Office Holder - Independent Scrutineer

Number of Vacancies:

1

Time Type:

Variable time

Worker Type:

Appointed

Proposed Interview Date:

Monday, July 6, 2026

Hours of Work:

0

Hiring Manager:

Alexandra Campbell

Contact Number: 

01482 616317

Job Description Summary:

The Hull Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP) wishes to appoint an independent Scrutineer to support the city’s work on national reforms. The purpose of the role is to consider and assess:
• The effectiveness of multi-agency family help and safeguarding services in promoting the welfare of all children in Hull
• The extent to which safeguarding partners are providing strong leadership to successfully comply with the Department of Education Reforms Family First Partnership Programme (FFP)

The independent scrutineer will be someone who can provide insight, challenge, independent views and scrutiny of the effectiveness of our children safeguarding arrangements, ensuring that we are developing and embedding practice across the partnership aligned to the Governments Families First Partnership Programme in Hull.

The core responsibility of this role is to provide independent challenge, enquiry, and investigation to assist the Partnership in fulfilling the requirements of the Family First Partnership Programme, whilst continuing to meet the statutory responsibilities under the Children Act 2004 and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026. The Scrutineer will work across the Hull partnership providing reports, observing practice, commenting on quality assurance and performance, and evaluating the effectiveness of the test and learn approach of the work under the Family First Partnership programme.

The Independent Scrutineer will offer rigorous scrutiny and constructive feedback to ensure our approach not only reflects the principles of the Families First Partnership Programme but also delivers meaningful and positive impact and outcomes for children and families across Hull.

You will perform Office Holder duties and IR35 rules do not apply to this appointment.

Salary - £550 per day (Inclusive of expenses)

Interviews will take place week commencing 6th July 2026.

 

Main Responsibility

You will: 

• Provide independent scrutiny of HSCP and their approach to the principles of Family First Partnership Programme.

• Act as a critical friend, offering constructive challenge and assurance to safeguarding partners.

• Ensure compliance with statutory duties outlined in Working Together 2026.

• Champion the voice of children and families in the work undertaken.

• Produce reports and recommendations for the Executive to support continuous improvement.

• Support the partnership’s continued development and evolution during a period of change for all partners and collaborating with other scrutiny processes where appropriate.

• Develop relationships with all partners to retain sufficient independence.

The Ideal Candidate

You will:

• Be experienced at a senior level for at least five years and skilled in multi-agency working.

• Have strong analytical and evaluation skills.

• Able to provide independent, objective challenge.

• Excellent communication and influencing skills.

• Commitment to improving outcomes for children and young people.

To apply please submit your CV, demonstrating your skills, knowledge and experience for this post. Please ensure that referee details are contained within your CV or covering letter. Please can all CVs be sent to [email protected]

Interviews will be undertaken by members of the Hull Safeguarding Children’s Partnership.

For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Alexandra Campbell, Strategic Lead, Hull City Council on [email protected]

 

Compensation Grades:

DEFAULT.

Pay Ranges:

£0.00 - £0.00

Job Classifications:

3- Not Politically Restricted - Designated As Not Politically Sensitive (Politically Restricted Posts), 3- Standard - (Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)), Casual - (Travel Allowance Policy), No - (Childcare Disqualification Requirement), No - (Statutory Post), OSP - Other Support Staff (School WorkForce Census)

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:
- A competitive salary
- An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
- Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
- Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
- Supportive and forward-thinking culture
- Great career development opportunities

Please ensure that you complete and submit your application by midnight prior to the closing date. Please ensure that your application demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria against the person specification as listed in the job description. 

We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. 

We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

We reserve the right to amend the dates associated with this advert, which may include closing the advert early where required.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process.