Job Description – Head of Adult Safeguarding
Rate: £600 per day (PAYE)
Contract Length: Initial 3-month contract, with the option to extend
Working Pattern: Hybrid – 1–2 days per week onsite (Woodhatch), with flexibility
Location: Surrey (Hybrid)
Role Purpose
The Head of Adult Safeguarding is a senior strategic leadership role within Adult Social Care, acting as the lead expert for adult safeguarding. The postholder will provide authoritative advice, professional leadership, and innovative solutions to ensure safeguarding services are developed and delivered in line with statutory requirements, best practice, and current national guidance.
This role has a strong external-facing focus, requiring excellent relationship-building skills and effective partnership working across health, police, and other statutory and voluntary agencies.
Key Responsibilities
* Act as the strategic and professional lead for Adult Safeguarding, ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation, regulation, and statutory guidance.
* Provide expert advice and assurance on safeguarding practice, policy, and governance across Adult Social Care.
* Lead and oversee safeguarding performance, ensuring outcomes are benchmarked positively against local, regional, and national comparators.
* Identify areas of weak practice and develop improvement strategies to enhance safeguarding quality and effectiveness.
* Lead the quality assurance framework for adult social care providers, working jointly with health partners to ensure high-quality, safe services.
* Attend and contribute to the Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB), including chairing sub-groups and supporting delivery of the strategic plan.
* Ensure strong links and effective communication with children’s safeguarding arrangements to support joined-up practice.
* Lead safeguarding risk registers, escalation protocols, and serious incident responses, including on-call availability if required.
* Drive innovation through co-production with people with lived experience.
* Lead integration initiatives and place-based safeguarding models with partner agencies.
* Embed learning from safeguarding activity into commissioning, contract monitoring, and workforce development.
* Champion equity, inclusion, and culturally responsive safeguarding practice, particularly for underrepresented groups.
* Develop leadership capability and professional standards within the safeguarding workforce.
* Provide safeguarding training and presentations to internal staff and partner organisations.
* Contribute to transformational change programmes and new ways of working.
Management & Resources
* Line management responsibility for up to 10 direct reports and overall responsibility for teams of up to 40 staff.
* Responsibility for a staffing budget of up to £1 million.
* Provide professional leadership, coaching, and development to senior managers and practitioners.
Skills, Knowledge & Experience
Essential:
* Qualified Social Worker with current or previous professional registration.
* Previous experience as a Head of Safeguarding (or equivalent senior safeguarding leadership role).
* Extensive senior management experience within adult safeguarding or adult social care.
* Authoritative knowledge of safeguarding legislation, statutory guidance, and best practice.
* Strong safeguarding expertise with a proven ability to manage risk and complex decision-making.
* Excellent relationship-building, negotiation, and influencing skills, with a strong external-facing focus.
* Demonstrable experience of partnership working across multiple agencies.
* Proven ability to lead, motivate, and develop large, complex teams.
* Experience of managing significant budgets and resources.
* Strong written and verbal communication skills, including report writing and presentations.
Desirable:
* Experience leading service transformation or system-wide change.
* Knowledge of quality assurance frameworks and regulatory environments.
* Experience embedding learning into commissioning and contract management.
* Awareness of emerging safeguarding challenges, including digital and data-driven practice.
Additional Information
* This is an initial 3-month contract, with the option to extend.
* The role is hybrid, requiring 1–2 days per week onsite in Woodhatch, with flexibility.
* The role requires availability for on-call support in the event of serious incidents.
* A strong commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion, and safeguarding values is essential.
Role Summary
This role is suited to a highly experienced safeguarding leader who can operate strategically while maintaining a strong grip on practice quality and outcomes. The Head of Adult Safeguarding will play a critical role in ensuring safeguarding remains central to adult social care practice, driving improvement, innovation, and effective partnership working.