. 
• Have at least one years’ experience supervising and managing professional staff. Sparks Fostering can support social workers to gain the relevant experience if needed. 
• Be confident in carrying out management audits and producing management reports. Sparks Fostering can train social workers to do this work.