Contract Type: Consultant / self-employed (3 years - reviewed annually)

Contract and Salary: £550 per day, paid on a consultancy basis (including expenses and travel costs). It is anticipated that the role will require up to 24 days per annum.

Base Location: Remote working and a requirement to attend face-to-face meetings. Tameside One, Market Place, Ashton-under-Lyne, OL6 6BH.

Assessment Date: To be arranged

To apply for this role please upload your CV together with a supporting statement that provides evidence of how you meet the essential requirements of the person specification

Please also include details of your education and training and employment history and any reference to your qualifications that are specified on the person specification within your CV/supporting statement.

Are you passionate about making a real difference in the lives of children and families? Do you bring compassion, curiosity, collaboration, conversation, and courage to your practice? If so, Tameside is looking for you.

Tameside is a diverse and vibrant borough in Greater Manchester, committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people. Tameside Safeguarding Children Partnership (TSCP) brings together local agencies to deliver strong effective safeguarding arrangements and improve outcomes for children and families across the borough.

TSCP is seeking an Independent Scrutineer to play a pivotal role in supporting and challenging us as we continue our ambitious improvement journey across children’s services. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced, independent voice to help shape the next phase of progress and ensure that children remain firmly at the heart of Tameside’s continued transformation.

The Role

The role is critical to provide assurance in reviewing the strength, impact and effectiveness of local multi-agency arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children and young people. Building on existing arrangements, the post holder will promote, facilitate and champion partnership working and provide robust and constructive challenge.

As a critical friend, you will actively support key functions of statutory partnership activity and case reviews. The Independent Scrutineer will:

• Bring evidenceinformed scrutiny to the way we identify, analyse, and embed learning from Serious Incident Notifications, Rapid Reviews, and Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews.
• Ensure CSPRs are of high quality, completed within statutory timescales, and that learning leads to meaningful changes in practice and leadership, to improve outcomes for children and families.
• Ensure the voices and lived experiences of children and young people are championed and central to all work.
• Facilitate engagement and participation with children, young people, families and practitioners to ensure their voices shape local safeguarding policy and practice.
• Promote multi-agency reflection, learning, and continuous improvement through oversight of robust quality assurance arrangements.
• Review the effectiveness of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, contribute to the planning and delivery of work to support the partnership priorities, and contribute to the annual report process.
• Represent TSCP, championing safeguarding and to promote equity, equality and diversity.

The Independent Scrutineer will work alongside the Lead Safeguarding Partners (LSPs) and Delegated Safeguarding Partners (DSPs). The role requires a person who has a good operational and strategic understanding of the safeguarding agenda. TSCP is looking for an individual who brings relational leadership qualities and has significant partnership board level experience to build credibility with a range of stakeholders whilst being an innovative and creative thinker.

This is a unique opportunity for the scrutineer to build on strong foundations and drive forward multi-agency safeguarding arrangements in line with the requirements in Working Together 2023.

About You

We’re seeking a safeguarding professional with significant leadership and operational experience, with a strong understanding of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements and the practical application of Working Together 2023.

You will also bring:

• Significant senior management experience in public service, social care, police or health
• Strong leadership and the ability to influence across agencies, using a relational approach
• A commitment to safeguarding, equality and partnership working
• Experience of inspection, audit, reflective and restorative practice activities
• An understanding of what effective partnership working looks like in children’s safeguarding
• Credibility and confidence to engage with senior leaders, frontline staff, children and families

This role requires someone with a deep understanding of safeguarding systems, excellent analytical skills, and the confidence to hold senior leaders and partners to account, whilst promoting a culture of reflection and continuous improvement. If you are passionate about strengthening safeguarding practice and supporting a learningfocused partnership, we would welcome your expertise to ensure that we are making a real difference for children and families in Tameside.

We welcome applications from individuals with experience from a range of disciplines, who can demonstrate our shared values and offer high challenge and support.

To maintain the integrity of this appointment, applicants must not have any current affiliation with any Tameside agencies and must be able to demonstrate that they can undertake this role independently.

About Us

Message from Jill Colbert, Director of Children’s Services

“I joined the council at the beginning of 2025 and was instantly charmed by the warmth, openness, and energy of colleagues.

“I came to Tameside for one reason; because I know we can do fantastic things for our families here.

“We’re a children’s service on a significant improvement journey. We know what needs to be different for our children and families and we’re ambitious to deliver that change.

“We have a growing range of specialist services for children, where you can test and grow your skills and practice. We have a Social Work Academy that is led by people who bring passion to learning and who know that the DCS’ of the future are right in front of them. We are working on our progression pathways so that staying in Tameside is rewarded and recognised. We have investment in innovation and improvement from the council so that we can grow services and support for families that we can sustain, from family hubs through to complex safeguarding.

“I am so certain that we can build a proud, inclusive and safe climate for great practice to flourish in Tameside. I’d love you to join me on the journey here at Team Tameside.”

Our Heart of Support Practice Approach

At Tameside, we believe in:

• Compassion understanding the lived experiences of children and families.
• Curiosity asking questions that lead to deeper insight and better outcomes for children.
• Collaboration working together across services to deliver joined-up support.
• Conversation listening and engaging meaningfully with children, families and professionals.
• Courage leading with courage, making bold and compassionate decisions that put children first.

At Tameside, we are committed to ensuring all our Citizens lead long, fulfilling and healthy lives. We are committed to supporting economic growth, providing high quality health and care services, protecting our most vulnerable and creating strong and supportive, self-sufficient communities.

We recognise that our people drive our success and enable the organisation to deliver on its vision, purpose and priorities, and that our people are our most important resource and asset. Our values underpin our practice and behaviours, and are at the heart of everything that we do; and we understand that how we do things is just as important as what we do. We pride ourselves on living by our STRIVE values of Support, Trust, Respect, Integrity, Value Diversity and Engage. Our values underpin our practice and behaviours and are at the heart of everything that we do. How we do things are just as important as what we do.

Our employees’ skills, experience and knowledge are essential to our success along with their happiness, wellbeing, commitment, enthusiasm and motivation to be the best they can be.

To Apply

Applicants should submit a CV and a covering letter outlining your suitability, knowledge, skills and experience relevant to the job description and profile.

Candidates will be shortlisted for interview based on their respective CV and evidence of experience. Please include details of two referees. If you have any queries about this role, or would like an informal conversation, please contact Jill Colbert OBE, Strategic Director of Children’s Services jill.colbert@tameside.gov.uk

This position is subject to Enhanced with Barred List Disclosure Procedures. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and expect all staff to share this commitment.

This post is a designated customer facing role under the fluency duty and requires a specified level of spoken English.

Unfortunately, at this time we are not able to offer sponsorship.

We are committed to developing a culture which respects individuals, appreciates difference and allows everyone regardless of background to reach their full potential. We are proud to be an accredited disability confident employer. Reasonable Adjustments will be considered in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the Job Role Criteria.

Our rewards and benefits package can be viewed here