Participation Worker
Job Description
Job title: Participation Worker
Company: Surrey County Council
Job description: This role has a starting salary of £27,897 per annum, based on working 36-hours per week.
We are excited to be hiring a new Participation Worker to join our fantastic User Voice and Participation Team. Your role will be to support our engagement and participation with care experienced children and young people. We are looking for someone who goes the extra mile to connect with young people, getting to know them, their experiences and their interests. A key part of this work is to meet them where they’re at and building longer term relationships.
This is a hybrid role, with a minimum of 2 days per week in the office.
Rewards and Benefits
- 26 days’ holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years’ service and 30 days after 5 years’ service
- Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
- An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
- Up to 5 days of carer’s leave per year
- Paternity, adoption and dependants leave
- A generous local government salary related pension
- Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
- 2 paid volunteering days plus 1 team volunteering day per year
- Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
About the Team
The User Voice and Participation (UVP) Team at Surrey County Council work to empower children and young people to be involved in decision making about their lives and services that affect them. We work in collaboration with colleagues to improve outcomes for children, young people, and those in their network. We not only listen to but work with children and young people to effect change.
Surrey Youth Voice is a partnership between Surrey’s young people and the User Voice and Participation (UVP) Team. Surrey Youth Voice run various participation groups and projects for children and young people that enable them to have their voice heard, build their confidence and skills, whilst having fun and encouraging peer support. The aim of the team is to build trust with children and young people who use Surrey services, so they feel able to share with us their experiences; what is and isn’t working well. Our role is to ensure leadership, colleagues, teams, and partners make changes to improve children and young people’s experiences.
Our participation groups and projects support looked after children, care leavers, children and young people who use emotional wellbeing and mental health services and children and young people with additional needs and disabilities. We also support our future politicians through Surrey Youth Cabinet.
This role offers hybrid working, balancing working from home and in the office. There is an expectation, for a minimum of 2 days a week, to be based in the office. There will also be occasional evening and weekend working, with these being planned in advance. When working in the office, this may be Quadrant Court or another office.
About the Role
As a Participation Worker you will actively listen and enable children and young people to have their voices heard. You will help empower them to express their views, wishes and feelings about the decisions that affect them. You will aid in positively shaping and influencing social care services following the feedback from children and young people.
Being able to signpost young people to Surrey Youth Voice will ensure that effective and meaningful participation occurs, as well as engaging with the appropriate services and community offers. You will also work with internal services and external agencies whilst following safeguarding procedures.
You’ll be highly engaging in your communication through text, online and in person, and able to connect with a wide range of ages from 7 – 25. You’ll also be full of ideas for how to creatively capture young people’s experiences in a fun and safe way. If you have any experience of co-design and co-production, this will be a bonus. You will specifically be reaching out to care experienced young people in foster care, our residential homes and those in independent living, but you don’t need specific experience in this area.
Shortlisting Criteria
To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your application will clearly evidence the following:
- The ability to work alongside a range of professionals and be able to communicate children and young people’s views without bias or judgement.
- Have personal resilience when hearing other experiences, which can be sometimes be hard to hear.
- Capable of working together as part of a team – we are all in this together!
- Have use of a good range of IT skills, ability to use Microsoft programmes, send and receive emails and organise your time via an electronic diary.
- Able to uphold our team’s high standard of communication that are influential and impactful to reach a variety of learning styles.
- Comfortable with liaising and maintaining effective working relationships with children and young people, parents, carers, partners, and services.
- Be a role model and support our apprentices.
This is a role that we believe will be extremely rewarding and will provide the opportunity to truly make a difference. You will also become part of a team that supports each other’s mental health, learning needs, and personal growth.
The job advert closes at 23:59 on 28/03/2024.
Our Commitment
Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:
- The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
- The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form
Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role. We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.
Expected salary: £27897 per year
Location: Woking, Surrey
