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About the role

The Head of Safeguarding will provide operational management and leadership support across the services geographic areas supporting the Associate Director for Safeguarding and other Heads of Service.

As Head of Safeguarding for Achieving for Children, you will be responsible for:

• Overall management of Safeguarding Team Leaders, Advanced Practitioners, Senior Practitioners and Social Workers
• Ensuring high levels of quality interventions, effective case management oversight, decision making and overall performance
• Championing and supporting to embed the Signs of Safety (SoS) model within the service
• Representing AfC at operational and strategic multi agency meetings

For further information about this role, please contact Nikki Coppin, Associate Director for Safeguarding by email nikki.coppin@achievingforchildren.org.uk for an informal discussion.

About you

To be the Head of Safeguarding for AfC, you will be passionate about making a positive difference to the lives of children and young people as well as demonstrating the following points:

• Educated to degree level with a social work qualification, Social Worker England registration and with a leadership and management qualification
• Significant social work practice and experience of working on safeguarding cases, some of which are complex, including preparing for and presenting evidence in court
• Significant experience of permanency planning and supporting team leaders and practitioners to ensure thorough and thoughtful care planning for children
• Significant experience of progressing cases through the Public Law Outline with close liaison with Legal colleagues and managing expectations and requirements of the Judiciary
• Significant experience of managing practitioners and team leaders who deliver interventions with children, young people and their families with complex safeguarding issues
• Significant experience of managing people, performance and professional development to get the best out of the team
• Strong experience of positively engaging with vulnerable and high risk children, young people and families and of developing and implementing effective interventions in order to achieve sustainable outcomes
• Advanced experience of working within an integrated working environment
• Significant experience of effective recording, monitoring, evaluation and quality assurance of interventions using a wide range of tools and Management Information Systems
• Expert knowledge and awareness of risk management and safeguarding in the context of social care including legislation, policy and procedures related to responsibilities

About our benefits

We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:

• 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years with an additional day off in your birthday month (Or for term-time workers, your leave entitlement consists of the non-working periods in your contract)
• Tailored induction sessions commencing on the date you start working for AfC
• Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension)
• Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance
• A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
• A range of staff benefits and discounts
• An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway

To find out about all of the breadth of benefits of working for Achieving for Children click here . For our social work offer click here . For our Recruitment Journey, click here.

Important Information

Start dates: Achieving for Children have set start dates meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month. Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.

Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.

Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

For more information about AfC: Drop in and meet Regina on the first Wednesday of every month at Civic Centre, Twickenham.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.