Quality Assurance Officer

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We're embarking on an ambitious transformation of Children’s and Families services and our vision is rooted in four core principles that underpin everything we do [MT1] :

• Families first – network and community always
• Right help, right time – proportionate, timely and co‑produced with children and families
• Whole‑system responsibility for supporting children and families to be happy, healthy and safe
• Permanence as belonging from day one

To achieve our ambition, we are looking for talented, values‑driven leaders who can champion these principles, inspire others and help shape the future of Children's and Families services in Staffordshire.

We want to create a more resilient, child‑centred and future‑focused system that enables children, young people and families to receive the right help at the right time.

Through this redesign, we are strengthening leadership, increasing capacity and creating clearer lines of accountability across our services. These changes will support high-quality practice, stronger partnerships and better outcomes for children and families, while ensuring we are well positioned to respond to national reforms and future challenges.

As a Quality Assurance Officer, you will play a key role in driving practice excellence across Children's Social Care. Working closely with the Principal Social Worker Team and Quality Assurance colleagues, you will use audit findings, performance information and professional expertise to identify improvement opportunities, influence practice and help achieve the best possible outcomes for children and families.

You will:

• Lead and support quality assurance activities, analysing findings and developing improvement plans that strengthen social work practice and service delivery.
• Analyse complex qualitative and quantitative information from multiple sources to identify trends, risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues and partners to design, implement and evaluate practice improvement initiatives.
• Promote co‑production and ensure the voices of children, families, practitioners and partners influence service development and auditing activity.
• Coach, mentor and support managers, social workers and auditors to strengthen practice, auditing standards and continuous learning.
• Present audit findings, influence policy and procedural development, and contribute to a culture of continuous improvement across Children's Social Care.

The minimum criteria that will be used to shortlist for this role will be:

• Substantial post‑qualifying social work experience within children’s social care.
• A qualified and registered Social Worker status, supported by strong knowledge of legislation, statutory frameworks and best practice relating to Public Law proceedings.
• Experience of quality assuring assessments, reports and court documentation, providing constructive feedback and driving practice improvement.
• Experience of coaching, mentoring and supporting social workers to improve practice, analysis and decision‑making.
• Excellent analytical, organisational and performance management skills, with the ability to monitor quality, manage competing priorities and drive improvement.

“We’re happy to talk flexible working”

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that…