An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Head of Clinical Governance to join our Nursing and Quality Team. This role will require the successful candidate to lead and enhance the organisation’s commitment to delivering high-quality, safe care for children. This role is pivotal in overseeing clinical governance frameworks, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, managing clinical risks, and implementing quality improvement initiatives.
The postholder will work collaboratively across teams to promote a culture of safety and continuous improvement, aligning with The Children’s Trust’s strategic objectives. Whilst the post directly reports to the Director of Nursing and Quality, the remit of the role spans the whole organisation and works across all clinical directorates.
Staff benefits include London weighting, shuttle bus, and more… Read more below
Role Requirements
· Develop and maintain an effective clinical governance framework that supports safe and high-quality care.
· Facilitate regular clinical governance meetings to discuss performance, incidents, and quality improvement initiatives.
· Ensure that clinical pathways and practices are aligned with best practice guidelines and evidence-based standards.
· Lead initiatives to enhance patient safety across all services, promoting a culture of transparency and reporting.
· Implement and maintain the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), ensuring that learning from incidents is captured and shared.
· Monitor and report on patient safety metrics, identifying areas for improvement and ensuring appropriate action plans are developed.
· Develop and implement quality improvement initiatives aimed at enhancing patient outcomes and experiences.
· Lead quality impact assessments for new initiatives or changes in practice, evaluating potential risks and benefits and manage the organisational governance in relation to these.
· Ensure compliance with relevant legislation, standards, and guidelines, including CQC regulations and national safety frameworks.
· Maintain an up-to-date understanding of regulatory changes and ensure organisational policies and practices reflect these updates.
With experience of working in a complex environment, across a large and diverse workforce, you will be exceptionally organised with a high-level of attention to detail. You will naturally possess excellent inter-personal skills, and an ability to consult and positively engage with key stakeholders across the organisation.
Interview Date: Week commencing 13th April 2026
Terms and Conditions
PLEASE NOTE: The Children's Trust Application Form MUST be completed and submitted, for your application to be considered. As part of the shortlisting process, gaps in employment will be examined and further explored during the interview process.
Strictly no agencies, please.
About Us
The Children’s Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with acquired brain injury, providing expert rehabilitation, education, therapy, and care at our national specialist centre in Tadworth, and to children and their families across the UK, via our Brain Injury Community Service.
Boasting a beautiful 24-acre site in Surrey, we are located just outside of London, close to the M25 (accessible via Junction 8, A217 to Tadworth) and easily accessible via National Rail, by way of: Clapham Junction, Sutton, and Epsom.
Staff Benefits
The work we do is highly rewarding, and in addition to an attractive salary, we offer a valuable range of benefits, including our staff flexible benefits platform, on-site nursery, free eye tests, enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay, time out days for those experiencing menopause symptoms and time off for gender reassignment.
We also offer additional annual leave days for those with long service, with entitlements ranging from 35 to 41 days (including bank holidays) depending on your length of service.
Other benefits include free on-site parking; a staff shuttle service from Epsom and Sutton train stations to Tadworth Court, subsidised cafeteria, on-site staff accommodation (subject to availability), the ability to retain your NHS pension (where applicable), Teacher’s pension (where applicable) or the opportunity to join an alternative scheme, and the opportunity to develop your career in a supportive and collaborative environment.
Rehabilitation of Offenders
Many roles at The Children’s Trust are exempt from the provisions of Section 4 (2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, by virtue of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013 and 2020) and as such, are subject to an Enhanced DBS check. Successful applicants will be required to complete an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check, which will disclose all unspent convictions and adult cautions and any spent convictions or adult cautions that would not be protected. The exceptions to this are our retail roles within The Children’s Trust shops, which are subject to Basic DBS checks which will disclose unspent convictions or adult cautions.
Equal Opportunity Employer
To help us achieve our ambition to give children and young people with brain injury and neurodisability the opportunity to live the best life possible, we want to accurately reflect the UK’s diverse population. We want equity, diversity, and inclusion to be at the heart of everything we do, and our people, services, and culture to reflect the diverse needs of all. Through our diversity and inclusion strategy, we have made a commitment to increase the diversity of our charity and create an inclusive culture. We have networks across the organisation working to ensure that these aims are met - including an LGBTQIA2S+ group, Ethnic Diversity Group, and Spark – our broad EDI group. Read more about our EDI work here. We welcome applications from all who share our ambition regardless of background. We will strive to ensure that any reasonable adjustments are made in respect of interview and working arrangements.
Online Searches
In accordance with statutory safeguarding and child protection guidance, online searches will be conducted for shortlisted candidates before interview. The online searches will be conducted by a person who is independent of the interview and selection process and will focus on relevant information returned via searches of the candidate’s name (and variations thereof). Social media searches will be limited to professional platforms such as LinkedIn. Any concerns relating to suitability for work with children and young people will be forwarded to the interview panel, for discussion during the interview.
Registered Charity 
501 - 1000
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
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This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
HEAD OF TRAINING AND IMPACT
Salary: £50,000–£55,000 (subject to experience)
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full time, 9am–5pm, hybrid with minimum 3 days in the office, or on site at projects in prison, or in the community.
Location: Our Head Office is in Herne Hill, SE24 London
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so early applications are encouraged. The closing date is Friday 3 April at 09:00am.
ABOUT THE CLINK CHARITY
The Clink Charity, founded in 2009, aims to prevent and reduce reoffending through training, rehabilitation, and support. We deliver hospitality and horticulture training behind the prison walls and in the community by creating an environment where our students are supported to gain the skills, confidence and qualifications they need to rebuild their lives.
Since that time, we have trained approximately 5,000 people in prison and delivered 2,600 City & Guilds qualifications in a variety of hospitality and food courses.
What makes The Clink unique is our post-release support and mentoring programmes that rehabilitates an offender back into society through assistance with health mental health issues, housing, employment, family connections and friendships.
The charity operates an award-winning fine-dining restaurant open to the public inside HMP Brixton, training kitchens in the prison estate, horticulture projects at HMP Send and HMP Erlestoke, a commercial bakery in Brixton, and a bespoke delivery service, Catered by Clink.
Additionally, Clink Events is our social enterprise catering business with food produced by the women at HMP Downview and also in additional kitchen at Herne Hill and then served by alumni in front of house at some of the best venues in London including: the Guildhall, the Science Museum, Cutty Sark, Kew Gardens and the Camden Roundhouse. In 2024, across 218 events, The Clink fed 36,000 people.
More information can be found on our website and social media channels
ABOUT THE ROLE
Our Head of Training and Impact is a vital and high-profile role within the organisation, responsible for overseeing the implementation of all training projects at The Clink Charity across our portfolio, both in prisons and out in the community, evaluating the outcomes and impact of our work for our beneficiaries.
This is a broad and varied role allowing the incumbent to work across catering, hospitality and horticulture training projects, delivering nationally accredited and high calibre City & Guilds qualifications to vulnerable learners.
Having oversight of the projects, and working closely with our team of expert project leads in our restaurant, bakery, gardens and in our youth café of South London, this role offers the opportunity to develop exceptional training programs, rigorous quality assurance processes, and reflective practice in evaluation work.
As we scale our youth projects to a second site in Guildford, this role also comes with the wonderful opportunity of mobilising a brand new project to meet the needs of a NEET community of 16–25 year olds in a café based at Guildford County Court.
The Head of Training and Skills will onboard referral partners, design the delivery program and impact framework, and work alongside a skilled support team to ensure the success of the site, with a view to opening more of these projects in 2027.
If you are committed to the mission of The Clink Charity to reduce reoffending by changing attitudes, transforming lives and creating second chances, and you have great experience and passion for using education, skills and training to be the tool to generate this rehabilitation, we want to hear from you.
A LITTLE ABOUT YOU
You could be a great fit for our Head of Training and Impact role if you bring a strong background in hospitality and a passion for developing others. Perhaps you’ve led hospitality training in a college or cookery school, delivered City & Guilds qualifications within an FE setting, or built your career as a Chef or hospitality professional in a busy restaurant, hotel or catering environment.
You may have combined industry experience with teaching, or progressed from the kitchen into education and leadership. We welcome applications from a wide range of professionals across the hospitality and training spectrum who are ready to use their expertise to drive quality training, inspire our learners and shape meaningful outcomes.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Leadership and line management
- Work with the CEO, ELT and Board to achieve The Clink’s mission, vision and strategic objectives.
- Lead the design and implementation of a skills and training strategy which delivers the agreed vision and goals, and to communicate its effectiveness to project leads via KPIs, targets, and regular briefings.
- Lead the design and implementation of effective and robust systems and processes for the operational delivery of training programmes in achieving required delivery outputs.
- Lead on the embedding and implementation of an effective Quality Assurance programme for all project delivery across the Charity.
- Provide line management support for the programme leads in the Restaurant, Bakery, Gardens and Café, providing wider leadership to the staff team on all matters connected to delivering training and measuring the outcomes and impact of our work.
- Line manage the Data and Compliance Manager and support him with preparation of data driven insights informing strategic decisions.
- Conduct 1:1s with your direct reports, manage appraisals and oversee performance management processes.
- Ensure the learning and development needs of all delivery staff are met.
Project delivery
- Oversee all project delivery work at The Clink Charity, ensuring consistent, quality delivery and effective monitoring, evaluation and reporting of all projects.
- Manage the recruitment, training and development of our training staff continuously reflecting on improvements to the roles that can more effectively achieve project outcomes.
- Own the design and implementation of our work based on insight and learnings, lead on reviewing existing services and assessing new services or approaches.
- Make operational delivery decisions to ensure quality projects and provision – oversight of logistics, staffing, and resource management.
- Provide cover and support for staff delivering projects across our portfolio as/when needed.
- Ensure the CPD needs of staff delivering projects are met – including tracking completion of IHASCO courses for mandatory training.
Qualifications, assessing and verification
- Act as the lead link to City & Guilds for the delivery of the charity’s training courses across all projects ensuring that the content of the training programmes enables learners to achieve their qualifications and meet the high standards of City & Guilds NVQs.
- Work with the project leads on preparing portfolios for hospitality, catering and horticulture projects ready for assessment and verification.
- Oversee all verification of these courses. Act as one of a team of IQA’s for The Clink Charity and facilitate the EQA (External Qualification Assessor) visits, and HMPPS/HMI inspections across all sites.
- Host standardisation meetings with colleagues to build a collaborative training culture.
- Regularly monitor qualification outcomes against targets.
Monitoring, evaluation and insight
- Work with the project team in prisons and in the community to develop measurement and evaluation processes to assess the impact and outcomes of The Clink’s training programme, inform future decisions about programme development, and enable robust reporting to stakeholders.
- Attend quarterly reporting meetings with the MoJ to share the outcomes of our projects, preparing reports for those meetings and working with colleagues at New Futures Network who monitor our work for the MoJ.
- Regularly review impact methodology and implementation to ensure The Clink’s impact is measured and demonstrated in the most effective way, showing the full impact of our programmes.
- Develop efficiencies in collecting and analysing data.
- Be impact-driven and use data and results to ensure the planning and delivery of high-quality programme to drive continuous improvement.
Safeguarding
- Champion safeguarding in all the work that you deliver in and out of prisons, ensuring processes are adhered to and a culture of safeguarding is sustained throughout the organisation.
- Act as a DDSL – Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.
- Approve updates to related policies and procedures annually.
- Ensure all staff working in our projects are appropriately trained in safeguarding practice at The Clink Charity.
New business, income generation and programme development
- Lead on strategic planning for delivery and programme development across all sites, seeking opportunities to grow/scale our impact by exploring new opportunities with our partners.
- Build and develop relationships with all relevant stakeholders, including MoJ and HMPPS colleagues, referral agencies for our community work, and strategic funding partners to increase our reach and deepen our impact on beneficiaries.
- Build and develop The Clink’s network of potential delivery partners including HMPPS, DWP, DfE, local authority, social care, schools, and other third sector organisations who work with us in supporting our beneficiaries.
- Provide expert content surrounding programme delivery and development for funding bids and proposals.
- Support the work of the CEO and Grants Manager in raising funds for the charity, including through attending pitches and meetings with current and prospective funders.
Finance
- With the support of the Director of Finance and Resources, prepare and oversee budgets for project delivery and track spending against forecasts ensuring good fiscal management of projects.
General Duties
- Report on delivery to the Board of Trustees, prepare papers for and attend subcommittee and full board meetings every quarter as requested.
- Carry out other duties as required by The Clink Charity.
- Act in a manner that is in keeping with The Clink’s values and promote inclusive practices.
PERSON SPECIFICATION – DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE
- Experience of leading projects and training and developing a team made up of staff members of differing levels of seniority.
- Experience of working in: social justice, education, youth work, or criminal justice projects, or having worked in hospitality or horticulture before, or having lived experience that reflects the lives of the beneficiaries that we serve.
- Have an IQA qualification or be willing to complete the course to become accredited.
- A track record of excellent project management skills (accuracy, attention to detail, scheduling, problem solving and monitoring) at a national level and have a strong working knowledge of GDPR.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and experience of building relationships with various stakeholders at a senior level.
- Experience of contributing to the development of overall strategy as part of a senior management team, and ability to translate this into operational strategy and plans that help deliver the organisation’s vision and mission.
- Knowledge of implementing quality assurance systems and the ability to objectively assess the performance of partners and colleagues against an agreed competency matrix.
- Knowledge of report writing and extrapolating data to inform decisions.
- An understanding of the catering, hospitality or horticulture courses (NVQs) provided by City & Guilds.
- Proven experience and working knowledge of safeguarding principles and practices and investigation / reporting protocols.
- Proficient IT skills, including use of Microsoft Office programmes.
- Can work flexible hours when necessary and is willing to travel between our South East projects.
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES
- Demonstrable belief in The Clink’s mission and passion for our work.
- High levels of self-awareness, humility and flexibility, as well as an open and collaborative leadership style.
- Personal integrity, kindness, warmth and sound judgement.
- Good communicator: orally and in writing.
- Proactive, adaptable and can use initiative and find solutions to problems.
- Positive, entrepreneurial, energising and adopts a “can do” mentality.
- Values driven and promotes inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA).
REPORTING LINES AND MANAGEMENT EXPECTATIONS
You will report to our CEO and to the MD of Clink Events. You will line manage and support members of the delivery team across projects.
GENERAL CLINK CHARITY INFORMATION
All staff are expected to comply with all current legislation, comply with prison operational policies, comply with The Clink Staff Handbook and undertake such other duties within the scope of the post as may be requested by your manager.
Special requirements include passing the prison security vetting process to be able to draw keys and holding a valid driving licence.
Benefits include 28 days holiday plus bank holidays, a company pension scheme, and free meals on duty when based in a restaurant or visiting for business.
HOW TO APPLY
If you would like to apply for this post, please send your CV and a supporting statement (maximum 2 sides of A4).
In your supporting statement you should ensure that you try to address the desirable criteria set out in the person specification for the role. Make sure you give evidence which shows how you meet the criteria, not just telling us that you did it.
Interviews will be arranged on a rolling basis for this role, so early applications are encouraged. The deadline for applications is Friday 3rd April .
We do not send individual acknowledgment of applications due to the high volume we receive, and we will only contact candidates who are shortlisted for an interview. If you do not hear from us within two weeks of the closing date, your application has not been successful on this occasion.
If you would like an informal chat about this role, we can offer a call with a member of The Clink Team. Even if you feel you do not meet some of the criteria listed above, we would still welcome applications from passionate candidates who are keen to make a difference.
Appointment process
Applicants who have demonstrated that they meet the desirable criteria set out in the person specification will be contacted and interviews arranged on a rolling basis.
Interview
If you are shortlisted for interview, you will be invited to a selection process. A panel of two or more, including the recruiting manager conducts all interviews. If there are any special arrangements associated with the selection process e.g. tests or presentations, you will be informed accordingly.
Interview outcome
If you are invited to attend an interview, you will be informed either verbally or in writing of the outcome. The successful candidate will have the decision confirmed in writing as an offer of employment. Unsuccessful candidates will be offered the opportunity for feedback.
References
If you are successful in your application, you are asked to provide us with the details of two referees. We only contact referees with your permission after an offer of employment has been made.
All offers of employment are conditional upon the receipt of references that are satisfactory to The Clink Charity, verification of right to work in the UK and where applicable, verification of qualifications and Disclosure and Barring Service (where required).
Personal information
The personal information that you have supplied will only be used for recruitment and selection purposes. You should refer to the Privacy Notice on our website, which sets out how The Clink Charity will deal with the personal and sensitive data you have provided in your application form and supporting information.
EDIA
We welcome all applicants and are keen to enhance our team to reflect the diversity of the UK and the communities we serve. We would like to encourage applications from disabled people, those from LGBTQIA+ and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and those experiencing other forms of marginalisation, as they are underrepresented at this level. In addition, as this role works directly with people in prison and those at risk of offending, those with lived experience are encouraged to apply.
Accessible recruitment
The Clink Charity is committed to making our recruitment process and workplace accessible to all. If you are an applicant with a disability and/or have any specific needs or adjustments that you would like us to consider, at application, interview, or appointment stage, please make us aware in your application.
