Safeguarding Officer

Time commitment: Full-time preferred. Part-time applicants are considered for at least 4 days per week. Importantly, our services operate 9am-5:30pm, so out-of-hours safeguarding is not required.

Location: Hybrid with 1-2 days per week in the office preferred. If that is not possible, we would consider remote working.

Reporting to: Clinical Operations Manager

About Paloma

In 2024, our founders, Mark and Darshak, were shocked to find that children needing an NHS autism or ADHD assessment were waiting 4-10 years for these assessments. Delayed assessments result in children being more likely to develop mental health conditions and fall behind in education. Furthermore, the much-needed pre/post-assessment support (outside of ADHD medications) is typically not funded by the NHS. 

These long waits have built up due to increased recognition and understanding of neurodevelopmental conditions and a lack of investment and innovation within the NHS to meet the growing demand.

Mark and Darshak, with their 25 years of combined NHS experience, including building services that have treated over 1,000,000 patients in obesity & ophthalmology, founded Paloma to change this. Our mission is to make NHS autism and ADHD assessments and care accessible within 4 weeks of a GP referral, and, in turn, help every child achieve their potential.

As of May 2026, we have successfully reduced waits to 3 months by;

• Taking a product-first approach to redesign the care pathway to give families a more consumer-like experience of care
• Our in-house product, engineering and AI team building our own autism and ADHD specific electronic patient record and AI documentation tool to free clinicians from their significant documentation burden to re-focus on supporting families
• Investing in expanding the clinician workforce and upskilling them in new ways of working.

We are proud that Paloma is:

• Loved by families, with 4.9 out of 5 Trustpilot and Google ratings
• Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered and quality-focused
• Clinically-led, with a team of 130 people, including over 80 clinicians supporting families through their assessment journey. We are hiring 100+ more roles over the next 12 months.
• A community of passionate, mission-driven and innovative team members who challenge the status quo and test and learn from new ideas and approaches.
• Backed by leading healthcare investors Triple Point and Heal Capital

What’s next?

• Whilst we have reduced wait times, it is estimated that up to 500,000 children are still waiting for an NHS autism or ADHD assessment. We won’t rest until this comes down.
• We want to build new services to support families and children diagnosed with autism or ADHD who feel lost after their assessments when the NHS is no longer there for them.

The Opportunity

Children accessing autism and ADHD assessments can be vulnerable, and Paloma is committed to keeping children accessing our services safe. Paloma has made a specific investment to build an internal Safeguarding Team, which partners with our clinicians and the children and families we serve to identify safeguarding needs early and ensure the right support is in place. Families benefit from support immediately after referral, meaning they are better prepared for their child’s assessment.

We are looking for a social worker or teacher who is passionate about safeguarding and eager to work in an innovation-focused environment as our Safeguarding Officer. They will work collaboratively with our Senior Safeguarding Officer and wider clinical and operations teams to ensure that Paloma maintains the highest standards of safeguarding for the families we support. 

Importantly, you will have senior clinical support for clinical topics, alongside safeguarding, from our Medical Director (Consultant Child Psychiatrist) and the wider senior clinical team.

From a cultural perspective, you are:

• Comfortable working in a dynamic environment and embracing change
• Excited about using new technologies in your role
• Always looking for ways to improve our staff and patient experience

We commit to supporting your professional development through internal and external mechanisms, and this will be discussed in quarterly development conversations. With success in the role, you could progress to Senior Safeguarding Officer.

Responsibilities:

1) Ensure robust safeguarding processes & knowledge:

• Work with our Senior Safeguarding Officer to design and continuously improve our safeguarding policies and processes.
• Supporting the training of our assessor team on safeguarding best practices and evaluating competency around risk management.
• Ensure we follow best practices and legal requirements for safeguarding, in line with our Care Quality Commission registration requirements, including safeguarding audits and participation in wider safeguarding forums.

2) Be our internal safeguarding expert

• Be the first point of contact on named days as part of our safeguarding rota, supporting our assessors when safeguarding needs are identified.
• Quality assure our safeguarding referrals.

3) Ensure we act promptly for identified safeguarding needs

• Reviewing safeguarding information identified in GP referrals and/or family questionnaires and providing appropriate input. Where safeguarding risk is being managed externally to Paloma, ensuring clarity on where the risk is being managed.
• Liaise with families and external agencies when a safeguarding risk is identified and provide support.
• Support risk management plans, as appropriate.

Qualifications and experience:

• We welcome applications from: 
• Social Workers registered with Social Work England (or Scottish, Welsh or Northern Ireland equivalents)
• Qualified Teachers registered with the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) who have safeguarding lead experience (or Scottish, Welsh or Northern Ireland equivalents)
• With at least:
• 3 years of experience in children and young people’s safeguarding 
• Level 3 safeguarding training. 
• A desirable, but not essential, experience is working with or alongside children’s neurodevelopmental services

Why join Paloma?

You will be part of a mission-driven organisation that’s transforming access to autism and ADHD care in England. For all employees, we offer:

• A strong and positive culture that prioritises team building, transparency, and career development. This includes protected time and budget for team connection and learning.
• Comprehensive compensation, including:
• If remote, salary of £45,000 per year, with some flexibility based on experience. 
• If hybrid working from our London office, salary of £50,000 per year, with some flexibility based on experience.
• Annual salary reviews, ensuring they are competitive
• 5% employer pension contribution
• For employees working at least 0.8 FTE:
• Equity compensation through Share Options in Paloma Health 
• Optional Private Medical Insurance and Employee Assistance Programme
• Home Office Equipment Allowance
• Professional Registration Fees Allowance for registered professionals
• A unique annual leave benefits package which includes:
• 37 days of annual leave. This is 28 standard days, plus eight bank holidays, plus your birthday off.
• Option to buy an additional 5 days per year (giving a maximum of 42 days)
• Where required, 2 days per year of special leave, for events that can happen in life, whether personal or family-related
• Additional benefits include:
• A premium performance company laptop
• NHS discounts, including the Blue Light Card (as we are an NHS provider).

Equality & Diversity

Paloma Health is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and throughout the application process. We do not discriminate based on any protected characteristic.

Accommodations

We’re glad to accommodate candidates who need adjustments throughout the hiring process. We encourage you to be open about the adjustments you need, so we can adapt our interview process accordingly.

Safer Recruitment & Pre-Employment Checks

Paloma Health ensures that supporting people to be safe is at the heart of our work and a key priority. As part of our pre-employment checks, you will be asked to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Depending on your role within the business, this will be at either an Enhanced, Standard, or Basic level. We are committed to safer recruitment practices and expect all applicants to share our dedication to safeguarding. 

Application process

Please apply via our website. We understand that applying for a new job requires significant effort, and we appreciate the time you put into it and look forward to reviewing your application.

Join us and be part of our journey to revolutionise access to NHS autism and ADHD care!