Local Authority Designated Officer - Children & Families Service

The Role

A fantastic opportunity has opened for a Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)

in Hackney's Children and Families Service (CFS).

Are you passionate about safeguarding children and making a difference?

Are you an experienced Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) looking for an exciting opportunity to use your expertise to influence and strengthen safeguarding practice across a diverse range of organisations?

Do you have the confidence to provide effective professional challenge, manage complex allegations and bring together partner agencies to ensure that concerns about adults who work with children are responded to appropriately?

About the role

We are looking for an experienced and committed LADO to join our Quality Assurance and Improvement service. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in ensuring that children are safeguarded, while supporting organisations and professionals to develop strong, effective safeguarding practice.

If you are professionally curious, confident in your judgement and passionate about achieving the best outcomes for children, we would love to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities

In this role, you will lead and coordinate the management of allegations against adults working with children, ensuring prompt and proportionate responses aligned with statutory guidance.

You will provide independent oversight, advice, and professional challenge to partner agencies, while facilitating strategy discussions to manage safeguarding risks effectively.

Acting as a key advisor, you will keep the welfare and voice of children central to decision-making, identify learning themes for continuous service improvement, and build strong collaborative relationships across the partnership.

About You

Hackney is looking for enthusiastic, passionate, and highly skilled people who are committed to developing their practice and dedicated to improving outcomes for children and families in Hackney. At the heart of your work is a desire to co-create meaningful change for our children, young people and families.

About Us

We are seeking applicants who align with our Systemic, Trauma-Informed and Anti Racist (STAR) model of practice and who share our commitment to dismantling systemic racism and injustice. The ideal candidate:

Applicants should hold a degree-level education, including a certified and current qualification in social work, backed by evidence of ongoing professional development as an experienced safeguarding professional.

You will bring strong knowledge of safeguarding children, statutory guidance, and managing allegations against people who work with children, paired with excellent professional judgement to assess complex information, identify risk, and make defensible decisions.

Confident in providing challenge and holding organisations to account while maintaining positive working relationships, you offer exceptional multi-agency collaboration, negotiation, and communication skills across all levels.

Furthermore, you are a reflective, professionally curious practitioner who manages competing priorities effectively, keeps children at the heart of practice, and embodies Hackney's STAR practice model, PROUD values, and commitment to anti-racist practice and dismantling systemic discrimination.

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check.

As a Council, our most outstanding asset is our staff, who are highly dedicated to serving our residents and committed to our goals as an organisation.

If you want to work in a place where you can represent our values so we achieve the best for our residents, please click on the apply button below.

We operate a fair and open anonymous selection process. Therefore, we do not accept supporting statements or CV's.

To proceed with your application, you will need to create an account and submit your application.

As part of the application process, you will need to complete a number of competency based questions. These questions allow you to demonstrate your suitability for the role and provide examples of your skills, knowledge and experience outlined in the job description.

We understand the benefits of using AI in the workplace. However, if you are thinking of using this tool to submit your application, we ask you to think about what value it will add. AI tools tend to lack the personal touch and authenticity we value in candidates. We encourage you to showcase your unique knowledge and skills using your own voice.

Key Accountabilities

This application process replaces a supporting statement.

Closing date for applications: 01 November 2026 (22:59)

Interview date: Wc 16 November 2026

Please note that we reserve the right to close applications early if a high volume is received.

We are also working towards our vision, which is to be a place for everyone; where residents and staff can be proud. In order to achieve this, we are seeking individuals who embody our "PROUD" values: Purpose and Respect, where we foster belonging through active inclusion, kindness, and open dialogue; Ownership, where we champion proactive collaboration and accountability for our shared success; and Unity and Diversity, where we work as one Council to break down silos and champion anti-racist behavior.

Hackney Council works to eradicate discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We also recognise that people can be disadvantaged by their social and economic circumstances, so we will also work to eliminate discrimination and disadvantage caused by social class. We also welcome those interested in flexible working. We particularly welcome applications from disabled people, as this group is currently under represented in our workforce.

The Council has a dedicated employment support service (Hackney Works), which offers Hackney residents guidance in relation to applying for jobs. If you are thinking about applying for a job, please contact the Hackney Works team to find out what support is available: hackneyworks@hackney.gov.uk