Join Be Caring as a Quality Lead – Newcastle/North Tyneside
Location: Newcastle/North Tyneside Offices (NE3/NE29)
Hours: 22.5 hours per week (9am – 5pm, 3 days a week, working pattern can be flexible and discussed at interview)
Salary: £26,780 pro-rata based on hours worked
Contract: Part-time, Permanent
At Be Caring, we are committed to delivering safe, person-centred, high-quality care that makes a real difference in people's lives. As a Quality Lead, you'll play a key role in ensuring our services not only meet but exceed standards – supporting both colleagues and the people we care for to achieve the best outcomes possible.
What You'll Do
As a Quality Lead, you will play a critical leadership role in overseeing the delivery of safe, person-centred, and high-quality care across your service area. You will manage and support a team of Care Assessors to ensure care planning, reviews, risk assessments, and safeguarding processes are carried out to a consistently high standard. You will drive quality improvement through effective auditing, coaching, and collaboration with internal colleagues and external partners.
You will act as a key point of contact for quality assurance, complaints resolution, safeguarding, and regulatory compliance, ensuring that services are proactive, responsive to need, and focused on delivering positive outcomes for the people we support. You will also deputise for the service alongside the Coordination Lead, working closely together as part of the senior branch team to ensure day-to-day service delivery and continuity of leadership.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & Team Management
* Lead, support, and develop the team of Care Assessors to ensure high standards of care planning, documentation, and communication are consistently met.
* Provide coaching, mentoring, and regular 1:1s to assessors, ensuring professional development and accountability.
* Promote a positive, open, and supportive team culture that values learning, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
* Monitor workloads and performance, ensuring priorities are balanced, targets are met, and urgent needs are responded to effectively.
* Support the recruitment and induction of new assessors, and ensure ongoing competency through shadowing, training, and reviews.
* Deputise for the service in the absence of the Registered Manager, working alongside the Coordination Lead to ensure safe, efficient, and consistent service delivery.
Quality Assurance & Auditing
* Lead on the auditing of care plans, risk assessments, medication records, financial documentation, and care notes, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and compliance with internal and external standards.
* Analyse audit results to identify patterns, risks, and training needs, and implement action plans to address any areas of concern.
* Maintain oversight of documentation standards across the service, ensuring all records are complete, current, and reflect personalised, outcome-focused support.
* Ensure audit findings are shared with assessors and service leadership, using learning to inform improvements and promote best practice.
Safeguarding & Risk Oversight
* Act as the safeguarding lead for your area, ensuring concerns are responded to, reported, and followed up appropriately.
* Support assessors and care colleagues to identify safeguarding issues, understand thresholds, and escalate appropriately.
* Complete safeguarding referrals and attend strategy meetings or discussions, ensuring accurate records are maintained and actions implemented.
* Ensure risk management approaches are embedded in practice and reflected in up-to-date assessments and plans.
Complaints Resolution & Service Improvement
* Take ownership of complaints and concerns, overseeing investigation, resolution, and learning.
* Support assessors to resolve issues promptly and professionally, preventing escalation and minimising the need for additional resources.
* Identify recurring themes from complaints or concerns and implement changes to improve service quality.
* Promote a learning culture by sharing best practices and lessons learned with teams and colleagues across the organisation.
Collaboration & Communication
* Build strong working relationships with internal colleagues, including the Coordination Lead, Registered Manager, Coordinators, Recruitment, and Training teams.
* Work collaboratively with the Coordination Lead to provide senior oversight and ensure service continuity during absences or periods of high demand.
* Represent the service in external meetings with Social Workers, GPs, District Nurses, and commissioning teams.
* Oversee communication with customers and families regarding care planning, reviews, safeguarding, and complaints.
* Ensure timely updates are made to the care system, rotas, and records, and that communication is effective across all channels and teams.
Service Responsiveness & Resilience
* Lead the team in responding quickly and effectively to new referrals, hospital discharges, and changing support needs.
* Work flexibly and remain resilient when handling complex, time-sensitive, or emotionally challenging situations.
* Provide support to the on-call team as needed, offering guidance in high-risk or complex cases.
* Be solution-focused, taking a proactive approach to emerging service risks or gaps.
What We're Looking For
* Significant experience in adult social care, including assessment, care planning, and risk management.
* Strong working knowledge of safeguarding legislation, CQC standards, and quality assurance frameworks.
* Experience in auditing, reporting, and implementing quality improvement initiatives.
* Experience supporting or deputising in service leadership, ideally with exposure to coordination and operational planning.
* Confident communicator, able to manage sensitive conversations with service users, families, and professionals.
* Demonstrated leadership skills, with experience managing or mentoring staff.
* Ability to work under pressure, prioritise effectively, and lead a team in a fast-paced environment.
* Excellent written skills and confidence using electronic care systems.
* A full, valid UK driving licence and access to a vehicle for work purposes is preferred.
What We Offer
* Be Caring is committed to your development as a leader. You will be supported through regular supervision, access to internal and external training, and opportunities for further progression within the organisation.
* As a Quality Lead, you will play a central role in shaping our care delivery and culture, helping us achieve our mission to Be the Best We Can Be.
Ready to Make a Difference?
This is a fantastic opportunity to step into a role where you'll directly shape service quality, staff development, and outcomes for the people we support.
Apply today and be part of an organisation where we strive every day to Be Kind, Be Caring, Be Involved, Be the Best You Can Be, Be Happy, Be Safe, and Be Proud.