Job title: Service Manager Early Learning and Childcare (ELC)

Responsible to: Chief Inspector Early Learning and Childcare Services

Responsible for: Team Managers

Principal working contacts

• Executive Director of Scrutiny & Assurance
• Chief Inspectors
• Executive Team
• Senior Management Team
• Team Managers
• Strategic Inspectors
• Regulated Care Inspectors
• Care Inspectorate colleagues
• Scottish Government Officials
• Integrated Joint Boards, Local Authorities, Agencies and Other Scrutiny Bodies
• Community Planning Partnerships
• External Stakeholders
• Sponsor Department
• Chief Social Work Officers
• Police
• NHS

Job purpose

Support the Chief Inspector ELC to manage the day to day delivery of inspection activity for regulated care services for children to ensure that the Care Inspectorate performs effectively and efficiently as an independent scrutiny body.

Support the Chief Inspector ELC in ensuring that the Care Inspectorate meets its responsibilities as defined by the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 and other relevant legislation, to inspect and improve the quality of care and social work services in Scotland in a collaborative way.

Support the Chief Inspector ELC in developing, implementing and monitoring approaches to quality assurance, performance management, recruitment, training, development and support of staff .

Work with the Chief Executive, Executive Directors and Senior Management Team to support significant cultural change; consolidate excellence in the Care Inspectorate’s activities and; continue to invest in our competent, confident workforce in a way that puts collaboration at the core of our work. 

Key responsibilities

Strategic management:

• Support the Chief Inspector ELC to develop, deliver, monitor and review the regulatory practices, processes and procedures in children’s services to deliver robust, outcome focussed scrutiny and assurance and other activities which support continuous improvement in care and social work services.
• Support the Chief Inspector ELC with developing, implementing and monitoring an integrated approach to quality assurance, self-evaluation, best value and consolidating excellence.
• Support the Chief Inspector ELC with developing implementing and monitoring an integrated approach to performance management.
• Support the Chief Inspector ELC with the recruitment, training, development and support of staff in inspection to support their continuous professional development and increase staff confidence and competence.
• Coordinate the work of contact managers, expert groups and quality circles.
• Coordinate formal and informal consultations.
• Support the Chief Inspector ELC , working with the Registration Manager to ensure that the scrutiny and registration functions work efficiently and effectively.
• In conjunction with the Chief Inspector ELC support the implementation of the day to day delivery of regulated care service scrutiny and assurance activity for the Care Inspectorate and contribute to its direction, ensuring that all legislative requirements are met.
• In conjunction with the Chief Inspector ELC support the planning of regulated care service scrutiny and assurance for children’s services.
• Support the Chief Inspector ELCto formulate objectives, strategies, action plans and targets for all regulated inspection activity in respect of children’s services, and ensure that these are achieved.
• Support the Chief Inspector ELCto help build the diverse strands of strategic and regulated care service scrutiny and assurance activity into a cohesive, integrated and productive approach, aligned to the achievement of the Care Inspectorate’s corporate aims and objectives, focusing on consolidating excellence in all aspects of the Care Inspectorate’s work.

Operational management:

• Support the Chief Inspector ELC with day to day responsibility for the efficient and effective operational delivery of regulated care inspection activity for children’s services.
• Support the Chief Inspector ELC to develop innovative approaches to support the continuous improvement of the Care Inspectorate’s scrutiny and assurance work, including the development of quality systems, designed around creative problem-solving and bringing new thinking, delivery mechanisms and solutions to the Care Inspectorate.
• Help ensure operational activities are delivered efficiently and adhere to the principles of best value.
• Prepare and present reports to the Executive Team, Senior Management Team Board and Committees of the Care Inspectorate that are both timely, and informed.
• Deputise for the Chief Inspector ELCand undertake such other duties as may be required by the Chief Executive, Senior Management Team or Executive Directors.

People management:

• Guide, support and direct staff for Scrutiny & Assurance and ensure that their work is carried out in an effective, efficient and consistent manner and meets the standards, targets and requirements of the Care Inspectorate.
• Support, develop and mentor staff through regular supervision, performance development reviews and personal development plans to help build a competent and confident workforce where individuals are developed and supported to reach their potential.
• Promote consistent, high quality practice amongst staff encouraging them to give of their best and continually strive to improve performance and consolidate excellence. Manage the performance and monitor standards and consistency of practice of all staff of regulated care services.
• Support the recruitment and development of all employees, and the implementation of HR policies, within the function, ensuring that Care Inspectorate objectives are translated into meaningful and realistic personal objectives for staff and team plans.
• Promote the health, safety and welfare of employees, with responsibility for ensuring that Care Inspectorate health and safety policies, procedures and practice, and legislative requirements, are followed across all areas of service delivery.
• Promote diversity and equality of opportunity, ensuring that these principles are upheld across all areas of service delivery.
• Carry out your duties in accordance with our Health and Safety policies, procedures, guidance, practices and legislative requirements, taking  reasonable care for your safety and that of others who may be affected by what you do or fail to do while at work.

Relationship management:

• Ensure productive and smooth working arrangements and protocols between staff delivering all regulated care service scrutiny and assurance in respect of children’s services and all other Care Inspectorate employees.
• In conjunction with the Chief Inspector ELC help to facilitate and deliver business and cultural change with the Care Inspectorate.
• In conjunction with the Chief Inspector ELC help promote customer focus internally and externally, supporting staff to work collaboratively with colleagues across the Care Inspectorate, as well as with people who use services and their carers, the Partnership Forum, scrutiny partners, service providers, government, health and other bodies.
• Develop effective working relationships with the Senior Management Team to ensure effective collaborative working and strong customer focus.
• Promote the principles of partnership working throughout the organisation and in all working practices in accordance with the Care Inspectorate’s Partnership Agreement.
• Develop and maintain productive and effective working relationships with a range of appropriate external stakeholders and relevant key policy contacts within national bodies, Scottish Government, local authorities, integrated joint boards and health boards, together with relevant, designated regulatory and quality assurance bodies and other statutory agencies with responsibilities for service delivery and commissioning. Use these relationships to continually improve service delivery, strengthen collaborative working, and promote the work of the Care Inspectorate.
• Provide leadership, contribute to and promote, the continuous development of the Care Inspectorate, managing change effectively and creatively.
• Support the deployment of appropriate mechanisms to consult with all relevant stakeholders concerned in the delivery of inspection of care, ensuring we fulfill our duty of user focus and that this informs continuous improvement in our work.
• Support, promote and encourage public, care user and carer participation in, and consultation about, the work of the Care Inspectorate.

Other duties

This job requires some travel and may involve some overnight stays and unsocial hours.

This job description is a broad picture of the post at the date of preparation. It is not an exhaustive list of all possible duties and it is recognised that jobs change and evolve over time. Consequently the post holder will be required to carry out any other duties to the equivalent level that are necessary to fulfil the purpose of the job, and to respond positively to changing business needs.

Job title: Service Manager - Early Learning and Childcare

Salary: £35,730 (£71,460 FTE)

Hours: Part-time (10 days per 4-week period)

Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)

Contract: Temporary for 18 months (with the possibility of further extension)

About us

We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. We are moving towards an expectation that all staff will work collaboratively, within and across teams, in person, for approximately 40% of their working week.

About the role

Due to flexible retirement, we are looking to recruit a temporary part-time Service Manager to join our Early Learning & Childcare Team.

This role will oversee the work of Team Managers, who manage Inspectors to carry out scrutiny activity of early learning and childcare services including shared inspections with Education Scotland. Team Managers and Inspectors also play an important role in supporting quality assuring care services and providing professional advice to assist in developing the quality of service delivery. Acting as relationship managers, they provide support and challenge to local authorities, and providers of multiple services with the aim of supporting continuous improvement.

The successful candidate will manage projects and support the work of the directorate including overseeing the quality assurance of our scrutiny work. The role also involves liaison with external stakeholders, promoting the work of the organisation and contributing to national initiatives.

The role holder will be expected to support the Scrutiny and Assurance Directorate to ensure that the Care Inspectorate meets its responsibilities as defined by the Public Services Reform Act 2010 and other relevant legislation.

This senior role works with other leaders and colleagues to support significant cultural change, consolidate excellence in the Care Inspectorate’s activities and continue to invest in our competent, confident workforce in a way that puts collaboration at the core of our work.

About you

You will have significant experience in services for early learning and childcare and experience of scrutiny and assurance activity. You must be able to work well with colleagues to achieve shared aims, support innovation and make best use of resources. You will demonstrate the ability to provide leadership and direction to a diverse, multi-disciplinary team of professional staff and be highly effective in working creatively and collaboratively across organisational and professional boundaries.

Adept at challenging traditional thinking in a positive and constructive way, you will be an articulate and positive communicator, both verbally and in written form, with the ability to engage, influence and lead the development of a wide range of key stakeholder relationships, both internally and externally.

You will also be politically astute and demonstrate a broad knowledge of trends and relevant issues within health, social care, and education.

• You will be educated to SCQF level 9 (e.g. degree, graduate diploma/certificate, etc.)
• You will have a secondary Authorised Officer qualification - either PDA (Professional Development Award), RoCA (Regulation of Care Award), EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) or PSIF (Public Sector Improvement Framework)

We are looking for someone who has:

• Proven track record of effective management and leadership of staff in the area of health, social care, or education.
• Demonstrable experience of strategic planning and delivery of services and supporting and embedding sustainable business and transformational change.
• Extensive experience of collaborative and values-based leadership including working with partners.

Next steps

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role please contact the recruitment team in the first instance - please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email.

If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please download and complete an application form and submit it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 08:00 on Monday 23 September 2024.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held in the week commencing Monday 7 October.

Professional Registration Information

As a Service Manager you will support the Scrutiny & Assurance and Strategy & Improvement directorates to ensure that the Care Inspectorate meets its responsibilities as defined by the Public Services Reform Act 2010 and other relevant legislation.

The successful applicant must be registered with a professional body (this can be NMC, GTCS, NMC, HCPC or the SSSC).

For SSSC registration, there is a specific registration category for Care Inspectorate Authorised Officers (AO). There will be two levels of AO registration (Primary AO and Secondary AO), and identification of types of work undertaken (Social Care and Children & Young People).

If you are a SSSC registrant, on appointment as a Service Manager you will be required to register with SSSC as a secondary AO under both types of work (Social Care and Children & Young People) or be registered with another appropriate registration body (NMC, GTCS, HCPC).

We would expect non-SSSC staff to hold or gain the appropriate AO qualification (in this case EFQM would be the minimum qualification).