SEND Quality Assurance (QA) Team Manager

Job Title: SEND Quality Assurance (QA) Team Manager
Starting Salary: £53,806 progressing to £59,497 per annum (pro rata for part time)
Hours: 37.0
Location: Countywide; hybrid working model; combination of home working with proximity to Hertfordshire and able to work at base office at least one day per week, more depending on the needs of the role at specific times.
Contract Type: Fixed Term/Secondment for up to 11 months (maternity cover)
Directorate: Childrens Services

Do you enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, have a passion for developing services and improving outcomes for children, young people and families with SEND?

About the team

This is an exciting opportunity and role to make a difference and support with continuing to raise the quality of our services for children and young people with SEND, within our Making SEND Everyone’s Business service transformation and investment programme.

We are looking for an experienced, enthusiastic and innovative qualified manager, with substantial knowledge of children’s SEND services, and associated legislation, guidance and practice experience. The ideal applicant will possess (but not essential), previous experience of conducting QA activities and audits, policy development or improvement work in children’s SEND services.

• The post holder will manage a team consisting of a QA and Audit Manager for SEND, two Practice Development Leads, a Project Manager and a Project Officer. The SEND QA Team Manager role is located in the Quality Assurance, Audit, Policy and Practice Service to enable a strong QA / improvement focus. The role, however, involves working closely with various internal and external, multi-agency stakeholders across SEND services.

We are a service that promotes a learning culture, works hard to continually improve services, whilst sharing and celebrating good and outstanding practice.

About the role

The post holder will drive performance and practice improvement within SEND provision, by overseeing the development and implementation of robust quality assurance and audit processes that meet external inspection requirements, working closely with Senior Leaders. The role will involve high profile and priority work for Children’s Services and partners, and opportunities to contribute to improvements across social care, health and education. This will enable Children’s Services to monitor, evaluate and continually improve the effectiveness of its arrangements to support and safeguard children and young people with SEND in Hertfordshire, to reach their full potential.

The role will involve coordinating and reporting on a range of annual themed audits and monthly whole service audits. The post holder will work with various multi-agencies, social care and SEND teams, as well as Learning and Development, to ensure the learning outcomes from such audits are embedded in practice and that outcomes improve for children and young people with SEND.

The SEND QA Team Manager will supervise and oversee the work of the SEND QA Team, building relationships and upholding a positive reputation with internal and external stakeholders. The post holder will need to have strong leadership qualities, analytical skills and be able to regularly present audit reports and findings to the Senior Leadership Team and wider SEND workforce.

About you

Essential:

• Educated to degree level/management qualification and to have the relevant professional qualifications and/or equivalent experience (e.g. experience in SEND/QA).
• Experience of working in SEND services in a professional capacity.
• Experience of managing conflict and change.
• Experience of working in a complex multi-agency environment.
• Experience of managing staff through both line management and project team arrangements.
• Knowledge of SEND and the legislative and policy drivers behind the work of Local Authority Children’s Services SEND provision.
• Ability to lead improvement in SEND services and outcomes across the partnership by negotiation and persuasion.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; ability to recognise and respond appropriately to situations requiring tactful or diplomatic handling at all levels of the organisation.
• Business focus and political awareness; ability to operate in sensitive political environments.
• Analytical skills; ability to interpret, summarise and draw conclusions from complex data and quality audits.
• Ability to design and implement quality audits of SEND practice across different professional roles.
• Confident and competent presentation skills for a range of audiences in politically sensitive situations.

Desirable:

• Experience of developing and implementing quality assurance processes, including auditing of children and young people’s records.
• Experience of managing projects.
• Experience of developing and planning services.

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is within the Health and Social Care Services, level HSC13 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Health and social care

This is an exciting opportunity to be involved in quality assurance and transformation work, driving performance and practice improvement, to enhance the skillset of the workforce, and ultimately, to make a real difference to the outcomes and lives of children, young people and families with SEND.

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Sara Malik sara.malik@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

Interview Date: 6th January 2026

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Secondment
This position is open to secondments. If you work for HCC or any other Local Authority and would like to be considered as a Secondment contract, please ensure you complete the Secondment Form as part of your application. If you do not, your application will be considered as a Fixed Term Contract only.

Additional information

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.