Job Title: Head of Quality, Regulation & Safeguarding
Salary: Competitive
Location: Hybrid/ Chesterfield, Derbyshire S41 7SL (With travel around the UK)
Hours: Full time position, 37.5 hours per week
Who We Are
We’re one of the largest adult social care providers in the UK today – and we plan to keep growing and benefiting more lives. Our support is dynamic, person-centred and fulfilling, so people can enjoy a flourishing life. We deliver care and support with energy, passion and positivity.
Proudly recognised by The Sunday Times Best Places to Work for three consecutive years, and winners of the 2026 Health and Social Care Industry Award, we’ve built a culture where people can thrive every day.
Role Overview
The Group Head of Quality, Regulation and Safeguarding will provide dynamic, visible leadership across quality, regulation and safeguarding, working strategically and collaboratively to create a culture of continuous listening, learning and improvement.
Leading and inspiring our Quality Team, the Head of Quality Regulation & Safeguarding will develop and strengthen our quality framework, provide independent assurance on service performance and support teams to deliver consistently brilliant outcomes for the people we support.
The role provides comprehensive strategic oversight of regulatory compliance, ensuring we meet our registration and regulatory responsibilities while building trusted relationships with regulators. As the organisations safeguarding governance lead, the role will help shape safe, person-centred practice and provide clear assurance to the Board Quality Committee.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead the organisation's Quality Framework, embedding a culture of continuous improvement, learning, accountability and excellence across all services.
- Provide strategic oversight of quality governance, ensuring effective systems are in place to monitor performance, manage risks, analyse trends and deliver measurable improvements in quality, safety and outcomes.
- Act as the organisational Safeguarding Lead, ensuring robust safeguarding arrangements, strong oversight of safeguarding activity and a proactive approach to protecting people from harm.
- Lead all regulatory compliance activities, including CQC and CIW engagement, service and manager registrations, statutory notifications, regulatory returns and inspection readiness.
- Drive quality assurance and improvement programmes, including audits, quality reviews, mock inspections, investigations and action planning to support outstanding care and positive inspection outcomes.
- Champion co-production, placing people we support at the centre of quality assurance, governance and improvement activities by actively involving them in designing, reviewing and shaping services.
- Lead governance and assurance reporting, providing clear insights and assurance to senior leaders, governance committees and the Board on quality performance, safeguarding, complaints, serious incidents and organisational risks.
- Use data, intelligence and quality metrics to identify emerging themes, monitor performance, highlight innovation and drive evidence-based decision-making and service improvement.
- Develop and maintain governance frameworks, policies and assurance processes that support safe, effective, person-centred care and consistent organisational standards.
- Oversee information governance and data protection compliance, ensuring legislative, regulatory and organisational requirements are met.
- Lead and develop the Quality, Regulation & Safeguarding Team, providing coaching, support and professional leadership to build capability and create a high-performing, learning-focused culture.
- Partner with operational and functional leaders to improve quality and outcomes, providing expert advice, challenge and support to ensure effective improvement planning and sustainable change.
- Lead or commission independent investigations and reviews into significant quality, safety and safeguarding concerns, ensuring learning is identified, shared and embedded across the organisation.
- Represent the organisation externally, developing relationships with regulators, sector partners and accreditation bodies, promoting best practice and supporting the organisation's reputation as a leader in quality and care excellence.
Person Specification:
Essential
- Significant senior leadership experience within adult social care, healthcare or a regulated environment.
- An experienced quality leader, or a dynamic senior operational leader looking to transition into a quality leadership role.
- Extensive knowledge of CQC and/or CIW regulatory frameworks and inspection methodology.
- Level 5 Safeguarding qualification (or equivalent experience) with significant experience leading safeguarding across an organisation.
- Proven experience developing quality governance frameworks and driving continuous improvement.
- Strong understanding of quality assurance, governance, risk management and regulatory compliance.
- Excellent leadership, influencing and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to challenge constructively and drive high standards.
- Strong analytical skills with experience using quality and performance data to inform decision-making and organisational improvement.
Desirable
- Relevant professional qualification in health, social care or a related discipline.
INDF
- Leadership or management qualification.
- Experience supporting services for people with learning disabilities, autism and complex needs.
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