Assistant Director - Safeguarding, Professional Standards & Quality Assurance

Role Responsibility

An exciting opportunity has opened for the ICS Countywide Assistant Director for Safeguarding, Professional Standards & Quality Assurance. This role is directly responsible for the management of the following services/teams: Safeguarding Business Support Officers AD Office, Child Protection Chairs, Independent Reviewing Officers, Local Authority Designated Officers & Education Safeguarding Advisors Service (LESAS), the Principal Social Worker, Practice Development Service and Quality Assurance. 

You will be responsible for partnership working as well as shaping social work and alternatively qualified work within the Families First model. Hence, you will support the development of a new Multiagency Child Protection Team and a Family Help service whilst influencing practice and performance in line with Kent’s vision for the delivery of Children’s Services and Special Education Needs & Disabilities.  

We are looking for an outstanding individual who is committed to driving sustained improvements in the development and implementation of Kent’s strategic approach to safeguarding children in close coordination with partner agencies. These exciting times need an individual with incredible knowledge regarding the reforms to children’s social care, and skill in partnership working to support multiagency understanding on how to deliver best practice, to ensure Kent residents experience consistent service delivery across the county.
 
In May 2022, KCC Integrated Children’s Services were rated as Outstanding and the Area Assistant Director plays a key strategic and operational role in our drive to maintain our Outstanding grading. The successful candidate will be a qualified and registered social worker. They will understand the importance of working within a statutory framework and recognise the benefits of good preventative and early intervention work.  

KCC’s practice development and QA service are the driving force of KCC’s status of being one of the DfE’s 21 Sector Led Improvement Partners. KCC’s QA Framework and success in delivering Child Outcome Analysis, a peer review approach to auditing informed by triangulating data analysis, service user, stakeholder and staff feedback, enables the service to work collaboratively with the services to hold a mirror to practice whilst focusing discussions on solutions and sustainable strategies. The successful candidate will be able to take KCC’s QA Framework to the next level whilst adjusting levers to make regional and national systemic improvements to QA and practice. 

KCC has an ambition to be recognised as an Inclusive Organisation where everyone is valued. This is predicated on a commitment to embracing diversity by seeking it out, showing a real commitment to equality, fairness and justice which empowers people who are disadvantaged by discrimination and unjust biases. Inclusive Leadership requires leaders to address and overcome all forms of exclusion at personal, structural and systemic levels, thus requiring confident leadership and being at ease with different people and different perspectives. Inclusive leadership is therefore intrinsically linked to ED&I work within organisations which enables and creates the actions and culture of an equal playing field for all. This is a challenging and exciting opportunity for a senior leader to be part of and take forward. 

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service and registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.

Interview will be held on 14th July 2025

Contact Details

Kevin Kasaven - Director of Children's Countywide Services

03000 416334

kevin.kasaven@kent.gov.uk

About the Company

Work that works for you and us - let's talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county's working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note - if you are interested, please apply soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.