Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards : Best Interest Assessor

Part Time Role - 18.5 Hours

Grade 7

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Team (DoLs) Team. We are a small and friendly team, comprising of five Best Interest Assessors, two Business Support Officers and the MCA/DoLs Lead/ BIA Team Manager; whom are based within the Adults MASH Service. The DoLs Team core function is to undertake Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards assessments following referrals received from care homes and hospitals. To ensure that Wolverhampton Citizens are lawfully deprived of their liberty and it is deemed to be in their best interests. We are looking to appoint an experienced Best Interest Assessor, currently in practice  for 18.5 hours per week. The successful candidate must have completed Best Interest Assessor training, evidence of annual Best Interest Assessor update training and continued development around MCA and DoLs. .  

Current working days and pattern will be Mondays to Tuesdays week one and Wednesdays  to Fridays week 2. This role entails undertaking age, no refusals, best interests and mental capacity assessments, for initial, renewal requests and reviews – under the current DoLs framework. This role will comprise working with a variety of different citizens of Wolverhampton whom suffer from mental frailty due to dementia, mental ill health, or a learning disability for example and are unable to give valid consent to the restrictions in place upon their care and treatment at their given care home or hospital and their circumstances amount to a deprivation of liberty. The successful candidate will be working in a field working style and will be expected to undertake face to face and on occasion virtual assessments. We are aware that change is on the horizon with the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) due to replace DoLs and dedicated Best Interest Assessors will be converting to Approved Mental Capacity Professionals.

The successful candidate must be a  Social Worker or Approved Mental Health Practitioner or Nurse or Occupational Therapist, or Psychologist; who are registered with their relevant body and have at least two years post qualifying experience in their field of work

You will need to;

• be a qualified DoLS Best Interest Assessor

• have extensive experience of undertaking Best Interest Assessments

• have an excellent understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005

• have experience of safeguarding adult work

• be flexible and able to work on your own initiative

• be able to travel in and outside of the city

For further information on this post please contact Corrina.Jeffrey@wolverhampton.gov.uk . Please note interviews may be conducted either on a virtual or face to face basis.

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Supporting documents
JD-Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Best Interest Assessor May 2022.pdf
Person Spec for BIA.pdf