Bright Horizons
Safeguarding Divisional Lead
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Safeguarding Divisional Lead
Full Time / 37.50 hours per week / Monday to Friday
Remote with some travel to our Nurseries and our offices in Northampton and London
Salary From £43k per annum
Closing Date for this role: 15th August 2026
All applicants need to attach an up-to-date CV to be considered.
Purpose of Role:
The Safeguarding Divisional Lead provides safeguarding and child protection oversight across a designated division, ensuring that the safety, welfare, and best interests of children remain at the centre of safeguarding decision-making. Acting as a source of professional challenge, guidance, and escalation, the role supports Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) and operational teams to identify risk, respond effectively to safeguarding concerns, and take timely action to protect children from harm.
Through coaching, training, case consultation, and quality assurance, the Safeguarding Lead strengthens safeguarding practice, promotes professional curiosity, and supports settings to recognise both immediate and emerging risk and to act to mitigate immediate risk. The role works to ensure safeguarding standards, statutory responsibilities, and organisational expectations are consistently understood and applied, with a clear focus on listening to the voice of the child and achieving the best outcomes for children.
Working closely with operational leaders, Early Childhood Services, and the wider safeguarding team, the Safeguarding Divisional Lead supports effective response to child concerns, allegations, and incidents, and drives continuous improvement through learning and organisational insight. The role promotes a culture where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and where children's lived experiences remain at the heart of professional practice.
What We Can Offer You:
Our benefits include, but are not limited to;
- Flexible working and holiday entitlements
- Discounted childcare
- Quarterly Employee Appreciation Weeks
- Annual gala award evening
- Fantastic range of discounts on high street retailers, grocery stores, cinema tickets, holidays and more
- Wide range of wellbeing resources, supporting our teams for the ups and downs of daily life
Why Bright Horizons?
Our support functions enable our nurseries to deliver the best possible care and education to over 10,000 children across the UK. Through this support, our nurseries can deliver excellence – with 98% of our 270+ portfolio being rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted.
We’re on a mission to change the future for children, families, and the people we work with, and are committed to progressive working values like flexibility, work-life balance, and wellbeing.
Key Accountabilities:
Safeguarding Leadership & Oversight
- Act as the escalation point for Designated Safeguarding Leads, Nursery Managers, and operational teams for safeguarding advice and support.
- Provide day-to-day safeguarding oversight across a designated region of nurseries during visits and participation in Ready to Respond Calls and attending Team Around the Setting (TAS) meetings.
- Coach and develop DSL capability, confidence, and professional curiosity, enabling DSLs to confidently assess concerns, apply safeguarding thresholds, and fulfil their statutory safeguarding responsibilities.
- Provide specialist support in complex, high-risk, or sensitive safeguarding cases.
- Use insight from audits, safeguarding activity, complaints, reviews, and regulatory feedback to drive improvements in practice.
- Promote the consistent application of safeguarding policies, procedures, and statutory guidance across all settings.
- Attend and actively contribute to Ready to Respond (R2R) calls and Safeguarding helpline/Advice Line providing safeguarding expertise, identifying risks, driving procedural compliance, and supporting effective action planning.
- Respond to enquiries received through the Safeguarding Helpline/Advice Line, providing timely safeguarding advice, guidance, and professional challenge to DSLs, Nursery Managers, and operational leaders, and ensuring appropriate safeguarding actions are identified and progressed.
- Work alongside the Senior Safeguarding Consultants and wider safeguarding team to manage escalated safeguarding concerns.
- Support in the delivery of the three-hour Safeguarding induction.
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Practice Improvement & Support
- Support settings where safeguarding concerns or improvement actions have been identified through audits, inspections, investigations, or safeguarding reviews.
- Work with Designated Safeguarding Leads and operational teams to implement safeguarding improvement plans.
- Provide targeted safeguarding support, challenge, and guidance to settings requiring additional intervention.
- Monitor progress against safeguarding actions and escalate concerns to Senior Safeguarding Consultants where improvements are not being achieved.
- Support settings to embed learning from safeguarding incidents, investigations, inspections, and organisational insight.
- Share safeguarding best practice, learning, and emerging themes across the region to improve consistency.
Coaching, Development & Training
- Deliver safeguarding training, workshops, and development sessions to Designated Safeguarding Leads and nursery teams.
- Coach leaders to strengthen safeguarding knowledge, confidence, and decision-making.
- Reinforce safeguarding expectations, professional curiosity, and effective safeguarding practice.
- Support colleagues to understand and apply statutory safeguarding responsibilities, escalation routes, and reporting requirements.
- Identify gaps in safeguarding knowledge and capability and support targeted improvement activity.
Partnership Working
- Build effective relationships with Nursery Managers, Regional Directors, operational leaders, and Early Childhood Specialist colleagues.
- Work collaboratively with HR, Operations, and Early Childhood teams to deliver a joined-up approach to safeguarding.
- Develop and maintain effective relationships with external safeguarding agencies and partners, including Children's Services and LADO teams where appropriate.
- Support the DSLs in preparation and attendance of Allegation Against Staff and Volunteer Meetings and Child Strategy Meeting.
- Monitor the DSLs engagement with the Local Authority Safeguarding offer and provide targeted improvement activity to ensure participation.
- Support the implementation of safeguarding initiatives and organisational priorities across the region.
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Insight & Continuous Improvement
- Use learning from Internal Review audits, investigations, safeguarding concerns, and organisational insight to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Identify recurring issues, themes, and risks and support action to address them.
- Contribute to the development of safeguarding resources, guidance, and improvement initiatives.
- Maintain accurate safeguarding records, reporting, and documentation relating to regional safeguarding activity.
- Support the sharing of organisational learning and effective safeguarding practice across settings.
Essential Experience:
- Significant experience as a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) within a regulated children's setting.
- Significant safeguarding experience within early years, education, social care, or another regulated environment.
- Strong knowledge of safeguarding legislation, statutory guidance, and child protection processes.
- Experience supporting leaders to manage safeguarding concerns and risk.
- Experience managing complex or sensitive safeguarding matters.
- Experience delivering training, coaching, or professional development activity.
- Experience working with external safeguarding agencies and partners.
- Strong understanding of safeguarding thresholds, escalation processes, and statutory reporting requirements.
- Training, coaching, or facilitation experience.
Qualifications:
- Relevant qualification in Early Years, Education, Social Care, or related discipline – Essential.
Personal attributes
- Demonstrates consistent behaviours aligned with our HEART principles, acting with Honesty, Excellence, Accountability, and Respect in all interactions, decisions, and ways of working.
- Credible safeguarding professional with sound judgement and strong decision-making skills.
- Excellent coaching, influencing, and relationship-building capability.
- Confident communicator, able to support and challenge constructively.
- Passionate about improving outcomes for children.
- Organised and able to manage competing priorities across a regional remit.
- Resilient and calm when managing complex and sensitive situations.
- Collaborative, proactive, and solutions-focused.
Bright Horizons is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. This post is subject to safer recruitment practice and pre-employment checks, including an enhanced DBS check, which will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. We are an inclusive employer and welcome people from all ages and backgrounds to apply. We will consider reasonable adjustments required by applicants.
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We look forward to receiving your application
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