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Head of Safeguarding

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Home > Who we are > Jobs > Vacancies > Head of Safeguarding

The role

Department: Senior Management Team
Location: UK – flexible
Salary: Circa £55,000 pa
Responsible to: Group Programme Director

Closing date: Monday 27th April 2026
Interviews: 7th and 14th May

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Job purpose

In this role, you will provide strategic leadership and governance of a transparent safeguarding culture across all the Railway Children Group operations and support services. Overseeing all areas of safeguarding across our work, you will support colleagues to fully embed effective and robust safeguarding practice and compliance into our work.

With your extensive experience of leading on and working with safeguarding and child protection systems and a proven track-record of implementing safeguarding strategy, policy and practice you will recognise that your values-led management style will lead to the embedding of a safeguarding culture across all our work.

Be part of something life-changing

To apply for this role, complete the application form below. Please note that Railway Children will only accept applications made using this form and will not accept CVs, academic certificates or covering letters.

At Railway Children, we are committed to the safeguarding and protection of all those who come into contact with us in our work. We follow a range of procedures to ensure that only those who are suitable to work with children and vulnerable people are recruited to work for us. This post is subject to a range of background and reference checks including criminal records check.

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Personal Details

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Further information

After reading the job description and person specification on our website, please explain how your skills and experience meet the requirements of the job.(Required)

Reason for application

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Miscellaneous

Have you applied to Railway Children before?(Required)

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Miscellaneous

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Safeguarding: Criminal Convictions and References

Railway Children is committed to providing a safe and trusted environment and to safeguarding anyone who comes into contact with our work. We implement a range of policies to ensure that we only employ people suitable to work with vulnerable groups and who are prepared to work in line with the high standards of personal conduct we expect. In line with verifying these standards, job offers are subject to receipt of references satisfactory to Railway Children and you will be required to undertake a police check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. Any disclosure made by the Disclosure and Barring Service will remain strictly confidential. Any post that involves directly working with children will be exempt from the provisions of Section 4(2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 which means that spent convictions must be disclosed and will be taken into account in deciding whether to make an appointment. In addition to a police check,you will be asked to sign a self-declaration regarding your criminal record post-interview.

References

Your referees should include one from your most recent employer and be completed by a senior person with the appropriate authority e.g. your line manager, senior manager or HR manager, not a colleague or peer. Both referees should be able to comment on your professional skills/experience and must be able to provide a reference on behalf of an organisation, not in a personal capacity. We will not make contact with your referees until an offer of employment has been made. Your references should cover your previous four years’ employment. If you have worked for more than two employers during this period, please provide details of additional references in the ‘additional information’ box at the end of this form.

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Reference 2(Required)

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Data protection

All of the information collected in this form is necessary and relevant to the performance of the job applied for. We will use the information provided by you on this form, by the referees you have noted, and the educational institutions with whom we may undertake to verify your qualifications, for recruitment purposes only. Railway Children will treat all personal information with the utmost confidentiality and in line with current data protection legislation. Should you be successful in your application, the information provided, and further information which will be gathered at the relevant time, will be subsequently used for the administration of your employment. For more information on how we use the information you have provided, please see our privacy notice for job applicants which is located at www.railwaychildren.org.uk/who-we-are/jobs/

Declaration(Required)

I confirm that information provided on this form and any attachments are to the best of my knowledge correct and complete. I understand that any information later discovered to be incorrect may result in the termination of any agreements made.

I confirm that the above information is complete and correct and that any untrue or misleading information will give Railway Children the right to terminate any employment offered. I understand that any offer of employment is subject to Railway Children being satisfied with the results of relevant checks including references, eligibility to work in the UK, anti-terrorism checks, qualifications and criminal convictions.

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Head of Safeguarding

The role

Job purpose

Be part of something life-changing