Designated Nurse Safeguarding Children, Children in Care

Are you passionate about health and social care and looking for a role that offers flexibility and growth? At North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, we value work-life balance and offer a range of flexible working options, including hybrid working. Enjoy a supportive team environment, competitive salary, and opportunities for professional development. Apply now to make a difference in our community!

Flexible Working Options: We understand the importance of work-life balance and offer a range of flexible working options, including part-time and job share. We encourage applicants to discuss their preferred working patterns during the interview process.

Hybrid Working: This role offers the opportunity for hybrid working, allowing you to split your time between our ICB offices and home. We aim to provide a supportive and adaptable working environment that meets the needs of our staff, service delivery and the patients within our Region.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary and pension scheme
• Opportunities for professional development and training
• Supportive team environment
• Enhanced work-life balance through flexible and hybrid working arrangements
• Employee Benefits – Salary Sacrifice Schemes such as Lease Cars, Home Electronics, Cycle to Work

Job overview

North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board is seeking an enthusiastic individual with a passion for improving outcomes for children, young people and care leavers to join our Safeguarding Team.

This strategic role provides safeguarding leadership, expert advice and assurance, supporting the ICB to discharge its statutory safeguarding duties and commissioning responsibilities. In line with NHS England’s Safeguarding Accountability and Assurance Framework (2026), the postholder will work across strategic and operational interfaces to strengthen governance, provider assurance, partnership working, workforce development and continuous quality improvement for babies, children, young people, children in care and care leavers. The role will promote learning from statutory reviews, audits, incidents and performance; identify risks and gaps in provision; and ensure the voices and lived experiences of children, young people and families inform commissioning and system improvement.

We are looking for an experienced safeguarding practitioner with strong leadership, analytical and influencing skills to provide advice and professional challenge.

The post will predominantly cover Tees however it is expected some hours will be allocated to Durham. Base will be North Ormsby Health Village.

Advert

· Support the Chief Nurse and Director of Nursing providing strategic and professional safeguarding leadership across the North East and North Cumbria health and care system.

· Fulfil the statutory functions of the Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children, Children in Care and Care Leavers in accordance with relevant legislation, statutory guidance and the NHS England Safeguarding Accountability and Assurance Framework.

· Act as a vital source of expert advice, guidance and constructive professional challenge to ICB colleagues, the Board, executive leaders, commissioned services and relevant agencies on complex, sensitive or contentious safeguarding matters.

· Provide strategic commissioning advice on safeguarding, promoting the best start in life, reducing inequalities and improving outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.

· Develop and maintain robust safeguarding governance, reporting and assurance arrangements across NHS-funded and commissioned services.

· Ensure safeguarding requirements are embedded within commissioning, procurement, contracting, quality schedules and service specifications, and seek assurance that commissioned providers discharge their statutory responsibilities.

Working for our organisation

Our Integrated Care Board (ICB) is the largest in the country.

The ICB is responsible for ensuring that high quality and safe health services are accessible to all of our communities. It has a wide range of functions, including; promoting integration of health and care services, improving peoples health and well-being, reducing health inequalities.

With a £6.6 billion budget and a workforce of 170,000 people across the North East and North Cumbria. As well as strategic functions, ICB staff also work at place level with local health and wellbeing boards in each of our 14 local authority areas. These teams also work alongside our 67 primary care networks which are groups of local GP practices, social care teams and other community- based area providers.

The ICB works with our Provider Collaborative too, this includes the 11 NHS Foundation Trusts in the region, to deliver our shared priorities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Build effective relationships across organisational boundaries and influence policy, service development, commissioning decisions and system-wide improvement.

· Develop and monitor safeguarding standards, key performance indicators, quality measures, audit programmes and improvement plans.

· Analyse complex qualitative and quantitative information to identify themes, inequalities, risks, gaps in provision and opportunities for improvement, escalating concerns through appropriate governance routes.

· Support learning and improvement arising from child safeguarding practice reviews, child death reviews, domestic abuse-related reviews, safeguarding audits, incidents and other relevant assurance activity.

· Participate in child death review arrangements and ensure learning informs commissioning, quality assurance and service improvement.

· Promote effective information sharing, professional curiosity, trauma-informed practice and meaningful engagement with children, young people, families and care-experienced people.

The use of Artificial Intelligence: Whilst the ICB are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.

UKVI Sponsorship: Please note that North East and North Cumbria ICB do not hold a UKVI sponsorship license. Therefore, we are unable to proceed with applications that require sponsorship.

Reasonable Adjustments: If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend interview please make the recruitment team aware as soon as possible by calling our HR Recruitment Team on 0191 203 1415 option 2.

Fit & Proper Person Regulations: Applicants who meet the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (FPPR) will require additional pre-employment checks in line with CQC and NHS England statutory guidance.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Registered Nurse 1st Level – e.g. RN, with current registration
• Additional Specialist qualification in Community Public Health Nursing and Adult Nursing or equivalent experience.
• Post graduate experience, skills and training relating to safeguarding to the level of master's degree.
• Teaching qualification or equivalent experience.
• Experience of working in children and family services
• Experience of working as a Named Nurse Children Safeguarding / Cared For Children & Care Leavers.
• Experience of strategy development.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office with advanced keyboard skills

Desirable criteria

• Management qualification or equivalent experience for both children’s and adult nursing or equivalent experience.
• Budgetary management experience.
• Change management experience

Documents

• Person Spec (PDF, 233.2KB)