Job profile

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 Directors of Assurance and Improvement
  • 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 early learning and childcare services to deliver robust, outcome focussed assurance and improvement 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 Chief Inspector Registration and Complaints to ensure that the scrutiny and registration/complaints 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 assurance and improvement 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 assurance and improvement for early learning and childcare services.
  • Support the Chief Inspector ELC to formulate objectives, strategies, action plans and targets for all regulated inspection activity in respect of early learning and childcare services, and ensure that these are achieved.
  • Support the Chief Inspector ELC to help build the diverse strands of strategic and regulated care service assurance and improvement 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 early learning and childcare services.
  • Support the Chief Inspector ELC to develop innovative approaches to support the continuous improvement of the Care Inspectorate’s assurance and improvement 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 ELC and 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 Assurance and Improvement 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 assurance and improvement in respect of early learning and childcare 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.

 

Download the job profile in PDF format here.


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Service Manager (early learning and childcare)

Job title: Service Manager (Early Learning and Childcare)

Salary: £72,159

Hours: 35 hours per week

Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)

Contract: Permanent

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. Our hybrid working policy gives you the flexibility to mix working from home with attendance at your base office and other work locations, spending no more than 60% of your working time working from home, measured over a 4-week period.

About the role

As part of our ongoing growth, we are currently expanding our Early Learning and Childcare team, we are recruiting a Service Manager to join our ELC team.

You will support the Assurance and Improvement Directorate to ensure that the Care Inspectorate meets its responsibilities as defined by the Public Services Reform Act 2010 and other relevant legislation.

The role of Service Manager – Early Learning and Childcare supports or conducts regulatory or strategic scrutiny activity by exercising ‘authorised person’ functions in terms of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act or secondary legislation made

thereunder are ancillary to the Care Inspectorate’s primary authorised officer role and are defined as secondary authorised officers. This role supports or conducts regulatory or strategic scrutiny activity; however, the role purpose is broader than simply exercising the organisation’s inspection powers defined in the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 and secondary legislation made thereunder.

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 policy and initiatives.

The role holder will be expected to support the Assurance and Improvement 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 assurance and improvement activity, including inspection. You must be able to work well with colleagues to achieve shared aims, support innovation, and make the 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. To apply:

  • You will be educated to SCQF level 9
  • 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 in collaborative and values-based leadership, including working with partners.

The professional registration process

The successful applicant must be registered with a professional body (this can be NMC, GTCS, NMC, HCPC, 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 and Young People).

On appointment as a Service Manager ELC you will be required to register with SSSC as a Secondary AO under both types of work (Social Care and Children and 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).

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 Audrey Donnan (Chief Inspector – Early Learning and Childcare) at Audrey.Donnan@careinspectorate.gov.scot, please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email.

If you believe that your skills, experience and motivation make you a suitable candidate for this post, please complete the online application form by 08:00 on Monday 4 August 2025.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held no sooner than Monday 18 August at our Dundee office.


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Job profile

Job title: Customer Support Adviser

Job location: Compass House, Dundee   

Responsible to: Customer Support Officer

Principal working contacts

 

  • Customer Support Officer
  • Head of Customer and Business Support
  • Managers and employees of the Care Inspectorate
  • External agencies/service providers/service users and carers
  • Members of the public

Job purpose

To manage and respond to all incoming calls, enquiries and queries to the organisation, and, at times, pass callers on to appropriate colleagues where necessary. Provide accurate information internally and externally and undertake general administrative duties, in accordance with the Care Inspectorate’s policies and procedures.

Key responsibilities

  • To manage and deal with all incoming enquiries to the organisation, through different contact channels, and deal with these by either responding directly, appropriate transfer, or follow-up and return call.
  • To deal with and log all complaints and concerns in a timely manner. Make sure concerns are dealt with sensitively and escalate issues to appropriate third parties.
  • Respond to all technical queries in relation to external and internal IT applications that stakeholders and staff use.
  • Work closely and liaise with all internal departments.
  • Research requiring information using available resources.
  • Provide callers with information as appropriate, within own remit of responsibility.
  • Identify and escalate priority issues.
  • Record call information accurately and appropriately.
  • Produce call reports and/or information as requested.
  • Attend meetings as required.
  • Distribute information within the Care Inspectorate and to service users, carers, service providers and other external agencies as required.
  • 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

  • Develop a productive working relationship with colleagues.
  • Ensure effective working protocols in accordance with the Care Inspectorate’s Communications, Human Resources, Finance, IT and Operations function.
  • Ensure effective communication of the Care Inspectorate’s work with people who use care services, carers, relatives and advocates.
  • Demonstrate a commitment to the Care Inspectorate’s aims, vision and values and to the Care Inspectorate’s overall objective of improving care in Scotland.

Other duties

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.


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Person specification

Job title: Customer Support Adviser

Attributes 

Experience

Essential:

  • Demonstrate a successful track record within a similar role.
  • Previous experience working in a busy Contact Centre dealing with complex issues.

Desirable:

  • Experience of working with external/internal contacts at all levels. 
  • Experience of working within the social care sector.

Education, qualifications and training

Essential:

  • Educated to SCQF level 4 or level 5 (i.e. standard grade) or equivalent.

Desirable:

  • NVQ/SVQ level 2 or 3 in Customer Service or Call Handling.

Skills and knowledge

Essential:

  • Excellent communication skills.
  • Excellent verbal communication techniques in order to draw out and gather correct information and gain confidence from caller.
  • Knowledge of customer service principles and practice.
  • Listening skills.
  • Problem solving skills.
  • Good data entry/keyboard skills.
  • Ability to work on own initiative and prioritisation of workload.
  • Ability to meet deadlines.
  • Ability to use own judgement within identified boundaries.
  • Ability to remain professional even when dealing with difficult or confrontational callers.

Key performance outcomes

Effective communication:

  • Portrays a positive image of the Care Inspectorate when communicating both inside the organisation and externally.
  • Selects appropriate communication, style and methods depending on the needs and abilities of the audience.
  • Listens actively to people, questions and checks understanding.

Planning and organising:

  • Uses a systematic approach to make efficient use of time and manage workload. 
  • Recognises the need to be flexible in order to meet changing priorities.
  • Prioritises work effectively to meet deadlines and objectives.

Flexibility:

  • Demonstrates a flexible, positive approach to work.
  • Listens to feedback and ideas from people and will take appropriate and considered action.
  • Adapts well to change, adjusting priorities as required.
  • Is able to work confidently within a changing environment.

Team working:

  • Remains tolerant and fair towards others, values diversity and is non-discriminatory in their actions.
  • Values and makes use of the skills, knowledge and experience of others.
  • Works co-operatively and supportively with others.

Personal accountability and responsibility:

  • Takes responsibility for decisions and actions taken.
  • Maintains a high standard of work and actively seeks out continuous improvement.
  • Demonstrates initiative within own area of expertise.
  • Takes responsibility for identifying and addressing areas of personal and professional development.

Please note – these are key performance outcomes to be used to recruit into the role.  


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Person specification

Job title: Improvement Adviser (digital social care)

Attributes

Experience

Essential:

  • Track record of involvement in quality improvement (QI) project/ programmes across health and social care.
  • Experience of leading innovation across health and social care.
  • Experience of developing and delivering learning and development to a variety of staff groups and care providers.
  • Experience of working creatively with partners to develop ideas and solutions to deliver change and improvement.

Desirable:

  • Experience of scrutiny and regulatory process.
  • Experience of implementing digital solutions in social care settings.

Education, qualifications and training

Essential:

  • Educated to SCQF level 9 (for example, Bachelors/Ordinary Degree, Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate, Graduate or Technical Apprenticeship, SVQ, etc) or have relevant skills and experience relevant to the post.
  • Hold or be willing to work towards a recognised qualification in quality improvement.
  • Commitment to own CPD.

Desirable:

  • NES Scottish Improvement Leader (ScIL) or equivalent

Skills and knowledge

Essential:

  • The ability to communicate with a diverse range of professional staff across the sector.
  • Excellent negotiating, facilitating, influencing, and coaching skills.
  • Able to think creatively to maximise the use of digital technology to improve outcomes for people.
  • Knowledge and understanding of QI theory and its practical application in health and social care settings.
  • Ability to set up systems to monitor improvement, analyse data and develop improvement solutions.
  • Ability to develop and maintain extensive internal and external communication systems.
  • Ability to work autonomously and collaborate with key stakeholders including Scottish Government, HSCPs, LAs, Health Boards and service providers in the statutory, independent, and voluntary sector.
  • Excellent communicator both verbal and written, with the ability to translate plans into actions.
  • IT literate, using the most effective methods to communicate and manage information.

Desirable:

  • Knowledge and understanding of health/social care practice, theory, policy, and research.
  • Appreciation of technology, its use and development in relation to the care sector.
  • Knowledge of regulation, scrutiny, and improvement landscape. 

Key performance outcomes

Quality improvement focus

Essential:

  • Have a proven track record in leading QI projects/programmes and evaluating their impact.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of national QI work across Scotland.

Desirable:

  • Policy development
  • Research activity

Planning and organising 

Essential:

  • Ability to prioritise effectively and achieve deadlines.
  • Ability to react to changing priorities and to prioritise conflicting demands.
  • Demonstrates analytical and systematic approach to problem solving.
  • Demonstrates initiative, drive and determination to complete tasks and achieve objectives.
  • Work is self-generated, planned, and prioritised, identifying key issues, anticipating problems, and initiating appropriate action to resolve them.
  • Able to work autonomously and independently.

Impact and influence

Essential:

  • Demonstrates ability to influence at all levels.
  • Ability to achieve results through personal power, negotiation, persuasion, and influence.
  • Ability to give credible and realistic advice, based on relevant, up to date and verifiable information.
  • Demonstrates experience of being part of positive cultural change.

Effective communication

Essential:

  • Excellent oral, public speaking / presentation, and written communication skills.
  • Ability to draft detailed reports and guidance documents.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills with the emphasis on negotiation, influence, and diplomacy.
  • Experience in devising and delivering development sessions

Working in partnership

Essential:

  • Work nationally and locally with a range of stakeholders.
  • Ability to lead or participate in multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working groups.

Please note – these are tkey performance outcomes to be used to recruit into the role.


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