Head of Children's Quality Assurance, Performance and Youth Justice

We’re recruiting a Head of Children’s Quality Assurance, Performance and Youth Justice to join Milton Keynes City Council and play a leading role in keeping children and young people safe and helping them thrive. Our Children’s Services oversee and deliver all services for children and young people who are vulnerable, considered at risk of harm or who have experienced harm. Around 80 percent of the work we deliver is statutory, with the remaining 20 percent focused on early help support such as family centres. This balance means you’ll work at both a strategic and operational level, ensuring strong safeguarding while supporting families earlier to prevent harm.

In this role, you’ll provide senior leadership across quality assurance, performance and youth justice, working closely with colleagues across Children’s Social Care, Education and partner agencies. You’ll be part of a dedicated leadership team that values collaboration, professional curiosity and shared accountability for outcomes.

Site-Based role

This is a Site-Based role, and you’ll be expected to work from the designated workplace.

Main Responsibility

• You’ll provide strategic leadership and oversight for safeguarding, quality assurance, performance and youth justice services.
• You’ll ensure strong multi-agency working and high-quality practice across Children’s Services and partner organisations.
• You’ll lead on inspection readiness and improvement activity, including Ofsted, Care Quality Commission and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.
• You’ll oversee performance and data analysis, ensuring insight is used to drive service improvement and better outcomes for children and young people.
• You’ll provide strategic leadership for Youth Justice Services, including delivery of the statutory Youth Justice Plan and partnership governance.
• You’ll manage significant budgets and lead multidisciplinary teams, creating a supportive culture where colleagues can do their best work.

The Ideal Candidate

• A qualified social worker registered with Social Work England, with substantial experience in safeguarding and statutory children’s services.
• Strong leadership experience, with the confidence to make complex decisions and support colleagues working in challenging environments.
• A deep understanding of quality assurance, performance management and inspection frameworks within Children’s Services.
• Experience of working effectively with partners across health, education, police, probation and the voluntary sector.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence at senior level and represent the council in external forums.
• A values-led approach that reflects our commitment to being dedicated, respectful and collaborative.

To be successful in this role, you’ll need a full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle. If we offer you the role, we’ll ask you to provide evidence of your driving licence and vehicle insurance, including cover for business use. We’re unable to confirm an appointment until these documents are received. As part of the pre-employment checks, should you be offered the role, we’ll carry out an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, (unless you are currently registered with the DBS Update Service).

Package Description

• Great holiday benefits - most roles include 28 days annual leave every year on top of public (bank) holidays, increasing to 32 days after five years. In addition, there is a holiday purchase scheme allowing staff to purchase up to 5 additional days of leave each year.
• Excellent pension – everyone who works for us can join the national Local Government Pension Scheme, widely regarded as one of the best available.
• A full range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity support and a childcare subsidy.
• Access to an award-winning employee benefits programme that includes a health cash plan, a low-cost bike purchase scheme as well as high street discounts and money off entertainment and travel.
• Salary sacrifice car scheme – low-cost leasing of electric and low emission vehicles.
• Blue Light Card - employees working within social care can qualify for an additional range of discounts from national retailers and local businesses.

Milton Keynes City Council is a large, modern and financially stable employer with around 2,500 people working across our eight areas. Together we provide local residents and businesses with a wide range of important round-the-clock services and aim to make our city a better place to live. We work hard because of the demands placed on us, like protecting children from harm or preventing homelessness. However, working for the city is always rewarding and everyone has the opportunity to make a real difference. We’re very proud of our diversity and are committed to having a workforce that reflects the community we serve. Whatever your background, you will be welcome here if you share our values of being dedicated, respectful and collaborative. We offer great training and support and because of the size and scale of the organisation there are always new opportunities to explore when it’s time for a new role.