Head of Service - Safeguarding Richmond

Achieving for Children; Kingston upon Thames; On-site; GBP 67,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

A public sector community interest company in Kingston upon Thames is seeking a Head of Service for Safeguarding. This fixed-term role focuses on leading the Safeguarding Team, ensuring high-quality intervention strategies, and engaging with vulnerable children and families. The ideal candidate will have significant social work experience and relevant qualifications. The position offers a competitive salary, flexible working options, and a supportive working environment.

Benefits

29 days annual leave increasing to 33 days

Local Government pension scheme

Flexible working options

Employee Assistance Programme

Learning and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Educated to degree level with a social work qualification.
• Significant social work practice and experience.
• Strong experience of engaging with vulnerable children and families.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational management and leadership support.
• Ensure high quality interventions and effective case management.
• Champion the Signs of Safety model within the service.

Skills

Management

Safeguarding expertise

Leadership

Intervention strategies

Engagement with vulnerable families

Education

Degree in Social Work

Leadership and Management qualification

Job description

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Head of Service - Safeguarding Richmond, Kingston upon Thames

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Client:

Achieving for Children

Location:

Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Reference:

47a879aae6cf

Job Views:

5

Posted:

12.08.2025

Expiry Date:

26.09.2025

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Job Description:

Job Information

Achieving for Children is a Community Interest Company that has a public sector ethos, combined with the freedom to innovate enabling us to do things differently. As a not-for-profit social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston and Richmond), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government. To find out more about us.

Head of Service - Safeguarding Richmond

This is a rare opportunity to lead and develop the Safeguarding Team within the Richmond Cluster, based within our offices at the Civic Centre in Twickenham (just a 5 minute walk from Twickenham Train Station).

This is a fixed-term position for 9 months. Internal candidates are welcome to apply for this opportunity as a secondment.

Operational area Kingston and Richmond Primary place of work Civic Offices, 44 York Street, TW1 Appointment type Fixed Term Length of contract 9 months Business area Children's Social Care Full time/Part time Full-time Salary from £67,810 (SCP54) Salary to £71,318 (SCP57) Hours 36 Estimated Interview date/s 19/08/2025 & 21/08/2025 Closing Date 17/08/2025 Ref No 2089 Documents

Job Information

Achieving for Children is a Community Interest Company that has a public sector ethos, combined with the freedom to innovate enabling us to do things differently. As a not-for-profit social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston and Richmond), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government. To find out more about us.

Head of Service - Safeguarding Richmond

This is a rare opportunity to lead and develop the Safeguarding Team within the Richmond Cluster, based within our offices at the Civic Centre in Twickenham (just a 5 minute walk from Twickenham Train Station).

This is a fixed-term position for 9 months. Internal candidates are welcome to apply for this opportunity as a secondment.

Operational area Kingston and Richmond Primary place of work Civic Offices, 44 York Street, TW1 Appointment type Fixed Term Length of contract 9 months Business area Children's Social Care Full time/Part time Full-time Salary from £67,810 (SCP54) Salary to £71,318 (SCP57) Hours 36 Estimated Interview date/s 19/08/2025 & 21/08/2025 Closing Date 17/08/2025 Ref No 2089 Documents

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About the role

The Head of Safeguarding will provide operational management and leadership supportacross the services geographic areas supporting the Associate Director for Safeguardingand 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 theservice

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 for an informal discussion.

About you

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

Educated to degree level with a social work qualification, Social Worker Englandregistration and with a leadership and management qualification

Significant social work practice and experience of working on safeguarding cases, someof which are complex, including preparing for and presenting evidence in court

Significant experience of permanency planning and supporting team leaders andpractitioners to ensure thorough and thoughtful care planning for children

Significant experience of progressing cases through the Public Law Outline with closeliaison with Legal colleagues and managing expectations and requirements of theJudiciary

Significant experience of managing practitioners and team leaders who deliverinterventions with children, young people and their families with complex safeguardingissues

Significant experience of managing people, performance and professional developmentto get the best out of the team

Strong experience of positively engaging with vulnerable and high risk children, youngpeople 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 qualityassurance of interventions using a wide range of tools and Management InformationSystems

Expert knowledge and awareness of risk management and safeguarding in the contextof 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 . For our social work offer . For our Recruitment Journey,

Important Information

Start dates: Achieving for Children have 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 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.