Safeguarding Strategy and Assurance Lead Band 8B

NHS; Tadworth; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Tadworth is seeking a Strategy and Assurance Lead to enhance safeguarding practices across clinical services. The successful candidate will work strategically and operationally to ensure quality safeguarding for children and adults at risk, provide expert advice, and lead safeguarding training initiatives. This role requires excellent leadership and communication skills alongside extensive safeguarding knowledge, aiming to foster robust standards within the organization.

Benefits

Enhanced paternity leave

35 to 41 days of annual leave based on service

Free on-site parking

Qualifications

• Strong influencing skills to drive changes in safeguarding.
• Ability to lead on complex safeguarding management.
• Experience in multi-agency working and strategic leadership.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert operational and strategic advice on safeguarding.
• Lead the Safeguarding Team and coordinate reports to senior management.
• Conduct and oversee safeguarding investigations and audits.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Problem-solving

Strategic thinking

Interpersonal skills

Education

Registered Nurse

Post-registration safeguarding training

Job description

Job Summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Strategy and Assurance Lead (Band 8B) to join our Nursing Care team. This role is to continue to shape collaborative working practices across clinical services to provide consistent and robust standards of safeguarding.

You will ensure that recommendations from regulatory and professionals safeguarding standards are implemented.

Main Duties of the Job

The role of Safeguarding Strategy and Assurance Lead is to continue to shape collaborative working practices across clinical services to provide consistent and robust standards of safeguarding. You will ensure that recommendations from regulatory and professionals safeguarding standards are implemented. You will work in partnership with the Designated Safeguarding Lead for The Childrens Trust school and be fully supported by the Senior Leadership Team who understand the need to foster a culture of safeguarding and who understand the challenges.

This will be a key role in ensuring quality safeguarding for all children and adults at risk. Alongside the Designated Safeguarding Lead for school, you will support all activities necessary to ensure the organisation meets its responsibilities to safeguard children and young people. You will be strategic in nature but with an operational focus, who will work closely with professionals and partner organisations to deliver a comprehensive safeguarding function. This role is both inward and outward facing, being a visible presence in the clinical setting as well as being a strategic and collaborative leader with various stakeholders.

You will play a key role in promoting excellent professional practice within the organisation, providing advice, support, supervision and expertise for fellow professionals and ensure safeguarding training and supervision is in place from board to floor.

About Us

The Childrens Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with acquired brain injury, providing expert rehabilitation, education, therapy, and care at our national specialist centre in Tadworth, and to children and their families across the UK, via our Brain Injury Community Service.

Boasting a beautiful 24‑acre site in Surrey, we are located just outside of London, close to the M25 (accessible via Junction 8, A217 to Tadworth) and easily accessible via National Rail, by way of: Clapham Junction, Sutton, and Epsom.

Staff Benefits

• Adoption pay, time off for fertility treatment, enhanced paternity leave, paid carers leave, time out days for those experiencing menopause symptoms, and time off for gender reassignment
• Additional annual leave days for those with long service, with entitlements ranging from 35 to 41 days (including bank holidays) depending on your length of service
• Free on-site parking; a staff shuttle service from Epsom and Sutton train stations to Tadworth Court, subsidised cafeteria, on-site staff accommodation (subject to availability)
• Ability to retain your NHS pension (where applicable) or the opportunity to join an alternative scheme, and the opportunity to develop your career in a supportive and collaborative environment

Job Responsibilities

Safeguarding

• Demonstrate advanced skills and competencies to influence the pathways of care in the safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults
• High level of legal literacy of the Children Act, Care Act, Mental Capacity Act, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and family law that interface with the safeguarding agenda
• Provide expert operational and strategic advice to the organisation on safeguarding incorporating local and national policy and statutory regulations
• Support managers and staff across The Childrens Trust in the areas of safeguarding children and vulnerable adults
• Lead on partnership working with colleagues in local authorities and safeguarding partner boards
• Maintain knowledge and expertise on national policy in relation to safeguarding, providing quality assurance and ensuring consistency of response across safeguards systems
• Ensure effective mechanisms to implement national recommendations from emergent safeguarding work when relevant
• Play a key role in policy and service development and its implementation across teams
• Ensure a robust safeguarding training strategy and programme meets all educational and training requirements and local and national standards
• Analyse complex and sensitive information, managing frequent exposure to highly distressing information effectively and sensitively
• Respond to enquiries regarding safeguarding issues from colleagues nationally and other partner agencies
• Communicate local safeguarding knowledge, research and audit findings, challenge poor practice and address training/development opportunities
• Facilitate and contribute to safeguarding audits, implementing and auditing the effectiveness of services against current national guidelines and quality standards
• Conduct safeguarding training needs analyses and design, deliver and evaluate training for staff
• Provide specialist advice to practitioners, including clarification on organisational policies, legal issues and complex safeguarding issues
• Provide safeguarding supervision and oversee the quality of supervision provided by colleagues
• Undertake risk assessments of the Trust’s ability to safeguard children and young people
• Contribute to providing information for inspections by regulatory bodies

Leadership

• Provide specialist professional leadership and support to all staff in relation to safeguarding
• Lead the Safeguarding Team, including two Senior Safeguarding Advisors, as strategic lead for this specialist team
• Ensure a system for reporting to the Senior Leadership Team and Board of Trustees including the annual safeguarding report
• Maintain professional competence and credibility in safeguarding agenda
• Keep the Trust up to date on changes affecting safeguarding practice and relevant government policies
• Identify and proactively manage key risks and issues in safeguarding responsibilities, ensuring appropriate mitigation and response actions
• Influence partner agencies to achieve best outcomes for children and vulnerable adults

Strategic

• Lead the development and implementation of a safeguarding strategy aligned with the Trust’s organisational goals
• Shape collaborative working practices across clinical services to ensure consistent and robust safeguarding standards
• Lead on strategic planning for safeguarding training, supervision and workforce development
• Network with professionals externally to promote the organisation and develop alliances to improve practice
• Provide consultation and assistance for the development of information and marketing materials
• Gather intelligence and informal research to support service and operational development, including external factors that could impact the organisation

Governance and Assurance

• Oversee safeguarding quality assurance and improvement processes, including audits and inspections
• Ensure compliance with statutory safeguarding responsibilities and national frameworks
• Provide assurance to the Board and Senior Leadership Team through reports, dashboards, and annual safeguarding reviews
• Provide expert advice and scrutiny on safeguarding incidents, reviews, and rapid responses
• Ensure safeguarding governance structures are robust and embedded across the organisation
• Lead on policy development and implementation for safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults
• Integrate safeguarding into clinical governance, risk management and quality frameworks
• Embed and monitor safeguarding supervision across all relevant teams
• Investigate safeguarding incidents appropriately and promote learning across the organisation
• Lead on safeguarding investigations and embed subsequent learning and practice development; monitor and oversee recommendations from investigations

Professionalism

• Takes action and raises concerns
• Adheres to the policies and procedures of The Childrens Trust
• Maintains professional boundaries and professionalism at all times
• Committed to demonstrating the Trust’s values and behaviours at all times

Health and Safety

• Adheres to all Health and Safety guidelines, principles and regulations to perform your role and comply with The Childrens Trust policies and procedures
• Provide evidence of all vaccinations (or medical exemption) required for the post
• Adhere to manual handling procedures and complete mandatory manual handling training
• Promote the health and safety of others
• Use the incident reporting and risk assessment system (IRAR) to identify and report risks and incidents/actions if directed
• Responsible for identifying and mitigating risk within the work environment

Wellbeing and Emotional Resilience

• Maintains a positive approach and outlook when dealing with change and overcoming challenges and problems
• Recognises own limits, develops realistic goals and uses support network resources when necessary
• Treats challenges and problems as a learning experience
• Remains organised and focused when under pressure
• Responds appropriately and effectively to all constructive feedback
• Motivates self and others

Person Specification

Skills & Abilities (Essential)

• Ability to drive and influence change
• Ability to prepare reports and presentations to a variety of audiences with proven ability to act as an ambassador for an organisation
• Ability to problem solve, make decisions and take charge of events
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Strong influencing skills
• Highly organiser with the ability to document concise and accurate records
• Professional, Positive, and Committed
• Adaptable and flexible, tenacious and persuasive
• Ability to undertake complex safeguarding investigations
• Ability to identify and challenge safeguarding practice

Qualifications (Essential)

• Registered Nurse
• Completion of post‑registration training in safeguarding children and young people (including law, policy and practice at Level 2 or PGDip)

Desirable

• MSc

Experience (Essential)

• Currently practising in the field of safeguarding
• Experience of leading on the management of complex safeguarding issues
• Experience of effective partnership working with internal and external stakeholders
• Experience of high‑level multi‑agency working
• Experience of working at an 8b level in a safeguarding field, with experience in both adult and child safeguarding
• Experience in strategic leadership and assurance

Knowledge (Essential)

• High level of legal literacy of the Children Act, Care Act, Mental Capacity Act, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, Looked after Children and family law that interface with the safeguarding agenda

Personal Qualities (Essential)

• Commitment to the vision and values of The Childrens Trust
• Flexible and can do attitude to competing commitments in workload
• Highly motivated and reliable
• Ability to cope working in a demanding environment

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer Details

Employer name: The Children’s Trust

Address:

The Childrens Trust

Tadworth Court

Tadworth

Surrey

KT20 5RU