Volunteer Approval Panel Members required

What will you be doing?

About Shared Lives South West We are an award winning charity that delivers long term and short break care services throughout Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. We provide care and support and are an alternative to supported living and residential care. Established in 2004, we are a highly regarded care provider, rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission. We have a very strong reputation in the Shared Lives sector for quality, innovation and person centred approaches. We specialise in supporting people with learning disabilities, autism, mental ill health, dementia and older people. People who use our services live or have a break in the home of one of our approved carers. It’s similar to adult fostering and is a great alternative to supported living or residential care. Our Funding and Benefits team check that people who use our services are receiving the correct benefits and offer a money management service. We are passionate about training and investing in our team to ensure we deliver high quality services. Shared Lives South West is an independent registered charity, regulated by the Charity Commission and Companies House. At the heart of our organisation are the people who use our services and our amazing carers. You will be joining an enthusiastic and committed team of Approval Panel members. As part of the introduction to the role you will receive a guidance document and the opportunity to observe a panel process and meeting. You will help enrich the lives of people we support by becoming a part of this friendly charity known for providing high quality support to people as recognised by our recent “Outstanding” CQC award. You stand to also enrich your own life through the empowering and satisfying sector of volunteering as well as having access to training and development opportunities through SLSW. This is a voluntary post and would be offered subject to satisfactory references.

What are we looking for?

Role Profile- Approval Panel memberPurpose Statement:To support Shared Lives South West in the approval and de approval of SLSW Carers in line with best practice guidance and frameworks. Purpose of the role•To contribute to the quality assurance process by reading, reviewing and auditing assessment paperwork.•To attend panel meetings, raise clarification questions and provide feedbackon the assessment paperwork provided.•To recommend the approval and de-approval of carers to the Registered Manager.General duties include•Attend panel away days and contribute to the ongoing improvement of our carer approval process.•Keep up to date with policy and training relevant to your role.•Maintain confidentiality at all times, in line with the Shared Lives South Westconfidentiality policy.•To comply with the Code of Conduct for Approval Panel members.The Approval Panel is not the decision maker for Shared Lives South West – this lies with the Registered Manager and/or the Nominated Individual for Shared Lives South West as registered with the Care Quality Commission. Person specificationIf you are interested in applying but not sure you have all the skills, please do apply. We are open to people learning the role.QUALIFICATIONSA commitment to personal or professional development and willingness to undertake any training that supports the role.KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCEA broad understanding or experience of the Shared Lives model.A keen interest in or knowledge of legislation, policy and practice relevant to service for adults with care and support needs e.g Care Quality Commission, Safeguarding Adults and Mental Capacity Act. SKILLS AND ABILITIESGood interpersonal skills; can easily build rapport. Ability to understand the auditing process. Evidence based decision making.Ability to make objective judgement based on written evidence alone. Good written and verbal communication skills. Competent in the use of IT. PERSONAL ATTRIBUTESCommitment to non-judgemental and anti-discriminatory practice. OTHER REQUIREMENTSAbility to commit time to sitting on the panel.Ability to commit time to reading through assessments documents thoroughly.(on average this would be 3-5 hours on a monthly basis)

What difference will you make?

Our vision, purpose and our values: Our Vision To be the leading Shared Lives provider in the country.Our Purpose To make a positive impact on the lives of the people we support.Our Values Putting CARE into everything we do...Community-Working together with a shared purpose and belonging toachieve common goals.Autonomy- Empowering people to take ownership and accountability for decision-making.Resilience- Building the strength and character to embrace change andchallenge.Equity- Giving people what they need to have equal access to opportunities in life. Approval Panel members support SLSW in the approval and de-approval of Shared Lives Carers by contributing to the quality assurance process by reading, reviewing and auditing assessment paperwork to ensure the organisation recruits the right carers to fulfil our purpose and support more people.We recognise the benefits of a diverse team and welcome people of all age, disability, gender identity, marital status, race, faith or belief, sexual orientation and socioeconomic background.If you have time to spare, would like to do something rewarding and make a real difference please read on or contact us today.