Head of Quality Compliance and Assurance

Community Integrated Care; Widnes; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - GBP 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading social care charity in the UK seeks a Head of Quality, Compliance & Assurance. This full-time role involves leading the quality strategy and audit frameworks to ensure high-quality care across England and Scotland. The ideal candidate will have significant leadership experience in health and social care, strong analytical skills, and a collaborative approach. You will work closely with operational leaders and regulators to implement continuous improvement and support quality governance. Join to make a significant impact on people's lives.

Benefits

Flexibility in working hours

Contributory pension scheme

Retail discounts and benefits

Employee Assistance Programme

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• Significant senior leadership experience in quality, compliance or assurance within health or social care.
• Deep knowledge of CQC, Care Inspectorate and relevant regulatory frameworks.
• Demonstrable success in designing and leading quality assurance systems, audits and transformation activity.
• Experience leading major incidents, investigations and thematic reviews.
• Strong analytical capability, strategic thinking and decision‑making confidence.
• Exceptional communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• A collaborative, resilient and improvement‑focused leadership style.
• A relevant qualification in health or social care (or equivalent experience).

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver a robust, organisation‑wide audit and quality assurance programme.
• Set national quality standards and build systems that ensure regulatory excellence across the UK.
• Lead effective inspection activity to provide rigorous scrutiny of service delivery.
• Use insights from clinical governance audits, thematic reviews and incidents to shape policy and practice.
• Oversee compliance processes, controls and risk mitigation strategies.
• Design early‑warning mechanisms to inform decision‑making and safeguard quality.
• Lead transformation activity to improve systems, processes and operational effectiveness.
• Co‑design quality improvement initiatives with operational and support service leaders.
• Embed a person‑centred ethos in all quality and assurance activity.
• Maintain strong relationships with regulators including CQC and the Care Inspectorate.
• Stay connected to sector developments and ensure we remain at the forefront of best practice.
• Provide visionary leadership to the Quality Team.
• Develop talent, build capability and inspire a culture of excellence and accountability.
• Offer matrix leadership to quality operations across the organisation.

Job description

What makes Community Integrated Care a great place to work:

Are you an inspiring senior leader with a passion for driving exceptional quality in health and social care? Do you thrive in complex, fast‑paced environments where your decisions directly shape the lives of the people we support? If so, this is your opportunity to make a transformational impact at one of the UK’s largest and most respected social care charities.

We are seeking a dynamic Head of Quality, Compliance & Assurance to lead our organisation’s quality strategy, audit frameworks and assurance systems—ensuring safe, high‑quality care everywhere, every day. This highly influential role will shape how we deliver outstanding support across England and Scotland, driving continuous improvement and embedding best practice at scale.

This is a full time permanent role with some national travel expected and a need to attend our head office in Widnes as and when required.

What is "The Deal" for you?

• Flexibility: You can work your 37.5 hours over 4 days and enjoy a long weekend, or split the hours over 5 days to accommodate your other commitments. You can work from home, or from our head office in Widnes, or a flex between the two. There will be a requirement to travel to our head office at least once a week.
• Pension: contributory pension scheme
• Benefits: retail discounts, holiday discounts, cycle to work scheme and travel discounts through our benefits app
• Best Lives Bolder: You'll be working for an award winning charity who is passionate about ensuring our colleagues and the people we support lead the best lives bolder
• Development: We'll work with you to develop your career or to learn and experience new things. We're passionate about developing our people!
• Support: From our Employee Assistance Programme (available 24/7), financial support options, and wellbeing fund you'll have the support available to lead an easier (financial) life

Who you’ll be supporting & more about the role:

Reporting to the Chief Quality & Risk Officer, you will join our Senior Leadership Team and work collaboratively with operational leaders, governance specialists and external regulators to build a sector‑leading approach to quality, compliance and assurance.

As Head of Quality Compliance and Assurance you will:

Lead Quality & Compliance Strategy

• Develop and deliver a robust, organisation‑wide audit and quality assurance programme.
• Set national quality standards and build systems that ensure regulatory excellence across the UK.
• Lead effective inspection activity to provide rigorous scrutiny of service delivery.

Drive Organisational Learning & Governance

• Use insights from clinical governance audits, thematic reviews and incidents to shape policy and practice.
• Oversee compliance processes, controls and risk mitigation strategies.
• Design early‑warning mechanisms to inform decision‑making and safeguard quality.

Champion Continuous Improvement

• Lead transformation activity to improve systems, processes and operational effectiveness.
• Co‑design quality improvement initiatives with operational and support service leaders.
• Embed a person‑centred ethos in all quality and assurance activity.

Build Partnerships & External Influence

• Maintain strong relationships with regulators including CQC and the Care Inspectorate.
• Stay connected to sector developments and ensure we remain at the forefront of best practice.

Lead & Develop a High‑Performing Team

• Provide visionary leadership to the Quality Team.
• Develop talent, build capability and inspire a culture of excellence and accountability.
• Offer matrix leadership to quality operations across the organisation.

Your values:

Our Ideal candidate:

• Significant senior leadership experience in quality, compliance or assurance within health or social care.
• Deep knowledge of CQC, Care Inspectorate and relevant regulatory frameworks.
• Demonstrable success in designing and leading quality assurance systems, audits and transformation activity.
• Experience leading major incidents, investigations and thematic reviews.
• Strong analytical capability, strategic thinking and decision‑making confidence.
• Exceptional communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• A collaborative, resilient and improvement‑focused leadership style.
• A relevant qualification in health or social care (or equivalent experience).

Role Scope & Expectations

• National remit with regular travel across England and Scotland.
• Participation in the Tier 3 on‑call rota (approximately once per quarter).
• Leadership accountability for the quality governance budget.
• Close collaboration with operational leaders, business partners, clinical governance, health & safety and risk teams.

Why Join Us?

At Community Integrated Care, we are driven by our mission to help people live the best lives possible. As Head of Quality, Compliance & Assurance, you will be at the heart of shaping how we deliver safe, effective and life‑enhancing care. You’ll have the scope, support, and influence to lead transformational change and drive exceptional outcomes for thousands of people across the UK.

Ready to Make a Difference?

If you are a confident, credible and inspirational leader seeking a role with meaningful impact and national influence, we would love to hear from you.

Apply today and help us shape the future of outstanding care.

Please note, if you are interested in this role, we welcome your application as soon as possible! Depending on the volume of applications received, the vacancy may be closed before the expected advertising end date.

Interested and want to know a bit more?

To find out more about our charity check out:

We’re really proud to be a Hive HR Employee Voice Certified organisation, a recognition that confirms our commitment to creating a culture where our colleagues are not only encouraged to share their thoughts, but where this feedback is actively sought and acted upon to drive positive change at every level.

In our 2025 Colleague Engagement Survey, 59% (nearly 3,800) of our people shared their feedback and insights, giving us an incredible Employee Net Promoter Score of +34.

The Employee Net Promoter Score is a measure of how willing our colleagues are to recommend us as a good place to work to their loved ones – and a score of +34 is considered a Very Good score when compared to global benchmarks set by hundreds of other organisations.