Head of Safeguarding and Quality Assurance

Head of Safeguarding and Quality Assurance

Director of Governance and Regulatory Affairs

• Leading and strengthening safeguarding and quality assurance frameworks across all residential children’s homes, supported accommodation services, and independent schools.
• Ensuring safeguarding and quality systems are robust, compliant with statutory requirements, and responsive to organisational and regulatory developments.
• Providing strategic leadership, expert guidance, and oversight to operational and governance colleagues to ensure the highest standards of safety, care, and education.
• Delivering effective assurance to the Board and senior leaders on safeguarding and quality performance, risks, and improvements.

To provide strategic leadership on safeguarding and quality assurance, ensuring that the organisation delivers safe, nurturing, and high-quality services for children and young people. The role will ensure compliance with statutory frameworks, foster a culture of continuous improvement, and strengthen organisational resilience in safeguarding and regulatory practice.

• The role will span all services across residential care, supported accommodation, education and support services.
• The postholder will act as the organisation’s safeguarding lead and subject-matter expert on quality assurance.
• The role requires close working with operational leaders, governance teams, external regulators (e.g., Ofsted, DfE), and safeguarding partners.
• The role will be home-based, with an expectation that the post-holder will travel to meetings,

Safeguarding Leadership

• Develop and lead the organisation’s safeguarding strategy and provide assurance that safeguarding systems are effective.
• Ensure safeguarding concerns are reported, investigated, and resolved in line with statutory requirements and best practice.
• Oversee safeguarding training and professional development across the workforce.
• Liaise with external safeguarding partners, regulators, and local authorities as required.

Quality Assurance and Compliance

• Develop and embed a quality assurance framework that enables systematic monitoring of services.
• Lead on safeguarding and quality audits, reviews, and thematic assessments.
• Advise and support operational teams on meeting regulatory standards, including The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023, The Independent School Standards, and related safeguarding legislation.
• Provide independent assurance to the Board and senior leaders on safeguarding and quality performance.

Governance, Risk and Reporting

• Produce regular safeguarding and quality reports for the Board and executive team.
• Monitor external regulatory and legislative changes, ensuring organisational policies and practices are adapted accordingly.
• Identify risks and ensure mitigation strategies are in place to protect children, young people, and the organisation.
• Support complaint handling, significant incident reviews, and learning dissemination across services.

Culture and Improvement

• Foster a culture of openness, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• Champion the voice and experience of children and young people within safeguarding and quality processes.
• Support colleagues to deliver safe, high-quality, person-centred services.

• In-depth knowledge of statutory safeguarding guidance (e.g., Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023, Keeping Children Safe in Education), The Children’s Homes Regulations 2015, The Supported Accommodation Regulations 2023, and other relevant legislation.
• Significant experience in a senior role within children’s residential care, supported accommodation, or education.
• Proven experience of leading safeguarding investigations, audits, and reviews.
• Ability to work collaboratively across disciplines and with multi-agency safeguarding partners.
• Strong skills in risk identification, data analysis, and quality improvement.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to influence and provide constructive challenge at senior level.
• Strong organisational and leadership skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities under pressure.
• Driving licence, access to a car, and willingness to travel for work purposes.