Regulatory Officer - Child Safe Standards

The Social Services Regulator (SSR) is an independent statutory authority that exists to safeguard the rights of children and young people as well as people who use social services in Victoria.

The SSR regulates the Social Services Standards, the Child Safe Standards (for organisations without a sector specific co-regulator as well as the social services sector), and also administers the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme (WCES), Reportable Conduct Scheme (RCS) and Working with Children Clearance (WWC Clearance) scheme and NDIS Worker Screening Check.

The Social Services Regulator takes an integrated and intelligence driven approach to identifying, preventing and excluding unsafe people from working with children and young people, as well as ensuring organisations that work with children and young people keep children safe from abuse and harm by meeting the Child Safe Standards.

As a co-regulator of the Child Safe Standards, the Social Services Regulator works with other co-regulators of the Child Safe Standards including the Department of Health, Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA), Victorian Early Childhood Regulation Authority (VECRA), and Workforce Inspectorate Victoria to keep children safe from harm and abuse.

THE ROLE

The Regulatory Officer plays a key role in delivering the Victorian Social Services Regulator's functions under the Social Services Regulation Act 2021 (the Act) and regulatory frameworks.

Working in Child Safe Standards, Child Safeguarding Branch this role is responsible for a range of regulatory responsibilities, including ensuring regulated entities' compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements.

This role is expected to have expertise in understanding and applying principles of risk-based regulation to the regulatory activities for which the Child Safeguarding Branch is responsible.

The successful applicant will have a background in working with regulatory frameworks, child safety, and stakeholder engagement.

This position involves the handling of challenging and confronting materials. The Project Officer, Child Safe Standards will support the receipt and review of notifications about incidents that caused serious harm, or had the potential to cause harm, to children and young people. This includes sexual offences and misconduct, physical violence, behaviour that causes significant emotional or psychological harm, and significant neglect.

The Project Officer supports the Regulator's mission to ensure that social services are safe and treat people with agency and dignity. The role contributes to a strong culture of integrity, fairness, and accountability in the regulation of social services.

ACCOUNTABILITIES INCLUDE  

Day-to-day your responsibilities will include:

• Contribute to the provision of advice on issues relating to safeguarding the interests of vulnerable people in a regulatory context, such as providing recommendations to inform compliance assessments and enforcement.
• Support sensitive investigations of regulated entities (both proactive and responsive), negotiate resolution and – where necessary – prepare and present evidence to inform regulatory action.
• Plan, prioritise and manage a caseload of matters within set timeframes to achieve quality outcomes and organisational goals.
• Provide advice and guidance to regulated entities on behalf of the Social Services Regulator in regulatory matters to support their compliance with regulatory responsibilities.
• Support the implement projects/initiatives to address specific industry or sector issues to support the desired outcomes of regulatory activity.

For more details, please open the position description.

HOW TO APPLY

Applicants are encouraged to apply online. Attachments can be uploaded in .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt or .rtf formats.
Applicants are required to submit a CV and Cover Letter (max 2 pages) outlining their suitability to the role in line with the Key Selection Criteria. 
Applicants must be an Australian Citizen, Permanent Resident or hold a valid work permit or visa. Work eligibility will be checked as part of the recruitment process. 

Preferred candidates will be required to complete pre-employment screening, including a national police check and misconduct screening.

For more information on working with us and our recruitment process, please contact SSR HR at **************@ssr.vic.gov.au.