Welcome and thank you for your interest in this post.
North Yorkshire is England’s largest county and a beautiful, vibrant place to live and work.
It is an exciting time for me personally as I join North Yorkshire Council as the new Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Service in January 2026. Even at this early stage, I feel welcomed and inspired by talented, ambitious colleagues with a strong track record and a shared commitment to excellence.
One of my first priorities is to recruit to the new role of Assistant Director Children’s Partnerships and Sufficiency, strengthening our Children’s Services leadership team and creating a pivotal, system-wide leadership role.
North Yorkshire Council has a strong reputation for delivering high-quality services. Our Children’s Services are nationally recognised for excellence and routinely share best practice across the sector. Our teams are proud of what has been achieved and are committed to continuous improvement, ensuring services deliver real impact for children, young people and families while making effective use of public money.
While many residents enjoy a high quality of life, North Yorkshire is diverse. Some communities experience significant deprivation, and the county’s rural geography presents challenges around access and sufficiency. These realities make strong partnership working and strategic leadership essential.
The Council is approaching its three-year anniversary following local government reorganisation in April 2023, bringing together eight councils into the new North Yorkshire Council. This unification creates new opportunities to strengthen local delivery, improve system working and secure greater investment through devolution.
The York and North Yorkshire devolution deal could unlock around £2.4bn of investment over 30 years, focused on economic prosperity and long-term opportunity. This provides a powerful platform for the new Assistant Director Children’s Partnerships and Sufficiency to shape innovative, sustainable approaches across the whole children’s system.
This is an ideal role for an ambitious children’s services leader ready for their next step, offering exposure across the full breadth of services and partners, and excellent preparation for future senior leadership roles.
Our most recent Ofsted inspection recognised the strength of our vision and leadership:
“Children and their families in North Yorkshire benefit from an outstanding children’s service… Leaders have built on their well-established culture… All services share high aspiration and ambition for children… There is a strong and clear council vision for children’s and SEND services and outcomes, shared across Members and Officers.”
While we are proud of this recognition, we know there is more to do.
We are deeply committed to ensuring children and young people are safe, happy, healthy and able to achieve within inclusive, high-quality services that value diversity and individuality. We prioritise supporting families to enable children to thrive within family environments wherever possible.
With characteristic Yorkshire resilience, we continue to respond to increasing complexity of need and rising demand. We do this through strong partnerships, embracing challenge and a relentless focus on improvement. That is where you come in.
You will be welcomed into a supportive, ambitious Children’s Services leadership team, alongside strong corporate support and constructive challenge. Together, we are united in our ambition for children and families across North Yorkshire.
We are now seeking a professional, influential Assistant Director Children’s Partnerships and Sufficiency to lead strategic sufficiency, commissioning and partnership infrastructure that underpins children’s services across the system.
This is a new and highly influential role, which you will help to shape. Join me and the wider leadership team to realise our ambition for children and families in North Yorkshire.
If you are ready to make your mark, we look forward to your application.
El Mayhew
Corporate Director, Children and Young People’s Service
North Yorkshire Council
About Children and Young People’s Services
Our vision is that all children and young people are safe, happy, healthy and able to achieve in North Yorkshire.
This vision is shaped by children and young people themselves, who told us that what matters most to them can be summed up in one word: Opportunity. We want life chances to be shaped by aspiration and potential, not circumstance or geography.
A safe life: children are protected from harm, live in safe communities and are supported by family networks.
Priorities
- Child exploitation and contextual safeguarding
- Protecting children at risk of harm
A happy family life: families are resilient, school years are positive and communities support families to thrive.
Priorities
- Children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing
- Right support at the right time through early help
A healthy life: we promote physical, social and emotional wellbeing and reduce health inequalities.
Priorities
- Children start well and live well
- Reducing health inequalities
Achieving in life: children are school-ready, achieve well and develop aspirations for their future.
Priorities
- Education and inclusion
- Transitions
We work collaboratively with partners to safeguard children and support them to grow up in environments that enable aspiration and achievement. Children’s voices are central to shaping our services and practice.
North Yorkshire serves a diverse and dispersed population of around 615,400 people, including 151,000 children, across more than 8,000 square kilometres. Our relationship-based “Strength in Relationships” practice model is embedded across the workforce, underpinned by strong partnership working at all levels.
We have a large, skilled and committed workforce and invest heavily in professional development, leadership progression and workforce wellbeing. Despite national workforce challenges, we have strong workforce plans, minimal agency use, and a proven track record of developing future leaders.
Performance remains strong across education, social care and early help, even as demand and complexity increase. However, we are constantly stiving for better – and significant opportunity to lead with us into the future.
About the Role
Job: Assistant Director Children’s Partnerships and Sufficiency
Salary: £100,545 to £111,533 plus relocation support
Location: Northallerton and hybrid
Term: Full-time, permanent
As Assistant Director Children’s Partnerships and Sufficiency, you will play a central, system-wide leadership role, connecting across the full breadth of services to children and young people.
You will jointly lead delivery of the Council’s ambition for children, with accountability for strategic sufficiency, commissioning and partnership infrastructure that underpins education, care, early years and SEND services.
This role offers exceptional exposure to senior leaders across the Council and key partners, including police, health, education, probation, elected members and the voluntary and community sector. It provides a strong platform for leadership development for those with longer-term ambition to progress into senior leadership roles in children’s services.
Your core focus will include:
- Delivering corporate and Children and Young People’s Plan priorities through strong partnership working
- Providing clear, innovative leadership across strategy, commissioning and operational delivery
- Shared responsibility for the overall performance and improvement of Children and Young People’s Services
You will lead statutory responsibilities for school and childcare sufficiency, partnership coordination, transport and admissions, alongside cross-system governance for safeguarding, SEND and early years. You will oversee commissioning, evaluation and market development, ensuring value for money and sustainability.
You will work closely with fellow Assistant Directors, Corporate Directors, elected members and senior leaders across partner organisations, exercising significant autonomy and influence.
The portfolio includes:
• CYPS commissioning and contract management
• Partnerships and safeguarding
• Transport, admissions and appeals
• Early years sufficiency
• School place planning, including capital and PFI
As a senior leader you will:
• Be a core member of the Children and Young People’s Leadership Team
• Lead collaboratively across the directorate to ensure strong practice and outcomes
• Sponsor cross-cutting transformation activity in response to local need and national reforms
• Lead prevention, commissioning and targeted services
• Manage delegated budgets and provide assurance on performance and savings
• Lead on resilience, risk and business continuity planning
You will provide outstanding strategic leadership, promote inclusion and model the Council’s values and behaviours.
This is a politically restricted post and subject to DBS clearance.
The work base is County Hall in Northallerton and in addition you will work from a locality base at least one day per week, whilst being equipped with technology to work where it is must productive, with presence across the county, region, including working from home.
Key Documents
- Job description and person specification (docx / 225 KB)
- Council plan
- Being Young in North Yorkshire Strategy 2025 to 2028
- Local area SEND strategy 2023 to 2026
- We care because you matter
- Permanency Strategy 2022 - 2025 (pdf / 3 MB)
- Children and families
- Education and learning
- NYSCP Schools Safeguarding Audit
- 2025 Safeguarding Partnership Annual Report
- NYSAB strategic priorities
- NYSAB annual report 2024 to 2025
- NYSAB annual report 2023 to 2024
- Sustainable modes of travel to school plan
- Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2023-2030 (pdf / 1 MB)
- Joint strategic needs assessment
- Working together for North Yorkshire: Director of Public Health annual report 2024 to 2025
Why work for us
We are strong performing authority, with supportive political leadership, and talented teams providing the platform to have a fulfilling, challenging and successful career in a truly stunning place.
A peer challenge found that the council is a good place to work, with strong leadership and a loyal and committed workforce who have access to well-regarded training and development.
We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice, offering a range of training and development opportunities and career progression allowing you to manage your own development journey and empowering you to control your career. Your career can change with your life here in North Yorkshire.
We positively encourage flexible working, and we provide you with the technology you need to work from a wide variety of locations.
We believe in the importance of inclusion, which is why we are always working towards being a more diverse, equitable and inclusive employer. Find out more about our equality, diversity and inclusion work on our working for us page. You can bring your whole self to work, and we will support you to be the best that you can be.
Our values, behaviours and ambitions underpin everything we do.
In addition to your salary, we offer a range of great benefits to help you financially make life a bit easier. These include:
• a local government, career average employer contribution pension scheme
• family friendly leave
• salary sacrifice schemes
• modern flexible working practices
• learning and development packages
• career advancement opportunities
• employee discount benefits including shopping and gym discounts
• green car and cycle schemes
• travel loans
You can find more information on the range of benefits we offer on our total rewards page.
Watch this video to find out about our employee networks.
Our relocation package
If you are considering relocating to North Yorkshire we provide a comprehensive relocation benefits package.
This features up to £8,000 to cover reasonable costs such as:
- removal expenses
- storage costs
- legal and estate agent fees
- travelling expenses
Living and working in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a thriving county that adapts to a changing world and remains a special place to live and work.
North Yorkshire's natural beauty is captured in its three areas of outstanding natural parks, national nature reserves, stunning coastlines, scenic rural villages, vibrant cities and market towns. North
Yorkshire really is a beautiful, thriving and special place to live and work, rich in heritage and culture.
North Yorkshire features significantly in the best places to live in the UK across all quality-of-life surveys.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics bulletin positions North Yorkshire as the safest place in England with extremely low crime rates.
In addition, the county benefits from excellent road and rail links, with easy access via the east coast mainline, the A1(M) and A19. Leeds, York, Newcastle, Durham and Teesside are all easily commutable, and London and Edinburgh are just two hours away by train.
From its lively cities to pretty villages, rolling countryside and grand coastline, Yorkshire has so much to offer including great employment opportunities for your family members, along with a higher proportion of schools which are good or outstanding compared to national figures.
You can find out more about what North Yorkshire has to offer on the Visit North Yorkshire website.
Watch this video to see more of what North Yorkshire has to offer:
Key Dates
Closing date: 25 January 2026
Interview dates: 9 and 11 February 2026
Contact us and apply
For an informal confidential discussion about this opportunity please contact:
- Charlotte Wilkinson on 07483 103301 or by email charlotte.wilkinson@northyorks.gov.uk
- Penny Keatings on 07811 411462 or email Penny.Keatings@northyorks.gov.uk
To apply please provide us with your CV including a supporting statement in one Microsoft Word document. Your supporting statement should outline your motivation for applying and how you meet the criteria for the role.
Applications should be emailed to Executive.ResourcingSolutions@northyorks.gov.uk
Application tips: Find advice on making your application.
Please do not send PDFs.
It is important that your written application fully addresses the experience criteria as detailed in the person specification.
Please ensure your CV includes: your full contact details (telephone, email, address), full employment history (name of employer, job titles, dates of employment and salary), full education history (qualification, grade, dates and place of study), explanation of any gaps in employment and the contact details of at least two referees including your current / most recent employer indicating whether you consent to us contacting each referee prior to interview. Please also provide details of your current salary and notice period.
We will remove your personal details from your application on receipt to enable anonymised shortlisting, therefore it is important that your application is made using one Microsoft Word document.
We believe in the importance of inclusion, which is why we are always working towards being a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive employer. You can find out more about our equality, diversity and inclusion work on our working for us page.
We are committed to directly recruiting staff and will not accept applications nor services from agency suppliers.