Local Authority Designated Officer – Children & Families Service

Local Authority Designated Officer – Children & Families Service – Find Yourself in Hackney Skip to content Find Yourself in Hackney jobs and careers Menu Home Job search Leadership Opportunities Our Council Hackney Council and the Borough Join Hackney’s Transformation Team Join Hackney’s ICT Service Join Hackney’s Adult Services Join Children and Families Services Rebuilding a better Hackney Our Values What we offer Where we work Apprenticeships and Placements Management Trainee Programme Apprenticeships Apprenticeship Blog Placements Free job-finding support Find Yourself in Hackney > Job search > Local Authority Designated Officer – Children & Families Service Local Authority Designated Officer – Children & Families Service Send this job to a friend Print this page Recruitment privacy notice Job details Salary - Grade GBP £68,265 to £69,480 68265 - PO9 Contract Type Permanent Contracted Hours Full Time - 36 hours per week DBS Required Yes Department Children & Education Service Children & Families Service Closing date 01/11/2026 Apply Now 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. 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 collaboratio