Director of Adult Social Care Operations and Safeguarding

Lockingtonprimary; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A local authority in the UK is seeking a Director of Adult Social Care Operations and Safeguarding. This key leadership role involves strategic management of adult social care services, driving improvements following CQC assessments, and ensuring compliance with best practices. The successful candidate will work collaboratively with stakeholders to enhance care outcomes for vulnerable adults. A proven senior leader in health or social care is required, with strong management skills and a commitment to quality service delivery.

Benefits

Staff discounts

Generous pension

Health and wellbeing schemes

Flexible working opportunities

Supportive working environment

Qualifications

• Proven senior leader with experience in health or social care.
• Skilled at building effective partnerships across agencies.
• Experience driving integrated services for vulnerable adults.

Responsibilities

• Drive strategic collaboration across the Council.
• Lead transformative change initiatives informed by CQC reports.
• Oversee service planning to meet statutory duties.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Health or social care management

Partnership building

Resource management

Change leadership

Performance and quality focus

Education

Significant experience in health or social care management

Job description

Interviews can be a stressful and unnerving experience for most people.

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Before writing your application form you should look carefully at both the job outline and the employee specification to determine:

• What qualifications are essential for the role (if any)
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• Do you meet all the essential criteria? Read about the importance of this below.

Your application form needs to demonstrate how you meet ALL of the ‘essential criteria’ from the ‘employee specification’ section of the job listing.

This essential criteria acts as a checklist that the recruiting manager uses to determine if you can be shortlisted for an interview. You must therefore provide working examples for each essential criteria if you want to be invited for an interview.

For example, imagine one of the essential criteria is ‘Experience of delivering training’. Instead of just writing:

'I have experience in providing training to new team members.'

you could make this better by writing:

'I have actively been involved in training new team members, including the creation of a training guide which is used to assist with practical training. This guide is now regularly referred to by all staff, encouraging and promoting skill and knowledge retention.'

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Employment history often plays an important part in your application form, especially where the vacancy you are applying for asks for previous experience. It can be a gruelling task to list every job you’ve held over the years and trying to remember every task you were responsible for can be difficult. We’ve put together a few helpful tips to try and make the task easier:

• List your employment history in reverse chronological order (most recent first and work backwards).
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• If your employment history is limited, include details of any part-time, temporary, voluntary or work experience you’ve had; especially anything relevant to the job you’re applying for.

All new starters to the council are required to have two satisfactory references, one of which should be from your current or most recent employer. To avoid delays later down the line if you are successful, please ensure that you provide accurate referee information in your application form. This should include their:

• Full name
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Always ensure that you have informed the people you choose as referees to avoid any issues. Although we won’t request your references at the application stage, if you are successful at interview, references will be sought as soon as possible.

When you’re very enthusiastic about applying for a job, it can be easy to get carried away writing a lengthy supporting statement. But it’s important to remember that when shortlisting, managers are only looking for people who can demonstrate the relevant and essential skills needed for the specific job.

So, whilst you may think it a positive thing to write five pages about your wide range of skills and experience, it isn’t an effective use of your time and will not guarantee you an interview.

Here are some hints and tips to help you write the best supporting statement you can:

• Your supporting statement is the opportunity to sell yourself, so make sure to mention your achievements, knowledge and strengths.
• Keep the information concise and well structured. Anything you write about needs to be relevant to the job you are applying for so keep it to the point.
• Give key examples from your previous and current job roles that clearly demonstrate how you meet the criteria for the job.
• Explain why you want to be considered for the job. This won’t have any bearing on whether or not you are shortlisted but it will demonstrate your passion and enthusiasm for the role.
• Explain what you could bring to the role if you were appointed.

Your writing style can help to make your application stand out and demonstrate confidence:

• The use of positive words and power verbs (in moderation), such as ‘effective, motivated, delivered, achieved, transformed, determined etc.’ will help to improve its quality.
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It is the weekend, I am having issues logging in to the job’s website and a vacancy I’m interested in closes on Sunday evening. I am unable to complete my application on time, what can I do?

Closing dates are generally not changeable unless in exceptional circumstances. If you’re unable to access your account to complete and submit your application, please get in touch straight away on Monday morning. We may be able to contact the recruiting manager to see if they will accept a late application due to the circumstances.

I’m already an employee of the council and completing an online application but I can’t see the ‘previous employment’ or ‘qualifications’ section. Is something wrong with the form?

If you’ve noticed there isn’t a ‘previous employment’ or ‘qualifications’ section on the application form this means you are logged in using your council ESS (iTrent) login details. Logging in with these details, rather than with an account you’ve set up at home with a non-eastriding email address, means you won’t have to complete a separate employment or qualifications section on the form. However, you should ensure that any qualifications and experience you have that is relevant to the job you are applying for, is stated in your supporting statement, otherwise the vacancy manager will not be made aware of them.

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• Adverts close at midnight on the closing date.
• Data such as personal information and employment history will save when you submit an application form and then pre-fill into the next application form you complete.
• Free text fields such as ‘skills, knowledge and experience’ page will not be saved and you must re-enter these with each application.
• Symbols and special characters, such as è or &, must not be used as unfortunately, these can corrupt the data in your application form.
• You must complete all mandatory fields marked with *.
• If you are likely to complete several application forms for different vacancies, it can save time to prepare your supporting statement in a Word or notepad document. You can then copy and paste the relevant information into the application form when you are ready.
• Before you begin, it will save you some time if you have the following information to hand:
  • Your National Insurance number
  • Details of your employment history
  • Your qualifications
  • Referee contact details

Director of Adult Social Care Operations and Safeguarding

Are you an experienced leader seeking a rewarding opportunity to shape the future of adult social care and health services across East Riding? If you’re a senior professional seeking a next step in your career, the opportunity to help us build a better future for adult social care could be for you.

A message from Kim Curry, Executive Director of Adult Social Care and Health

Thank you for your interest in joining East Riding Council as Director of Adult Social Care Operations and Safeguarding. This is a vital role, and I’m delighted you’re considering joining us, for what could be a rewarding next step in your career.

Adult Social Care in the East Riding is undergoing a significant transformation. We have been honest about the challenges we face in terms of our recent CQC rating and the improvements we must make. And this honesty has fuelled a clearer purpose, greater energy and focused direction. With high aspirations, we have the chance to create a modern, enduring and truly person-centred adult social care service.

As Director of Adult Social Care Operations and Safeguarding, you will drive strategic leadership and effective management of safeguarding and operational services. Overseeing staff and budgets, you will ensure compliance with national best practice and legislative requirements. As a strategic leader, you will respond to the challenges and opportunities highlighted by our recent CQC assessment. And you will play an active role in corporate leadership, influencing decisions that shape the future of the Council.

We’re looking for an outstanding, strategic leader who is comfortable navigating intricate challenges and can effectively blend forward-thinking vision with robust operational management. Someone who will be instrumental in tackling our current urgent needs while simultaneously defining the future trajectory for adult social care services. If you are driven by the opportunity to achieve concrete positive outcomes, thrive when guiding organisational transformation, and value the principles of collaboration, integrity and compassion, then I hope you will consider joining us.

Executive Director of Adult Social Care and Health

Working for us

"Be INspired by our modern workforce"

Job details

Application deadline: Sunday 25 January 2026

Preliminary assessment date: Friday 13 February 2026

Short-listing date: Monday 23 February 2026

Interview assessment date: Wednesday 4 March 2026

The role

We are looking for a visionary and dynamic professional, who will drive strategic collaboration across the Council, working with key stakeholders from ICS, private and voluntary sectors, to ensure service users and the public are actively involved in shaping and monitoring services. You’ll lead transformative change initiatives informed by the recent CQC report, embedding a culture of continuous improvement and enhanced outcomes. With responsibility for establishing a robust quality assurance framework, you will oversee service planning and implementation to meet statutory duties and respond to the needs of vulnerable adults. Accountable for setting and achieving ambitious objectives, standards, and performance measures, you will ensure delivery of Council priorities and joint health and social care targets to address complex community needs across the region.

Candidate requirements

We’re looking for a proven senior leader with significant experience in health or social care management and a strong track record of building effective partnerships across agencies. You’ll be skilled at driving integrated services that improve outcomes for vulnerable adults, while delivering multi-agency strategies that make a real difference. With sharp resource management, change leadership expertise, and a relentless focus on performance and quality, you’ll lead transformation that meets national and local targets and enhances care for those who need it most.

For a full list of the role duties and requirements, please check out the Job specification

Benefits at a glance

• Staff discounts, generous pension and health and wellbeing schemes.
• A friendly and supportive working environment.
• Flexible working opportunities.
• Central location with access to transport links, shops and supermarkets within walking distance.
• Make a positive and immediate difference to the area and the people living here.

If there was one phrase to sum up the true spirit of the East Riding of Yorkshire and its council, it would be continuous ambition. We want to help and sustain our residents throughout their lives, and our approach is characterised by the traditional qualities that make this part of the country great, like hard graft, reliability, practical good sense and putting others first.

Adult Social Care and Health plays a vital role in supporting individuals to live with dignity, independence, and purpose. We are dedicated to making a positive and lasting impact on the lives of those we support and we are committed to delivering person-centred support that promotes wellbeing and inclusion. We believe that everyone deserves to live a life of value, and our dedicated teams work tirelessly to ensure that care is not only safe and effective, but also respectful, empowering, and tailored to each individual’s unique journey.

Adult social care is not just about meeting basic needs – it’s about supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. We strive to help people live with dignity, independence, and safety, whether in their own homes, in residential care, or through community-based support.

Are you up for the challenge?

Our Values and how we work together as a team

East Riding of Yorkshire Council has a simple and powerful vision for the East Riding: Your East Riding… where everyone matters

To deliver our Vision, we have five corporate priorities, which include:

• Growing the economy
• Helping children and young people achieve
• Empowering and Supporting Communities
• Protecting the vulnerable
• Valuing the environment

To support delivery against these priorities, we have a set of corporate Values, which drive the way we do things and shape our services. It is the responsibility of Members and staff to uphold the values of our organisation, which are:

• Quality – We work together to provide the best services possible
• Pride – We are proud of what we do and we embrace positive change
• Respect – We treat people fairly and are open, honest and lead by example

Where is the East Riding of Yorkshire Council?

The East Riding is a hidden gem - it's a great place to live, work and do business, with lots of potential and opportunities. It has many unique characteristics and a wide range of built and natural assets such as the varied coastline - which includes some of the highest cliffs in England and home to unique seabird colonies, to some of the lowest lying and fastest eroding - together with beautiful countryside, historic parishes and busy market town high streets with quality shops and restaurants. All of which is in close proximity and connected to the two historic cities of York and Hull and the Humber estuary providing huge opportunities to drive further ongoing economic growth in the area, especially in the field of zero net carbon reduction and green energy provision.

Our administrative Headquarters are at County Hall in Beverley, where you will be based, which is a beautiful historic market town which is highly regarded by the thousands of people who come to our area each year. We are one of the largest local authorities by area in the country covering almost 1,000 square miles. Our area reaches out close to York at the northern point and the North Yorkshire Moors when moving North East embracing 75 kilometres of coast from Flamborough in the North East to Spurn Point at the mouth of the Humber Estuary.

We boarder on to Hull and then our area including the iconic Humber Bridge moves West including Goole to our boundary with Pollington running North up the River Derwent towards York. We have many market towns, areas of affluence, some areas of deprivation particularly in parts of Goole, Withernsea and Bridlington as well as the great features of the Yorkshire Wolds which also presents challenges in terms of rural isolation and loneliness. Travel time from York to Beverley is 50 minutes, Leeds to Beverley just over 1 hour. The East Riding has many hidden gems and is a great place to live, work and have fun.

The East Riding of Yorkshire is arguably one of England's most beautiful counties - and one of its best-kept secrets. It is a landscape of diversity and contrasts with wide-open plains, rolling hills and wild and rugged coastlines combining to create an enviable living environment.

Quality of life in the East Riding is exceptionally high - housing is plentiful and prices are lower than many other parts of the country, yet the region can offer superb urban, rural and coastal locations. Most of our schools perform well above the national SAT and GCSE standards. Because of our commitment to rural schools, we can ensure that education is both accessible and local. Also, we have two universities on our doorstep - Hull and York.

Despite its beautiful rural location, the East Riding is connected to the UK motorway network by the M62 and to Europe by North Sea Ferries and Humberside Airport. Major cities such as Hull, York and Leeds are within easy reach, as is the beautiful historic town of Beverley. The seaside resorts of Bridlington, Hornsea and Withernsea and the natural beauty spots of the Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire Moors are also right on our doorstep. The area boasts a racecourse at Beverley, as well as the country's oldest horse race - the Kiplingcotes Derby at South Dalton, and historic sites such as the Beverley Minster and beautiful beaches.

We're sure that if you choose to work and live in the East Riding, your stay will be a happy one!

Discover homes in East Riding on Rightmove today.

This is a great time for people to join a modern workforce and make a real difference in the community.

With over 1,200 contracted staff, Adult Social Care and Health cover a diverse, high-quality range of services to provide positive outcomes for the adults living in East Riding. Adult social care services are vital for the East Riding community because of the significant proportion of residents who may require support. Between January 2024 and January 2025, data shows over 94,000 residents aged 65 and over, alongside more than 200,000 residents aged 16–64. This demographic highlights a growing need for care services and robust adult social care practices. By providing essential support, our services help maintain independence, dignity, and community wellbeing.

We work with a number of partners and key stakeholders to provide a higher quality experience for residents. Our services cover:

• Integration and Commissioning.
• Locality Wellbeing and Safeguarding.
• Adult Specialist Services.

Who are we?

With over 600 services and 12,000+ staff, we deliver a range of quality services to over 360,000 households within East Riding of Yorkshire.Please select the links below for further information:

Through our strategic workforce we're committed to the delivery of some key strategies to achieve our ambitions of being a modern workforce in a modern workplace.

Please see links and documents below for further information:

Through the dedicated and valued contribution to provide vital services, we achieve our values of quality, pride and respect.

Apply Now

For a confidential discussion about the role, please contact our recruitment partner, Tile Hill, who will be more than happy to have a chat with you:

Discover why the council is a great place to work