Experienced Safeguarding Trustee - Volunteer

Bexley Moorings Project is seeking a Safeguarding Lead Trustee to provide strategic oversight and expert guidance on child protection. Join our board to help safeguard young people aged 8–17 across Bexley and strengthen a trusted charity's governance.

As a trustee with safeguarding expertise, you can help ensure our Board oversees the organisation's safeguarding practice with real confidence and authority, rather than relying solely on assurances from the executive team. At a time when the number of children requiring safeguarding intervention is as high as it has ever been, that level of independent, informed scrutiny is essential to keeping children safe.

In the coming year, we anticipate reviewing and strengthening our safeguarding policies and procedures to ensure they reflect current legislation and best practice. We are also working to strengthen the pipeline between frontline safeguarding concerns and Board-level oversight. Your role would help close that gap — creating a clear, independent escalation route so that when something serious arises, including concerns involving staff or volunteers, it reaches the right people quickly and is handled with the rigour it deserves.

As our caseload grows, so does the pressure on our Designated Safeguarding Lead and frontline team. You would work directly with them, offering an experienced second perspective on complex cases and decisions, and helping the Board understand where safeguarding capacity is being stretched before it becomes a risk — influencing decisions on resourcing, training and supervision at the point where they matter most.

You would also help us stay ahead of a shifting external landscape. Safeguarding legislation, statutory guidance and local partnership requirements continue to evolve, and your expertise would help the organisation anticipate change rather than scramble to respond to it.

Ultimately, this role sits at the point where governance meets protection. Every policy you help shape, every case you help scrutinise, and every question you ask in the boardroom has a direct line to a child's safety. For a 40-year-old charity supporting some of Bexley's most vulnerable young people through a period of real change, your judgement and expertise would help ensure that as we grow, safeguarding never becomes an afterthought — it remains the foundation everything else is built on.

What are we looking for?

• A strong working knowledge of safeguarding legislation and statutory guidance, including the Children Act 1989/2004 and Working Together to Safeguard Children.
• Experience of safeguarding governance, policy, or case oversight at a strategic level.
• The confidence to challenge constructively, ask difficult questions, and hold others to account without undermining trust.
• Sound, independent judgement, particularly when handling sensitive or complex information.
• A collaborative approach — willing to work closely with our Designated Safeguarding Lead and CEO as a critical friend, not just an auditor.
• Commitment to attending Board meetings every two months.

Desirable:

• Direct experience working with or safeguarding children and young people, particularly around mental health or emotional wellbeing.
• Previous trustee, non-executive, or governance experience.
• Understanding of the voluntary sector and the particular pressures facing small, growing charities.
• Local knowledge of Bexley or the wider Tri-borough safeguarding partnership.

Above all, we're looking for someone who shares our commitment to protecting children and young people, and who wants to use their expertise to strengthen an organisation that has been changing lives in Bexley for over 40 years. Lived experience, professional background, and personal passion all matter to us — we welcome applicants who bring any combination of these to the table.

What will you be doing?

Bexley Moorings Project currently has a small but dedicated Board of five trustees who meet every two months to provide strategic oversight, support the leadership team and help guide the organisation's future direction. Our trustees bring a range of professional and lived experience and are united by a commitment to improving outcomes for children, young people and families across Bexley.

We are entering a period of significant change for the charity, and the demands on our organisation have never been greater. The number of children and young people requiring safeguarding intervention remains as high as ever, and as we grow and adapt to meet that need, we recognise the importance of having specialist safeguarding expertise at Board level to match the complexity of the environment we now operate in.

We are therefore seeking a Safeguarding Trustee who can provide strategic oversight and expert guidance on child protection matters. Our key challenges include ensuring our policies and practice keep pace with an evolving legislative and statutory landscape, maintaining robust safeguarding culture as caseloads grow.

Responsibilities will include advising the Board and senior leadership team on safeguarding matters, reviewing and approving safeguarding policy at least annually, and providing an independent escalation route for serious concerns, including those involving staff or volunteers. The Safeguarding Trustee will work closely with our Designated Safeguarding Lead and CEO, ensure safeguarding remains a substantive standing item on every Board agenda, and hold the organisation to account on resourcing and risk. They may also be asked to contribute to short-term working groups established to support wider organisational development.

This is an exciting opportunity to make a genuine and direct impact. Bexley Moorings Project has been supporting local children, young people and families for over 40 years, and demand for our services continues to grow. As Safeguarding Trustee, you will help ensure that every child who comes into contact with our services is protected, and that the staff and volunteers delivering that protection are properly supported and equipped to do so. Your expertise will directly shape how safely and effectively we respond to some of the most vulnerable children in Bexley, at a time when that judgement matters more than ever.

For someone looking to use their professional safeguarding expertise in a meaningful way, this is a chance to influence decisions that protect children, develop governance experience, and support a well-respected local charity through a critical stage in its development.