Professional Lead - Contextual Safeguarding

Package Description

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of benefits including:

• Great holiday benefits - most roles include 28 days annual leave every year on top of public (bank) holidays, increasing to 32 days after five years. In addition, there is a holiday purchase scheme allowing staff to purchase up to 5 additional days of leave each year.
• Excellent pension - everyone who works for us can join the national Local Government Pension Scheme, widely regarded as one of the best available.
• A full range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity support.
• Access to an award-winning employee benefits programme that includes a health cash plan, a low-cost bike purchase scheme as well as high street discounts and money off entertainment and travel.
• Salary sacrifice car scheme - eligible employees can lease an electric or low-emission vehicle at a reduced cost through salary sacrifice, subject to National Minimum Wage and other eligibility requirements.
• Blue Light Card - employees working within social care can qualify for an additional range of discounts from national retailers and local businesses.

Why join us? Along with more on our Benefits, discover why Working at the City Council could be the right move for you here Working at the Council | Milton Keynes

Roles are either ‘site based’ or ‘home based’.

Site based roles are mainly based at the workplace, with the option to work from home for up to two days a week, depending on service needs.

Home based roles are mainly based at home, with the expectation of attending the workplace up to one day a week.

The working arrangement for each role is set by the manager, based on service requirements.

Job Introduction

We’re recruiting a Professional Lead for Contextual Safeguarding to join our dedicated Contextual Safeguarding Team.

At Milton Keynes City Council, we’re committed to making our city a better place to live by creating safer communities, tackling inequalities and working alongside partners to improve outcomes for local people.

This rewarding role is central to protecting children and young people who may be affected by exploitation, serious youth violence, missing episodes and other forms of contextual harm.

You’ll provide professional leadership, guidance and oversight across children’s services and partner agencies, helping to ensure that children and young people receive the right support at the right time.

Working closely with colleagues across social care, education, health, police, probation and the voluntary sector, you’ll be a key voice in developing effective safeguarding responses and driving positive outcomes for children and families.

Site-Based role

This is a Site-Based role, and you’ll be expected to work from the designated workplace.

Interviews for this role will be held on 11th September 2026

At Milton Keynes City Council, we aim to make a difference every day. We’re dedicated, respectful and collaborative. We act as one council, and we work hard to create cleaner, safer and healthier communities while tackling inequalities and supporting people to thrive.

Find out more about working with us here: www.mkcounciljobs.org.uk

Role Responsibilities

• Provide expert advice, professional guidance and quality assurance for children and young people who may be at risk of contextual harm.
• Chair professional and multi-agency meetings to support effective safeguarding planning and decision-making.
• Represent Children’s Social Care in partnership forums relating to exploitation, missing children, serious youth violence and associated safeguarding concerns.
• Develop and deliver contextual safeguarding training to colleagues, partner agencies and community groups.
• Support the development, review and implementation of policies, procedures and service improvements within the Contextual Safeguarding Team.
• Provide supervision, mentoring and professional support to colleagues, ensuring practice reflects local procedures, national standards and best practice.

Ideal Candidate

• A qualified Social Worker with a recognised Social Work qualification and substantial post-qualification experience, together with registration with Social Work England.
• Experienced in managing complex safeguarding risks and leading multi-agency responses for children and young people affected by contextual harm.
• With a proven ability to provide supervision, coaching and professional leadership that supports colleagues to deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Skilled at building positive relationships across a wide range of partner organisations whilst maintaining a clear focus on the needs of children and young people.
• Confident in presenting information, delivering training and communicating complex safeguarding issues to a variety of audiences.
• Driven by our values of being Dedicated, Respectful and Collaborative, with the ability to make informed decisions and remain resilient when managing challenging situations.

Safer Recruitment

Safer Recruitment applies to this role. This means that, before any appointment is confirmed, we’ll carry out a range of pre-employment checks to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of children, young people and vulnerable adults. These checks may include identity verification, where candidates will be required to provide original identification documents, including a full birth certificate, employment history and reference checks, qualification checks and an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, (unless you are currently registered with the DBS Update Service). check where required.

About The Organisation

Milton Keynes City Council is a large, modern and financially stable employer with around 2,500 people working across our eight areas. Together we provide local residents and businesses with a wide range of important round-the-clock services and aim to make our city a better place to live.

We work hard because of the demands placed on us, like protecting children from harm or preventing homelessness. However, working for the city is always rewarding and everyone has the opportunity to make a real difference.

We’re very proud of our diversity and are committed to having a workforce that reflects the community we serve. Whatever your background, you will be welcome here if you share our values of being dedicated, respectful and collaborative.

We offer great training and support and because of the size and scale of the organisation there are always new opportunities to explore when it’s time for a new role.

If you’d like to know more about how we do things and what matters to us, take a look at our short booklet What makes us Milton Keynes City Council, see attached.