Lead safeguarding and quality assurance in a pivotal senior role focused on improving safety and outcomes for children and young people across a complex multi-agency landscape. As Head of Safeguarding & Quality Assurance, you will advise leaders and partners, embed the voice of children and young people into practice, and shape and challenge safeguarding performance at both strategic and operational levels. The position is high-impact, with immediate visibility and clear priorities, and is expected to drive measurable improvement quickly.
In this role, you will lead safeguarding quality assurance systems that maintain high standards of practice for vulnerable children and those in care. You will provide expert safeguarding advice to support strategic decision-making, use performance information and relevant health and care system insight to challenge practice, set targets, and plan focused inspection activity, and strengthen multi-agency partnership working to ensure statutory responsibilities are delivered to a high standard. You will champion continuous improvement by ensuring children and young people directly influence service delivery and improvement activity.
You will bring senior-level safeguarding experience within children’s services, ideally in a local authority context, along with proven inspection and improvement leadership that demonstrates confidence managing readiness, responses, and outcomes. You should have a strong understanding of quality assurance frameworks, performance management, and practice auditing, and be able to influence complex stakeholder environments, including elected members and partner agencies. You will be expected to operate with credibility as a leader and advisor, able to challenge constructively and drive outcomes through accountability, with a fast-moving approach suitable for immediate start expectations.