Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

Specialist Nurse Safeguarding Children
The closing date is 17 November 2026

Job summary
The Specialist Nurse for Safeguarding Children plays a vital role in protecting and promoting the welfare of children and young people across the Northern Care Alliance. Working as part of a highly skilled safeguarding team, you will provide expert leadership, professional advice, training, and safeguarding supervision to support the organisation in meeting its statutory safeguarding responsibilities.

This is a varied and rewarding role where you will work collaboratively with healthcare professionals, multi-agency partners, and safeguarding partnerships to drive high-quality safeguarding practice. You will support the management of complex child protection concerns, contribute to safeguarding governance and quality assurance, and help ensure the delivery of safe, effective, and person-centred services across both acute and community settings.

The post offers the opportunity to develop expertise across a range of safeguarding functions through rotation within the safeguarding team, including Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) cover, Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) participation, and support across hospital sites. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced safeguarding practitioner looking to make a meaningful difference to the lives of children, young people, and families while influencing safeguarding practice at an organisational level.

Main duties of the job
In this rewarding role, you will provide expert safeguarding leadership, advice and support across the Northern Care Alliance, helping to ensure the organisation meets its statutory responsibilities and delivers high-quality, child-centred care. Working across acute and community settings, you will provide specialist guidance on complex safeguarding and child protection concerns, supporting staff to identify risks and protect vulnerable children and young people.

You will contribute to the development and implementation of safeguarding policies, procedures and governance arrangements, helping to embed a strong safeguarding culture throughout the organisation. You will also deliver safeguarding supervision, education and training to healthcare professionals, promoting best practice and ensuring compliance with safeguarding requirements.

Working collaboratively with health colleagues, local authorities, police and safeguarding partnerships, you will represent the organisation at multi-agency meetings and contribute to improving outcomes for children and families. You will support safeguarding governance and service improvement through audit, report writing, data analysis and the implementation of learning from safeguarding reviews.

This is an excellent opportunity for a skilled practitioner with strong leadership, communication and analytical skills who is committed to improving outcomes for children, young people and their families.

About us
The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) provides hospital and integrated health and social care services to over one million people living across Greater Manchester. Our 20,000 colleagues care for people in hospital and in the community, working across Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, and Salford, to save and improve lives.

As a large NHS trust we are committed to enhancing the health of our local population by delivering consistently high standards of care and collaborating closely with local authorities and key partners. We believe in our power and potential to make a difference and we are always looking for people who demonstrate our three core values - care, appreciate and inspire - to join our team.

In return, we can offer you a job role with purpose and flexibility. The size and scale of the NCA means we can provide more challenge and opportunities so your career can always be moving in the right direction. By joining us you can also access a competitive benefits package, including, a fantastic annual leave allowance, flexible working opportunities and protected hours for health and wellbeing activities, helping you to achieve more personal downtime and a better work-life balance.

Details
Date posted: 11 November 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 7
Salary: £49,387 to £56,515 a year
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
Reference number: 236-UEC-NM48-26
Job locations: Chatsworth House, Roach Bank Road, Bury, Greater Manchester, BL9 8RN, United Kingdom

Job description
Job responsibilities
To read more information about the advertised role, and the main job duties/responsibilities please open the Job Description and Person Specification located under the supporting documents heading. You can also read more information about working at the Northern Care Alliance within the attached Candidate Information Pack or by visiting our careers website: http://www.careers.northerncarealliance.nhs.uk

The NCA is committed to providing inclusive, accessible care and building a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, identities and beliefs.

We are proud supporters of the Armed Forces community and offer a guaranteed interview to eligible applicants who meet the essential criteria. As a Disability Confident Employer, we also guarantee interviews for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria.

Vacancies may close early where high application volumes are received or an internal redeployee is identified.

For fixed-term roles, current NHS staff will be considered for secondments, while fixed-term contracts will be offered to external (non-NHS) applicants.

If you are applying for a secondment, please discuss this with your line manager before applying. Any secondment offer will be subject to management approval and service needs. Where release cannot be supported, the secondment may unfortunately be unable to proceed.

Person Specification
Qualifications & Training
Essential

• Registered Nurse (Part 1 NMC) or Registered Midwife.
• Completed specific training in the care of babies, children and young people.
• Post-registration training in safeguarding children including law, policy and practice at postgraduate level or equivalent.
• Leadership or management qualification/course.
• Current registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
• Evidence of ongoing Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Desirable

• Working towards or completed Master's degree in Safeguarding or a related subject.
• Specialist Community Public Health Nursing qualification with child and family focus.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience
Essential

• Substantial safeguarding children experience at Band 6 or above.
• Minimum three years' experience working with children, young people and families.
• Extensive knowledge of safeguarding legislation, national guidance and child protection procedures.
• Experience of safeguarding supervision, training delivery, audits and quality assurance activities.
• Experience of partnership working across health, local authority and multi-agency safeguarding services.
• Experience of managing complex safeguarding and child protection cases.
• Excellent communication, influencing and negotiation skills.
• Ability to analyse complex and sensitive information and make professional safeguarding judgements.
• Ability to provide safeguarding advice, supervision and training to a range of professional groups.
• Ability to work independently and manage competing priorities.
• Strong report writing, audit and presentation skills.
• Competent IT skills including use of electronic patient records, Microsoft Office applications and data analysis tools.

Desirable

• Experience of service development, policy development and implementation.
• Experience of line management and workforce development.
• Experience of implementing learning from Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews and Domestic Homicide Reviews.
• Ability to chair meetings and lead service improvement projects.
• Knowledge of Child Protection Information Sharing systems and safeguarding data monitoring processes.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details
Employer name: Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
Address: Chatsworth House, Roach Bank Road, Bury, Greater Manchester, BL9 8RN, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.northerncarealliance.nhs.uk/

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact: Named Nurse Safeguarding Children, Jen Hodgkinson, jen.hodgkinson@nca.nhs.uk, 07719080035

Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust's privacy notice (opens in a new tab)