Head of Safeguarding (Children & Families)
Hertfordshire County Council
Date: 1 day ago
City: Stevenage, England
Contract type: Full time
Job Title: Head of Safeguarding (Children & Families)
Starting Salary: £81,803per annum per annum – pay award pending
Hours: 37 hours per week
Base Location: Farnham House, Stevenage with regular presence aswell as travelling across the county.
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Childrens Services
About The Team
Inspire Change. Lead with Purpose. Transform Lives.
At Hertfordshire County Council, we don’t just deliver services - we lead innovation and work together as one HCC to make a difference to the lives of our residents. As the birthplace of the nationally recognised Family Safeguarding Model and alongside our strong Families First early help offer, we are proud to be at the forefront of the national children’s social care reforms. Our commitment to children and families and excellent social work practice is unwavering, and we are now seeking a visionary and compassionate leader to join us as Head of Service for our future Family Safeguarding and Family Help services.
About The Role
This is a pivotal leadership role with a clear mission: to support, develop and drive forward our Family Safeguarding and Family Help practice in the county, working in close collaboration with your Head of Service colleagues in the Children & Families leadership team, our amazing workforce, senior leaders across the Council, and our valued partners across Hertfordshire.
You will lead with heart and purpose, ensuring that our future multi-disciplinary teams continue to deliver high-quality, relationship-based Family Safeguarding practice that empowers families and protects children. As part of the national safeguarding reforms, we are currently developing proposals with our workforce and partners to expand our Family Safeguarding practice into the new Multi-Agency Child Protection and Family Help teams. Your operational knowledge and experience will be vital in supporting the workforce and maintaining excellent outcomes for children and their families through this transformation.
You will also provide senior leadership in shaping and delivering our social care workforce strategy—championing the development of new social works and retention of experienced and global majority social workers, fostering a culture of inclusion, growth, and professional excellence.
What you’ll bring;
Essential:
This job role is within the Organisational Leadership, level LDR16 job profile. Please locate this via: Organisational Leadership
You’ll be part of a service that is nationally recognised, values-driven, and committed to continuous improvement. You’ll work alongside passionate leaders, peers and professionals who believe in the value of social work, power of family, the strength of community, diversity, inclusion and the importance of every child’s voice.
Children’s Services strategic leaders are passionate about supporting and developing you - you’ll have regular opportunities to access professional development, shape service and practice changes and lead initiatives across Children’s Services, the wider Council and the Eastern Region.
We want our leaders to reflect the communities we serve and our frontline workforce and welcome interest from applicants of all backgrounds including those from global majority backgrounds.
To hear more about this opportunity please contact El Mayhew ([email protected]) for an informal discussion about the role.
Interview Date: 7th July - Face to Face at Farnham House, Stevenage.
Benefits of working for us
How to apply
As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.
Additional information
Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.
Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.
Driving Required
You’ll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.
English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.
Starting Salary: £81,803per annum per annum – pay award pending
Hours: 37 hours per week
Base Location: Farnham House, Stevenage with regular presence aswell as travelling across the county.
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Childrens Services
About The Team
Inspire Change. Lead with Purpose. Transform Lives.
At Hertfordshire County Council, we don’t just deliver services - we lead innovation and work together as one HCC to make a difference to the lives of our residents. As the birthplace of the nationally recognised Family Safeguarding Model and alongside our strong Families First early help offer, we are proud to be at the forefront of the national children’s social care reforms. Our commitment to children and families and excellent social work practice is unwavering, and we are now seeking a visionary and compassionate leader to join us as Head of Service for our future Family Safeguarding and Family Help services.
About The Role
This is a pivotal leadership role with a clear mission: to support, develop and drive forward our Family Safeguarding and Family Help practice in the county, working in close collaboration with your Head of Service colleagues in the Children & Families leadership team, our amazing workforce, senior leaders across the Council, and our valued partners across Hertfordshire.
You will lead with heart and purpose, ensuring that our future multi-disciplinary teams continue to deliver high-quality, relationship-based Family Safeguarding practice that empowers families and protects children. As part of the national safeguarding reforms, we are currently developing proposals with our workforce and partners to expand our Family Safeguarding practice into the new Multi-Agency Child Protection and Family Help teams. Your operational knowledge and experience will be vital in supporting the workforce and maintaining excellent outcomes for children and their families through this transformation.
You will also provide senior leadership in shaping and delivering our social care workforce strategy—championing the development of new social works and retention of experienced and global majority social workers, fostering a culture of inclusion, growth, and professional excellence.
What you’ll bring;
- A deep understanding of the Family Safeguarding model and practice and its impact on improving outcomes for children and families.
- Proven ability to lead and drive effective social work interventions that manage risk, achieve sustained change and enable more children to remain safely within their families.
- A collaborative, solution-focussed and forward-thinking approach to teamwork, multi-agency working and co-production.
- A passion for nurturing our dedicated and skilled workforce, developing talent and leading with empathy, clarity, and ambition.
- A commitment to promoting and developing inclusive practices that recognise diversity, tackle discrimination and address disadvantage for our residents and our staff.
Essential:
- Qualified Social Worker registered with Social Work England.
- Full UK Driving Licence and regular access to a vehicle.
- Substantial experience of leading statutory Children’s Social Care Services.
- Understanding of the Family Safeguarding Model and practice and the national social care reform requirements.
- Experience of multi-agency and partnership working.
- Proven ability to lead, motivate and develop the workforce.
- Proven ability to drive safe and effective social work interventions for children and families that lead to sustained change and positive outcomes.
- Proven experience of strengthening inclusive practice and tackling discrimination and the impact of this.
- Experience and skills as a Head of Service in statutory Children’s Social Care Services.
- Experience and knowledge of working in a large, complex and political organisation.
- Experience and skills in leading workforce strategy and achieving a stable and skilled workforce.
- Experience and skills in leading and supporting implementation of service-wide change.
This job role is within the Organisational Leadership, level LDR16 job profile. Please locate this via: Organisational Leadership
You’ll be part of a service that is nationally recognised, values-driven, and committed to continuous improvement. You’ll work alongside passionate leaders, peers and professionals who believe in the value of social work, power of family, the strength of community, diversity, inclusion and the importance of every child’s voice.
Children’s Services strategic leaders are passionate about supporting and developing you - you’ll have regular opportunities to access professional development, shape service and practice changes and lead initiatives across Children’s Services, the wider Council and the Eastern Region.
We want our leaders to reflect the communities we serve and our frontline workforce and welcome interest from applicants of all backgrounds including those from global majority backgrounds.
To hear more about this opportunity please contact El Mayhew ([email protected]) for an informal discussion about the role.
Interview Date: 7th July - Face to Face at Farnham House, Stevenage.
Benefits of working for us
How to apply
As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.
Additional information
Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.
Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.
Driving Required
You’ll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.
English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.
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