Voice and Influence Coordinator - REQ006259

Job title: Area Voice and Influence Coordinator

Salary: P03 £42,839 - £ 46,142 (annual pay award pending)

Hours: Full Time

Contract: Fixed term – 12 months

Location: Merrion House – working across the Leeds

The Voice Influence and Change Team are recruiting a Voice and Influence Coordinator to cover maternity leave for 12 months. The role is based at Merrion House and regularly involves working in the evenings and weekends.

As an Area Voice and Influence Coordinator, you’ll thrive on building positive relationships with children and young people, hearing their voice about things that really matter to them; and making sure their voice influences how we do things in Leeds. You will make a difference by working in partnership with children and young people who are care experienced or in need of support from a social worker and their parents and carers to improve and develop services. You will work with organisations across the city who run youth voice groups for young people who are often seldom heard or underrepresented to help amplify their voices and share their priorities with decision makers. You will play a key role in championing the Care Promise and Child Friendly Leeds Wishes.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

As an Area Voice and Influence Coordinator you will bring to the role:

Excellent interpersonal skills; confident and charismatic with the ability to build strong relationships with children, young people, parents, carers, and colleagues in a variety of settings.
Experience of managing and delivering projects / programmes with children and young people within time scales and budget.
Experience of direct work with children and young people whose views may be seldom heard or underrepresented and planning and delivering group activities.
Experience of working in partnership with different teams and services and voluntary and community groups.
Ability to work flexibly including regular evenings and weekends.

About the role

As our next Area Voice and Influence Coordinator you will bring a can-do attitude, positive energy and commitment to working with children, young people and their parents / carers and enjoy using your creativity to develop engaging group work sessions, training and events. Your role will be varied, your day could include activities such as meeting with different services to plan how they will deliver a consultation with children and young people, writing a risk assessment, visiting a children’s home to share voice and influence opportunities and leading young people’s involvement in a recruitment panel. You will play a critical role in the team, working alongside two other coordinators but being responsible for all programmes of work relating to social care and seldom heard groups and managing an officer. This role involves a wide range of administrative tasks and developing communications, so you will be organised, have attention for detail and be able to work to demanding deadlines.

The role is integral to our ambition to be a Child Friendly city, the Voice Influence and Change Team work in partnership with children young people and parents and carers across the city, supporting and enabling them to have their voices heard and influence positive change.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements

a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidance for further advice on completing your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role, please contact Hannah Lamplugh, Strategy and Influence Lead. Call 07891279304 or email hannah.lamplugh@leeds.gov.uk

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s or Adults’ barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.
This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visaroute before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Job purpose: Area Voice and Influence Coordinators have a specific citywide focus area of their work and lead and co-ordinate citywide strategic voice and influence projects and mechanisms to enable children and young people and parents/ carers to have their voices heard and influence change.

Responsibilities

Lead on work with children and young people who are looked after, care leavers or in need of support from a social worker and their parents and carers.
Lead on work with children and young people who can be seldom heard or underrepresented. This includes children and young people who live in areas of deprivation, are ethnically diverse, refugees and asylum seekers, young carers, LGBT+ young people.
Lead on building the network of Voice Influence and Change Leads (primarily from social care and the third sector) who are working with children and young people whose views may be seldom heard/ underrepresented. Providing training, facilitating partnership meetings and events with staff and young people, and producing reports demonstrating the impact of their work.
Line manages voice and influence officer and co-facilitate the social care youth voice programmes- Children in Care Council and Care Leavers Council.
Work in partnership with the Voice and Influence Officer to ensure the priorities and issues identified by looked after children’s young people and care leavers are heard and acted on by decision makers and key partners.
Work in partnership with Social Care Teams providing strategic advice and guidance on the involvement of children and young people and parents and carers in decision making and lead on social care voice and influence partnership projects and campaigns.
Work in partnership with Social Care Senior leaders and teams to ensure looked after children and young people and care leavers are aware of and involved in the monitoring and review of the Promise and the Care Leavers Pledge.
Lead on an annual programme of training – supporting and training looked after young people and care leavers to plan and deliver training to the Corporate Parenting Board, Foster Carers and Social Care staff.
Coordinate and manage websites and social media promoting youth voice opportunities.
Provide strategic guidance and practical support to decision makers and key stakeholders to ensure that children and young people and parents/carers are meaningfully involved in the development and review of priorities, policies, strategies, and the services they access.
Lead on providing advice and guidance to strategic decision-making boards, wider Leeds City Council teams and directorates and partner organisations to ensure that the voices of children, young people, parents, and carers influence and shape local, area and city priorities.
Champion and promote the awareness of the rights of children and young people to have a say over decisions that affect their lives (United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child) and “listening and responding to the voice of the child” as a key responsibility for all staff in the Leeds Children and Young Peoples Plan (2023-2028).
Lead and coordinate the delivery of a strategic voice and influence work programme in response to the needs of the Leeds Childrens Safeguarding Partnership, Children and Families Scrutiny Board and Corporate Parenting Board
Provide strategic guidance and support to decision makers, senior managers and relevant teams and services to ensure they are aware of and are acting on the statutory guidance for local authorities to take steps to ascertain the views of young people and to take them into account in making decisions about services and activities for them, in line with Article 12 of the UNCRC, Children and Families Act 2014, Children and Social Work Act 2017 , Childrens Social Care National Framework 2023, and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026.
Provide strategic support and challenge to staff within Children and Families Directorate to further enhance and increase the involvement of children and young people, parents, and carers in strategic decision-making processes e.g. recruitment of staff, service planning and review, workforce development, commissioning and contract review, budget setting etc.
Influence the working practices of partners and stakeholders across Leeds, the region and UK by delivering training, presenting at events/ conferences, or developing new resources and good practice guides.
Develop innovative approaches and strengthen existing mechanisms to enable children and young people to share their views, experiences and priorities with senior managers, decision makers, and elected members. For example, through facilitating takeovers of strategic board meetings, developing films, social media campaigns etc.
Responsible for planning, delivering, and facilitating citywide events enabling children and young people to work together and share views and experiences with decision makers and elected members.
Advise services and partner organisations on the approaches they can use to consult with a wide range of children and young people, mechanisms available to promote consultations and link them with organisations and groups working with young people.
Develop resources and facilitate opportunities for children and young people to learn about local democracy, role of elected members and how to be an active citizen in their local community and city.
Work directly with groups of children, young people, parents, and carers in different settings to increase their awareness of the different ways they can have their voices heard and influence change and develop their youth voice skills e.g. public speaking, campaigning, facilitating discussions.
Provide relevant training and support to children and young people to enable them to participate in strategic voice and influence activities including taking overboard meetings, judging awards, speaking at conferences or panels, co-delivering workshops, making films etc.
Identify and promote good practice voice and influence initiatives/activities.
Raise awareness of the needs of young people and identify and address barriers to participation, to ensure that they have the opportunity to have their voices heard, participate and influence change.
Develop effective feedback mechanisms to ensure that children, young people, and their parents/carers are aware of how their views have been heard/ acted upon.
Produce and present reports to senior leaders and elected members on voice and influence activity, evidencing impact and outcomes. Prepare briefings and updates for senior leaders and elected members as required.
Champion the voice of children and young people and their parents/carers and represent the Voice Influence and Change Team at strategic meetings and working groups with partners and stakeholders.
Meet required deadlines and use existing systems to record and report on children and young people’s involvement in voice and influence activities/programmes and evidence their outcomes.
Be accountable for effective financial management of budgets.
Use a restorative practice approach as an overarching ethos.
Be proactive in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.

Qualifications

Appropriate professional qualification or equivalent experience and training.

Essential requirements Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements

Able to innovate and enthuse others.
Able to influence working practices of decision makers to bring about positive outcomes.
Excellent interpersonal skills; confident and charismatic with the ability to build strong relationships with children, young people, parents, carers, and colleagues in a variety of settings.
Able to identify individual needs, develop strategies and provide emotional support as needed to children young people, parents, and carers.
Able to work restoratively and provide support and challenge to colleagues and decision makers.
Able to lead and deliver partnership projects and programmes within time scales and budget.
Able to communicate effectively with children and young people, parents, carers and professionals, including written and verbal strategic reports, newsletters, websites, films, and presentations.
Able to plan and facilitate group sessions/work with children and young people (online and in person) using a range of activities and creative approaches relevant for their age, needs, and abilities
Able to work creatively, producing new and imaginative approaches to consulting and engaging children, young people, parents, and carers in decision making processes.
Able to work to demanding and often conflicting deadlines.
Able to research tasks to support the delivery of project outcomes and benefits.
Able to work independently, show own initiative and as a part of a team.
Able to develop engaging web and social media content.
Able to resolve conflict.
Excellent time management and organisation skills
Able and willing to work flexibly evenings and weekends as required to achieve goals.
Knowledge of the value and impact of children, young people and parents and carers having a voice and influencing change
Understanding of the issues affecting young people’s lives and the barriers they may experience to engagement.
Knowledge of a range of participation, consultation and engagement strategies and tools.
Knowledge of approaches to involving children, young people, parents and carers in service design, development, delivery, and review.
Knowledge of measuring and demonstrating impact and outcomes of involving children and young people in decision making processes.
Knowledge of safeguarding issues in relation to work with children, young people in a range of settings.
Knowledge of equal opportunities policies both national and local.
Experience of managing and delivering projects / programmes with children and young people
Substantial experience of participation work with children and young people in a range of settings.
Experience of line managing staff
Experience of direct work with children and young people whose views may be seldom heard or underrepresented.
Experience of working in partnership with third sector (Voluntary and community groups)
Experience of facilitating group work with children and young people.
Experience of developing plans, services, initiatives in partnership with children, young people and / or parents and carers to meet identified need.
Experience of developing effective multi-agency partnerships.
Experience of planning/delivering training/events with or for children/ young people.
Experience of managing web content and social media
Experience of producing strategic reports, presentations, and briefings for strategic boards / elected members
Experience of developing monitoring and evaluation systems to demonstrate impact.

Essential Behavioural & other Characteristics

Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct.
Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council equality and diversity policies.
Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities.
Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
Be aware of and support difference ensuring equality for all, working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity.
Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person.
The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.

Desirable requirements It is desirable that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates are not required to meet all the desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates.

Able to use different software and tools to create communications that appeal to children and young people e.g. flyers, social media posts, posters.
Able to use different tools on video conferencing platforms e.g. zoom or teams to make online sessions engaging, interactive and fun.
Knowledge of social care legislation and statutory guidance in relation to the voice of the child
Knowledge of Leeds vision to become a Child Friendly City and Leeds Children and Young Peoples Plan.
Knowledge of national children’s rights agenda, including UN Convention of the Rights of a Child.
Experience of working with looked after children and care leavers.
Experience of working with elected members.
Experience of financial management.

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