Safeguarding Lead – Children and Young Person Service in Camelford

The Children and Young Person Safeguarding Lead will provide specialist safeguarding advice, leadership and support across Psychiatry UK’s Children and Young Person Service. The role will support clinicians and operational teams to identify, assess, manage and escalate safeguarding concerns appropriately and ensure practice remains child-centred, proportionate and aligned with relevant legislation, statutory guidance and organisational policy.

The role will provide expertise in areas including child protection, parental responsibility, consent and confidentiality, Gillick competence, domestic abuse, exploitation, contextual safeguarding, online harms, self-harm and suicide risk. Working closely with the Head of Safeguarding, Quality and Safety colleagues and external agencies, the role will also support safeguarding governance, supervision, training, audit and service improvement.

As our Children and Young Person Safeguarding Lead, you will:

• Provide specialist safeguarding advice and support to clinicians, operational teams and senior leaders working with children and young people.
• Support identification, assessment, management and escalation of safeguarding concerns.
• Provide advice on child protection, parental responsibility, consent, confidentiality, information sharing, Gillick competence and best-interest decision making.
• Support complex cases involving abuse, neglect, exploitation, domestic abuse, contextual safeguarding, online harms, self-harm and suicide risk.
• Complete or support safeguarding referrals to Children’s Social Care and other relevant agencies.
• Develop and communicate clear safeguarding management plans.
• Provide timely advice in relation to high-risk or urgent safeguarding concerns.
• Work collaboratively with local authority Children’s Services, education providers, NHS organisations, police, safeguarding partnerships and third-sector organisations.
• Attend child protection conferences, strategy discussions, case conferences and other multi-agency meetings where required.
• Support clinicians in preparing safeguarding reports and information for external agencies.
• Provide safeguarding supervision and support reflective practice across the Children and Young Person Service.
• Contribute to safeguarding training, guidance and learning resources for staff.
• Support audits, safeguarding reviews, incident learning and quality-improvement activity.
• Monitor safeguarding themes, trends and risks and contribute to reports, dashboards and governance updates.
• Support development and review of safeguarding policies, procedures, pathways and care plans.
• Ensure internal safeguarding alerts on the RADAR system are responded to in a timely manner and workflow and investigation requirements are completed.
• In the case of external reporting to either the police or local authorities, ensure that completed RADAR reports are forwarded in PDF format to the Quality and Safety Clinical Governance Lead for forwarding to CQC.
• Work with the Head of Safeguarding and IT colleagues to ensure RADAR and other digital processes remain fit for purpose in keeping with the dynamic changes of Psychiatry-UK and its patient's needs.
• Contribute to safeguarding reviews and implementation of recommendations and lessons learned.
• Ensure safeguarding is embedded throughout the CYP patient journey from referral to discharge.
• Promote a culture in which safeguarding is recognised as everyone’s responsibility.
• Maintain accurate, confidential and contemporaneous safeguarding records.
• Escalate significant safeguarding or organisational risks to the Head of Safeguarding.
• Contribute to PUK Safeguarding Committee and other relevant governance meetings.
• Maintain up-to-date specialist safeguarding knowledge and undertake relevant continuing professional development.

Remote and Digital Safeguarding

• Support clinicians to manage safeguarding concerns identified during video, telephone and digital consultations.
• Advise on verification of a child or young person’s identity, current location, parental responsibility and emergency contacts where required.
• Support urgent escalation where immediate safeguarding risks are identified remotely.
• Help ensure appropriate local authority and emergency services are identified for children and families across different geographical areas.
• Maintain awareness of online safety, digital harms and emerging safeguarding risks within remote healthcare.

To succeed as our Children and Young Person Safeguarding Lead, you will be an experienced children and young person’s safeguarding professional with strong safeguarding knowledge, sound professional judgement and the ability to manage complex and sensitive situations. You will demonstrate excellent communication, interpersonal and relationship-building skills, with the confidence to provide expert advice, appropriately challenge practice and escalate concerns when required. You will be highly organised, resilient and able to prioritise effectively, work autonomously and collaboratively, make proportionate and defensible decisions, and communicate sensitively with children, young people, families and professionals.

Essential Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• Registered healthcare or social care professional with an appropriate professional body.
• Safeguarding Children Level 4 training or equivalent specialist safeguarding qualification.
• Significant experience of safeguarding children and young people within healthcare, mental health, social care or a related setting.
• Strong working knowledge of safeguarding legislation, statutory guidance and child protection processes.
• Knowledge of the Children Act 1989 and 2004 and Working Together to Safeguard Children.
• Knowledge of parental responsibility, consent, confidentiality, Gillick competence and information sharing.
• Knowledge of domestic abuse, exploitation, contextual safeguarding and online harms.
• Experience of multi-agency safeguarding working.
• Experience of safeguarding supervision.
• Experience of complex safeguarding risk assessment and decision-making.
• Experience of delivering safeguarding training or education.
• Ability to provide clear, proportionate and defensible safeguarding advice.
• Good report-writing, governance and IT skills.

Desirable Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• Experience of remote or digital healthcare.
• Recent specialist safeguarding children training.
• Experience of developing safeguarding training programmes.
• Experience of audit, quality improvement or policy development.
• Experience of preparing safeguarding assurance for CQC, NHS commissioners or other regulatory bodies.

We want you to enjoy your work while feeling healthy, happy, and appreciated. That’s why we’ve created a benefits package designed with you in mind. You’ll have access to a range of wellbeing perks, including a Health Cash Plan, Well Hub Subscription, access to an Employee Assistance Programme, Annual Volunteering Day, Enhanced Sickness and Family Leave pay, Length of Service Bonus, Work from Home allowance and Pension options.

At Psychiatry UK, we care about what matters to you.

Recruitment Process At Psychiatry UK, we are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Our process includes:

• Application
• Profile review
• Screening conversation
• Competency based interview(s)

If at any point you require any reasonable adjustments —such as additional time, assistive technology, or an alternative format for materials—please let us know. We are happy to accommodate your needs to ensure you have a fair and comfortable experience.

If this opportunity excites you, why not apply today?