Head of Service – Child Safeguarding, QA and Audit

Head of Service – Safeguarding, QA and Audit
Initial 3-month interim contract
North-West England, full-time hybrid, 2-3 days on site per week
£450-500 per day through FCSA Umbrella
Inside IR35

An exciting new interim opportunity has arisen within a Local Authority in North-West England for a Head of Service – Safeguarding, QA and Audit. You will report to the Director for Children’s Social Care and the key focus of this role will be the operational and strategic management of the service and its managers.
 
About your duties as the Head of Service – Safeguarding, QA and Audit, Children’s Social Care: 

• Support the ongoing delivery of the Family Safeguarding Model and sustain its approach.
• Coordination of Quality Assurance across ECS children’s services including audit and reporting on audits. Such audits may be social care or special educational needs or any such audit as falls within the realms of the directorate.
• Oversight and support of the management of the multi-agency area safeguarding arrangements and children’s partnerships.
• Lead on preparation for inspections, peer reviews and contribute with other Directors and Heads of Service in the drawing together of the directorate self-assessment.
• Provide a business lead for social care data with a view to in the future supporting the coordination of data management for the directorate.
• Management of independent reviewing officers and professional oversight of a range of services including: Emergency Duty Team, Local Authority Designated Officer, Family Group Conferencing, SEND Information, Advice and Support, School Safeguarding and Child Employment and Entertainment.  
• Co-ordination of the strategic planning and service delivery of business support across the directorate.
• Use significant level of judgement, lead on the design and delivery of business plans to resolve service issues or achieve service improvements. This will include innovative and creative thinking, detailed analysis and evaluative skills, assessment or risks, initiating/scoping improvement projects and leading on the design and delivery of objectives.
• Leading the delivery of service objectives to meet internal/external customers’ needs, to inform multi-agency initiatives and to facilitate management decision making which will have medium to long term effects on the service.
• Effective leadership and management at a senior level of a diverse workforce to support excellence in service delivery. Leading, developing and promoting a culture of continuous professional development for all staff at each level.
• Develop and implement strategic business plans in line with the core purpose and objectives of Children’s Social Care. 
• Leadership of and mitigation against significant risk within children’s services.
• Ensure robust systems are in place to maintain and produce accurate and timely data required for statutory compliance, monitoring against performance standards and evaluation of service delivery. 
• Positively engage with partners and stakeholders to achieve positive outcomes for children and families. Successfully influencing key decision makers at senior levels, both internal and external to the council.
• Advise the Executive Leadership Team and Elected Members on appropriate strategies and policies required to deliver the job purpose. A good understanding of the political context at regional and local level and working in a constructive and sensitive way.
• Successful financial management including prioritisation within decreasing resources.

 
 
Your experience needed as the Head of Service – Safeguarding, QA and Audit, Children’s Social Care: 

• Health and Social Care degree or similar
• Must be an experienced Head of Service in Children’s Services, with a proven track record, to provide strong commercial leadership and direction
• Experience working within a Local Authority setting
• Proven track record around Ofsted Inspection readiness
• Experience in training and developing staff members

 
If you’re interested in discussing this opportunity in more detail or know someone who this may be of interest to, please contact me on 0117 3137110 or email your CV to w.smith@baltimoreconsultingltd.com 

Our clients are passionate about creating and evolving a diverse workforce and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant.  Recruiting decisions are based on your experience and skills.  Any reasonable adjustments in the workplace will be fully supported during the application and hiring process

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