Head of Quality Improvement and Service Delivery

My Client believes in putting people at the forefront of our mission. Our commitment is to provide unparalleled service, pushing the boundaries of customer service. We aim to create an environment that fosters growth, innovation, and potential. As leaders, we:

• Foster strong, collaborative relationships.
• Embrace continuous change and improvement.
• Ensure timely, sustainable, and quality service delivery.
• Challenge the norm, empower teams, and act with integrity.

Corporate Duties and Accountabilities:

• Promote health, wellbeing, and safety.
• Safeguard the welfare of children, young people, and adults.
• Uphold the Council s employment policies, focusing on diversity and equality.
• Ensure alignment with the Council s strategy, vision, and compliance with regulations.

Main Purpose:

Support the Executive Director for Children s Services in providing strategic leadership for children and young people's services. As a member of the Children s Services Directorate Management Team, you'll exemplify our values, driving strategic use of data and quality assurance to improve outcomes. You'll be instrumental in transforming our approach, ensuring we're always at the forefront of service delivery.

Tasks

1. Corporate duties and accountabilities:

The post holder will comply with and promote the Council s Health, Wellbeing and Safety at Work policies and ensure these are implemented effectively within his/her areas of responsibility.
A priority for the Council is the protection of vulnerable people, ensuring they are able to live as independently as possible. The post-holder will promote and engage with Council s responsibility to safeguard the welfare of children, young people and adults, and protect their right to be safe from harm.
Through personal commitment and clear action, the post-holder will promote the Council s employment policies, with particular reference to diversity, equality of access and treatment in employment, service delivery and community involvement. To support/develop a working culture within these services that reflects the corporate vision.
Ensure that the services provided aligned to the Council strategy, vision, aims, objectives, priorities and continuous improvement programme and play their part in achieving these. This includes compliance with Standing Orders, Financial Regulations, Code of Conduct and the Councils Policies and Procedures.

2. Main purpose of the job role:

To support the Executive Director for Children s Services (Statutory Director of Children s Services) in providing strategic leadership to the delivery and development of services to children and young people in Walsall that achieve positive outcomes, working closely with commissioners and key stakeholders, which include children and young people.

As a member of Children s Services Directorate Management Team, you will be expected to lead by example, role modelling our values and working collaboratively and cohesively to deliver effective services. Leading with value-based behaviours, you will create a workforce who are able to deliver on the WR4C vision.

Reporting to the Director of Early Help and Partnerships you will have the day to day responsibility for driving and facilitating an increased focus on the strategic use of data and quality assurance frameworks to strengthen service delivery to improve outcomes for children and their families.

Acting as the lead service business partner for the Council s BI Hub, you will have key responsibility for ensuring that accurate and timely performance information, data, quality assurance and analysis is turned into purposeful business intelligence, to support the senior leadership team and operational managers drive service improvement that has a positive impact on outcomes for children and young people.

A key success measure in this role will be to provide service leadership and translate this into clear goals and objectives to deliver outcomes that make a positive difference to people s lives, You will be pivotal in providing visible and accessible leadership across Children s Services, collaborating with colleagues in the corporate centre and wider strategic partnership, on strategic planning and service improvement. You will be a leader who can motivate and inspire others and champion best practice, being aspirational as you lead change; transforming the way we work.

• Lead the Directorate s input to the development of key corporate strategic plans and policies that support the delivery of corporate strategic aims and objectives and are aligned with interdependencies with other Council services.
• To lead and contribute on the delivery of service improvements and transformation projects at a strategic level, to ensure impact across the children s services and the wider Council in meeting local needs.
• You will work closely with the Business Insights Hub to ensure compliance with statutory requirements and returns.
• To lead on Children s Services risk management and reporting, information governance and GDPR workstreams and represent the department on related corporate boards and management meetings.
• You will ensure that the service is ready for and about to present positively in any external inspection, giving due consideration to statutory inspection frameworks.
• You will work closely with senior officers to ensure the Council maximises opportunities by making relevant data available to maximise all potential bids for external funding, both inside and outside of the Council, ensuring any data reporting requirements to support regulatory compliance of these.
• Ensure that the services provided are fully compliant with Council strategy, vision, aims, objectives and priorities and play their part in achieving these. This includes compliance with Standing Orders and Financial Regulations. Where applicable, to manage budgets and other resources.
• You will work within constitutional requirements for the provision of information within political processes where public accessibility and commercial sensitivity may be required.

You will have key responsibility for ensuring that accurate and timely performance information, data, and analysis is turned into purposeful business intelligence, to support the senior leadership team and operational managers drive service improvement that have a positive impact on outcomes for children and young people.

Your role will have a significant influence on the achievement of the service transformation plan in achieving service improvements alongside the identified cost benefits

Lead on the preparation for inspection, including development of the annual self-evaluations and ensuring that learning from inspections / peer reviews is integrated into continuous improvement plans for the Directorate. This includes an active role in sector led improvement activity across the region

Work with corporate colleagues, in particular the Business Insights Hub, in developing and maintaining a corporate, Walsall-wide and regional business intelligence infrastructure that meets the needs of Children s Services.

Lead on large-scale Directorate transformation programmes, including but not exclusively Supporting Families, HAF, Family Hubs, Family Safeguarding Model and SEND Improvement. Provide the necessary support to maximise claim and monitoring arrangements, as well as recognise best practice that can be shared across the service and partnership.

Lead the cultural, workforce and other changes to secure the transformation of children s services by creating the conditions for others to perform and innovate. Robustly challenge ineffective working practices and poor performance.

To take a lead role in implementing the services Big Conversation Participation Strategy, keeping children and young people, families and parents at the centre of everything that you do and ensure that children and young people are involved in the development and delivery of local services.

To be the Children s Service s lead for system development working with ICT in ensuring that systems support the effective delivery of Children s Services.

To provide expert advice, guidance and leadership for corporate processes including Freedom of Information requests, Member Enquiries, customer complaints, data protection, liaising with corporate teams to ensure that the department is represented at corporate meetings and delivers its responsibilities.

To deputise for Director s across Children s Services as required.

Requirements

Horizon Scanning

• To horizon scan and identify best practice that can be used to inform continuous improvement and development.
• To lead on a continuous service improvement model.
• Provide briefings on changes to inspection / review frameworks and implications for Council / local partners and support the senior leadership team in preparation for, during and actions arising from inspection, evaluations and other reviews.
• Provide evidence for and take

Person Specification:

Behaviours:

• Professionalism: Actively seek innovative solutions.
• Leadership: Lead by example, communicate clearly.
• Accountability: Adopt a proactive attitude, value diversity.
• Transparency: Collaborate effectively.
• Ethical: Value openness, build trust.

Abilities/Skills:

• Excellent communication and negotiation skills.
• Leadership and management skills.
• Resilience under pressure.
• Influence and support decision-making.
• Customer and outcome focus.

Knowledge/Experience:

• Experience in Children Services within local government.
• Senior management experience.
• Knowledge of children s services performance frameworks.
• Experience with complex budgets.
• Understanding of Children Services legislation.

Other Essential Requirements:

• Commitment to equality and confidentiality.
• Relevant Degree or professional qualification.
• Management qualification.
• Membership of a professional body, e.g., ADCS.

Join us in making a difference in the lives of the children and young people of our community.

Duration of assignment: 12 weeks

Working hours: 37 hours per week