Panel Secretary - Corporate Parenting Team
Team: Fostering and Adoption Panels
Job Family: Providing - CBG7
Salary: £28,598 – £31,022 per annum pro rata
Hours: 18.5 hours per week, Wednesdays and Thursdays required, other half day negotiable
Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per month.
Contract Type: Hybrid - Permanent
Closing Date: 28th August 2025
Interview Date: TBC
About the role
We are looking for a Panel Secretary to join the Corporate Parenting Team at Central Bedfordshire Council. This is a business support role supporting the delivery of fostering and adoption panels.
Fostering and Adoption are child focused teams responsible for recruiting and reviewing foster carers and adopters as well as matching children with a plan of adoption. The fostering and adoption panels play a key role in assessing the suitability of prospective foster carers and adopters, monitoring the quality of care provided and plays a role in ensuring foster carers, adopters and children are offered the support they need.
The ideal candidate will have experience working as an administrator for a busy team and will ideally be a proficient and skilled minute taker. This role involves regular minute taking at weekly panels, which are usually virtual on Microsoft Teams. If you are not experienced in minute taking but think you have what it takes to develop this skill, please contact us to discuss – we are able to offer on-the-job training and can support the right candidate to develop minute taking skills.
As an important part of the Panel Administration team, you will work alongside colleagues to perform all aspects of panel business therefore, excellent literacy IT skills are essential.
This is a Hybrid working role. We recognise and value the importance of supporting our employees to balance their home and work life and to be able to work in the most efficient way. Panel business requires a commitment to working on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but there is flexibility for the remaining hours.
A full induction will be given and support will be offered with regards to hybrid working and IT.
Our Offer
We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page
Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer. We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack.
Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack.
For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Helen Falkner at helen.falkner@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or call 0300 300 6728.
Safeguarding:
Central Bedfordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees, volunteers and contractors to share this commitment. This post is subject to the disclosure of criminal records.
To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.
Our National Careers Service team offer a free monthly workshop covering CV writing and how to complete the statement sections of the Central Bedfordshire Council online application form. This MS Teams workshop is open to anyone from the UK and lasts around 1.5 hours. Please book your place here.
More information about this service can be found here: Support getting into work or learning | Central Bedfordshire Council