Head of Safeguarding and Quality (Interim)

Are you an experienced strategic and influential leader with significant experience in a safeguarding leadership role looking for an opportunity to drive organisational impact within a values-led organisation? Advance is seeking a Head of Safeguarding and Quality on an interim basis to embed robust safeguarding arrangements throughout the organisation, whilst leading a culture of continuous improvement, accountability and learning.

This post is open to female applicants only as being female is deemed to be a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010. The successful candidate will need to go through background screening including a DBS check and references before starting the role.

About Advance

Advance is an award-winning and innovative women-only organisation, providing emotional and practical support to women and girls experiencing domestic abuse and women in contact with the criminal justice system. We believe in empowering women and girls to lead safe, non-violent and equal lives so they can flourish and contribute to their communities.

Our values are to Listen and Support, Empower, Innovate, Collaborate, Quality and Accountability.

About the Role

Reporting to the Director of Finance and Operations, you will provide strategic leadership for safeguarding practice, quality assurance and organisational learning across Advance.

You will ensure that robust safeguarding arrangements are embedded throughout the organisation whilst leading a culture of continuous improvement, accountability and learning. Working closely with Trustees, the Executive Team and colleagues across the organisation, you will provide expert leadership and assurance that safeguarding remains effective, proportionate and responsive to the needs of those we support. 

Using data, quality assurance activity, safeguarding reviews, audit findings, feedback from women and girls and sector best practice you will identify opportunities for improvement and strengthen the quality and impact of services.

As Advance continues to grow and develop, you will play a critical role in ensuring that safeguarding excellence, organisational learning and quality improvement remain at the heart of service delivery and organisational decision-making.

About You

You are a strategic and influential leader with significant experience in a safeguarding leadership role.

You will have:

• A detailed understanding of safeguarding duties within charitable organisations and UK statutory and regulatory frameworks.
• Knowledge of quality assurance, quality improvement and organisational learning approaches.
• An understanding of trauma-informed and survivor centred practice.
• Experience developing safeguarding policies, procedures and governance frameworks.
• Experience in managing complex/serious safeguarding concerns and incidents within different delivery contexts.
• Outstanding leadership and influencing skills.
• Excellent analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex information and identify trends.
• The ability to translate learning, evidence and insight into improvement actions.

Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

We are committed to providing equality of opportunity and actively seek to recruit people from groups underrepresented in our current team. We have policies and processes in place to ensure that all employees are offered an equal opportunity in recruitment and selection, promotion, training, pay and benefits.

Safeguarding

Advance is committed to safeguarding and creating a culture of zero-tolerance of harm and expects all staff, including volunteers to share this commitment. We believe all individuals have the right to live their life free from violence and abuse and the right to feel and be safe.  We have a suite of safeguarding policies, procedures and practice guidance, accessible to all staff, which promotes safeguarding and safer working practices across all our services and activities. When we recruit staff, we follow rigorous safer recruitment practices, this involves carrying out pre-employment checks including references, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, and identity checks.  We ensure all staff undertake mandatory safeguarding training relevant to their role and responsibilities, to empower them to be competent and feel confident in recognising and responding appropriately to safeguarding issues and promote wellbeing.