About the appointment Introduction
The Panel currently consists of a Chair and eight other members from across those professions involved in child safeguarding, including the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families.
This recruitment exercise seeks to appoint four Panel members with backgrounds in Social Care, Education, Criminal Justice and Mental Health from November 2025. However, the Panel members will be appointed to fill the roles as an individual acting in the public interest and not as a representative of their particular profession, employer or interest group.
The Panel understands the value of having representation from Social Care to help it bring a multi-agency perspective to its work. The Panel seeks to appoint a candidate with a background in social care.
The people recruited will need to understand the importance of listening to the voice and experience of the child in serious child safeguarding cases.
The new Panel members will be supported during their initial period with the Panel by both the Chair and Panel Secretariat. This includes introductory conversations with the Chair and support from the Secretariat to understand Panel processes and procedures.
Appointment description
Under the leadership of a Chair, Panel members are responsible for looking at serious child safeguarding cases notified to the Panel to determine whether learning could be identified through further analysis or a national review. Responsibilities include leading reviews, supervising fieldwork, undertaking analysis and other activity supporting the Panel’s remit. Members are also responsible for supporting the dissemination of learning identified by the Panel to those involved in child safeguarding.
Key responsibilities
* Drawing on your professional expertise and experience, to contribute to Panel decisions and analysis of cases at fortnightly Panel meetings.
* Ensuring the Panel’s reviews identify any improvements that should be made by safeguarding partners or others to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
* Leading Panel national reviews and other analytical activity supporting the Panel’s role and remit.
* Supporting the dissemination of learning identified by the Panel.
* Building and maintaining positive relationships with multi-agency safeguarding partners and practitioners so that up-to-date understanding of child safeguarding, and practice challenges informs your contribution to Panel debate and decisions.
* Providing a regional lead for safeguarding partners in an allocated region. This includes strategic engagement with safeguarding partners in the region, conversations about general or specific issues relating to the Panel’s work and, where appropriate, speaking at regional events.
Person specification Essential criteria
* Strong interpersonal skills including: the ability and confidence to make and be accountable for impartial, effective and timely decisions drawing on professional experience and knowledge; ability to work collaboratively and effectively with others in a professional decision-making forum; excellent communication skills; and the ability to negotiate between conflicting opinions and values, generating options to reach consensus and deal with difficult situations sensitively.
* The ability to critically analyse information and synthesise evidence about practice in order to take a strategic perspective on areas for improvement and change, locally and nationally.
* Strong leadership skills to drive forward individual strands of work from scoping through to communication of the final results.
* Candidates should also be able to demonstrate good understanding about how issues about equality, inclusion, and diversity can affect safeguarding practice.
Role Specific Essential Criteria – Children’s Social Care
* Candidate will have a social work professional qualification and relevant senior leadership and management experience within local authority children’s services and be able to evidence the ability to work strategically at this level.
* As well as understanding the multi-agency challenges of safeguarding children, the candidate should be able to demonstrate excellent understanding of the operational and strategic context for delivering high quality help and protection services to children and families. They should also demonstrate good knowledge of, and expertise in working in a multi-agency child safeguarding system.
Desirable criteria
* A background in interpreting and synthesising research and good practice into practical, accessible resources and learning experiences for diverse practitioner audiences.
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