Continuous Improvement & Inspection Lead

Medical Update Online; Shrewsbury; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 102,000; Full time

Job summary

Shropshire Council in Shrewsbury seeks an experienced Continuous Improvement & Inspection Lead for an interim role in Children's Services. You will drive strategic improvement, inspection readiness, quality assurance and organisational learning across Children's Services and Family Help.

Hybrid working with 1-2 office days per week; rate £50 per hour inside IR35 for a 6-month contract, 37 hours per week. This role requires strong leadership to keep services inspection-ready and to support

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in senior Children's Services leadership.
• Significant quality assurance, inspection readiness and CI experience.
• Strong understanding of Ofsted frameworks and self-evaluation.
• Proven track record in service improvement and performance management.
• Knowledge of Children's Social Care, Family Help, Education and SEND services.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders with strategic leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Continuous Improvement Framework and governance.
• Provide strategic leadership for inspection readiness across Children's Services.
• Oversee self-evaluation, performance, quality assurance and service intelligence.
• Oversee QA frameworks, audits, thematic reviews and service evaluations.
• Drive improvement plans to deliver sustainable outcomes for children and families.
• Lead responses to Ofsted inspections, focused visits and assurance activity.
• Support senior leaders with strategic advice, challenge and reporting.
• Evaluate impact of Families First Partnership reforms.
• Lead learning from audits, inspections, complaints and safeguarding reviews.
• Prepare strategic and assurance reports for senior leaders and boards.
• Represent Children's Services on local, regional and national improvement forums.

Skills

Children's Services leadership

Strategic planning

Quality assurance

Inspection readiness

Continuous improvement

Performance management

Ofsted frameworks

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

Shropshire Council is seeking an experienced Continuous Improvement & Inspection Lead to join Children's Services on an interim basis. This is a senior leadership opportunity focused on driving strategic improvement, inspection readiness, quality assurance, and organisational learning across Children's Services and Family Help.

The successful candidate will play a key role in ensuring services remain inspection-ready, supporting the delivery of Families First Partnership reforms, and embedding a culture of continuous improvement that delivers measurable outcomes for children, young people, and families.

Rate: 50 per hour (Inside IR35)
Contract: 6 Months
Hours: 37 Hours per Week
Location: Guildhall, Frankwell Quay, Shrewsbury
Working Pattern: Hybrid working with 1-2 office days per week and the remainder working from home.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the Children's Services Continuous Improvement Framework and associated governance arrangements.
• Provide strategic leadership for inspection readiness across Children's Services.
• Lead service-wide self-evaluation activity, ensuring performance, quality assurance, and service intelligence are effectively triangulated.
• Oversee quality assurance frameworks, audit programmes, thematic reviews, and service evaluations.
• Drive the implementation of improvement plans and ensure actions result in sustainable improvements for children and families.
• Lead organisational responses to Ofsted inspections, monitoring visits, focused visits, peer reviews, and assurance activity.
• Support senior leaders through strategic advice, challenge, performance analysis, and assurance reporting.
• Evaluate the effectiveness and impact of Families First Partnership reforms.
• Lead organisational learning activity, ensuring learning from audits, inspections, complaints, safeguarding reviews, workforce intelligence, and feedback is translated into service improvement.
• Prepare strategic reports and assurance reports for senior leaders, partnership boards, and elected members.
• Represent Children's Services on local, regional, and national improvement and assurance forums.

Requirements

• Extensive experience within Children's Services at Team Manager, Operational Manager, Service Manager, or equivalent senior level.
• Significant experience of quality assurance, inspection readiness, and continuous improvement activity.
• Strong understanding of Ofsted inspection frameworks and self-evaluation.
• Proven experience leading service improvement and performance management initiatives.
• Knowledge of Children's Social Care, Family Help, Education, and SEND services.
• Ability to provide strategic leadership, challenge, and support to senior stakeholders.

This is an excellent opportunity to influence strategic service development and improvement across Shropshire Council's Children's Services, supporting positive outcomes for children and families while ensuring the service remains inspection-ready and evidence-led.

This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. A DBS check may be applicable for this role, applicants are required to declare any cautions and convictions that are not protected under current filtering rules

If you have experience in service improvement, quality assurance, inspection readiness, or Children's Services leadership and would like to discuss the role in more detail, we'd be delighted to hear from you.