Who We Are & What We Stand For
At Gateshead, we believe that “the strength of Gateshead is the people of Gateshead.” Everything we do is driven by our commitment to helping children, young people and families thrive. Our Children’s Services are rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted, and we are ambitious about striving for excellence as we continue to strengthen practice, culture and outcomes. Our vision is simple: every child should enjoy their childhood and have the opportunity to flourish. Our workforce are passionate, values-driven and united behind our Thrive agenda, ensuring families remain at the heart of everything we do. As part of our refreshed senior leadership team, you’ll join a collaborative, forward-thinking environment where innovation, learning and improvement are not only encouraged but expected.
Role Overview
As Head of Quality Assurance and Innovation (Children’s Services) – one of three Heads of Function within the service – you will shape, drive and oversee our approach to quality assurance, performance, practice development and specialist services across early help, family help, social work and wider children’s services.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide leadership across key statutory and system functions, including quality assurance and performance frameworks
- Inspection preparation and ongoing regulatory readiness
- Independent Reviewing Service and LADO
- Practice Development, Improvement and Innovation
- Workforce planning and workforce development, learning and the Social Work Academy
- Children’s participation and engagement
- Domestic abuse and specialist service delivery
- Partnerships and contributing to multi-agency safeguarding arrangements
What You Will Bring
- A professional qualification directly linked to strategic delivery of service improvement, quality assurance and service transformation within social care or closely related field
- Significant senior leadership experience in delivering services to children and young people
- A strong track record in quality assurance, service improvement and regulatory readiness
- Deep knowledge of safeguarding legislation, and national policy associated with delivering good outcomes for children
- Experience leading multi-agency partnerships and complex portfolio areas
- The ability to analyse complex information and provide clear strategic insight
- A collaborative, curious and influential leadership style
- Commitment to relational, strengths based and trauma-informed practice
Benefits
- Competitive salary and a fair and transparent pay structure that reflects your skills, experience and leadership contribution
- Outstanding Local Government Pension Scheme with generous employer contributions
- Generous annual leave: 32 days of annual leave (including 2 fixed days), with the option to purchase up to 10 additional days
- Hybrid and flexible working: senior leaders work on a hybrid basis, spending 60% of their time at Gateshead Civic Centre
- Learning and development: extensive professional development opportunities, including leadership programmes, system-wide learning and Social Work Academy support
- Health and wellbeing support: access to mental health resources, occupational health and discounted gym membership through our partner GLL
- Cycle to Work scheme and electric and hybrid car scheme: tax-efficient ways to stay active and access new vehicles after 12 months’ service
- Exclusive discounts and salary sacrifice options through our VIVUP employee benefits platform
Equal Opportunities
As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role. The Council reserves the right to close this vacancy early or adjust the shortlisting criteria, including the pass mark for interview selection, to ensure a fair and manageable recruitment process. We encourage early applications.
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