Director of SafeguardingNHS

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and inspirational safeguarding leader to join NHS Thames Valley Integrated Care Board as Director of Safeguarding.

The postholder will provide strategic leadership across the health and care system, ensuring the highest standards of safeguarding for children, young people and adults. Working closely with executive leaders, provider organisations and multi-agency partners, you will lead the delivery of statutory safeguarding responsibilities and drive continuous improvement across the system. This role is ideally suited to a senior safeguarding professional with significant ICB/NHS leadership experience and a passion for improving outcomes for vulnerable people. If you are a visionary leader who can influence at Board level and build strong partnerships across complex systems, we would love to hear from you.

Please feel free to contact Sarah Bellars, Chief Nursing Officer via email ([email protected]) should you wish to organise a call before formally applying.

Interviews will take place in person at the ICB offices, Bath Road Reading on the afternoon of Tuesday 15th September 2026

At our Organisation, our selection process ensures we recruit candidates with the right skills and values. We monitor AI use in applications and remain alert to misuse that misrepresents abilities. You must declare any AI use when submitting your application.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will be responsible for the strategic and operational, development and delivery of safeguarding arrangements, including the safeguarding element of Thames Valley ICB's strategies and plans. The Director engages with executive/board members, senior managers, clinicians, practitioners, and officers across health, social care, and Thames Valley Police to develop a strategic safeguarding vision and transform that into a delivery model that can be adopted by the health community and Integrated Care System.

The Safeguarding Team in collaboration with health providers across Thames Valley ICB have responsibility for the delivery priorities on behalf of the Child Safeguarding Partnership and Safeguarding Adults Boards. The team represent the Integrated Care Board/Integrated Care System (ICB/ICS) at multi agency/single agency local, regional, and national groups in relation to safeguarding children, Looked After Children, Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children, Care Leavers and adults and coordinate a number of working groups to facilitate the delivery of ICB/ICS priorities. The delivery of the safeguarding assurance and governance processes are a primary focus of the team

Job description

Lead the safeguarding team within the ICB, supporting them to fulfil their statutory and strategic responsibilities within their allocated place-based locality and with effective development and support.

Formulating and communicating strategy to all stakeholders, ensuring efficient and effective utilisation of available resources for successful delivery.

Establish and maintain appropriate systems and processes to facilitate the implementation of strategic initiatives within new organisations.

Proactively identifying and managing key risks and issues and taking timely actions to mitigate or resolve them.

Monitoring progress against strategic objectives and establishing accountability measures to ensure completion within agreed timelines.

Managing the budgetary impact of activities.

Safeguarding the continuity of standard business operations (business as usual).

Managing and actively fostering positive relationships with key stakeholders.

Establish accountability and monitor the safeguarding functions through the governance structure.

Ensure learning from Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPR), Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARS), Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), Child Death Reviews (CDR) and Learning from lives and deaths people with learning disabilities and autistic people (LeDeR) are embedded across health organisations, with a clear link to Quality Improvement programmes and commissioning decisions.

Assure the NHS Thames Valley ICB/ISC Executive Lead for safeguarding that the statutory duties are delivered in line with legislation.

Participate in the On Call system for the ICB.

About us

We value and promote diversity and are committed to equality of opportunity for all. We believe that the best employers are those that reflect the communities they serve. We want to increase the diversity of our NHS leadership and particularly encourage applications from women, people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, LGBT communities, younger candidates and from people with lived experience of disability, who we know are all under-represented in these important roles. We are committed to delivering a trustworthy, flexible and responsible staff culture.