Participation Assistant
Details
- Reference: SCC/TP/287947/1357
- Positions: 1
- Salary: £26,777 per annum
- Category: Administration & Clerical
- Contract type: Fixed term
- Working hours: 36 hours per week
- Posted on: 12 July 2024
- Closing date: 28 July 2024
- Directorate: Children, Families & Lifelong Learning
- Location: Woking, Surrey
Description
The starting salary for this role is £26,777 per annum, working 36 hours per week.
This is an 8-month fixed term contract.
Are you looking for a new opportunity to start your career?
The User Voice and Participation team are excited to be looking a Participation Assistant to join our fantastic and supportive team. Come and join us to improve outcomes for Surrey's children, young people, carers, and families!
Working hours are 36 hours per week. These hours could be 9am – 5pm some days and 12pm – 8pm on other days. Our hours are dependent on our user perspective projects which sometimes require working in the evening and/or weekends.
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 Team, work with children and young people to ensure they have their voices heard in the service that they access in Surrey. There are a variety of ways we do this, for example through participation groups, digital engagement, user perspective training, surveys and many more projects!
Participation means taking part in something. In our experience, participation not only helps shape communities and services, but participation also supports children and young people build self-belief and develop amazing life skills.
We empower children and young people to be involved in decision making about their lives and services that affect them. We not only listen to children and young people but work with them to affect change!
About the Role
This Participation Assistant role will be working closely with care-experienced children and young people aged between 7-25 years old across our three participation groups which are:
- Care Council Juniors (7-12yrs)
- Care Council (13-17yrs)
- Care Leavers' Forum (18-25yrs)
These three groups provide participation opportunities for care experienced children and young people to have their voice heard, positively influencing service change!
We work from multiple locations including working from home, our offices are based in Leatherhead/Woking/Reigate and locations where our children and young people meet, for example in youth centres and libraries across Surrey.
Our teams' key deliverables are:
- Being passionate about children and young people participation, making a difference to children and young people living in Surrey.
- Ensuring children and young people linked to Surrey have a safe space to have their voices heard in the services that they access or have accessed.
- Celebrate and acknowledge children and young people in Surrey's progress, achievement, and contributions.
- Deliver user perspective training courses; training professionals in Surrey on what it feels like being a child or young person accessing services in Surrey.
Shortlisting Criteria
In order to apply for this role, we will ask you to submit a CV and answer the following 4 application questions:
- Please describe your experience working with children and young people. What age groups have you worked with, and in what contexts (e.g., schools, community programs, youth services)? Provide specific examples of your interactions and the impact of your work on the children and young people involved.
- Explain your experience facilitating or leading group activities for children and young people. Describe a successful activity or session you led, including how you planned and executed it.
- Give an example of how you have collected and used feedback from children and young people. How did you make sure their voices were heard, and what changes or actions resulted from their input?
- Describe your experience working in a team on projects involving children and young people. What was your role, how did you contribute to the project, and what were the outcomes? Provide specific examples to illustrate your teamwork and the results achieved.
To be considered for shortlisting, your CV and answers to the above will clearly evidence the following skills and experiences:
- Experience of working with children and young people
- Experience facilitating engaging group work, sessions and activities for children young people
- Strong communication and collaborative skills to operate effectively as part of a team
- Good organisational skills to balance various workloads when working on projects with multiple stakeholders and priorities.
Contact details
For an informal discussion please contact Daniel Lee-Grabowski on Daniel.leegrabroski@surreycc.gov.uk.
The job advert closes at 23:55 on 28 July with interviews to be held on Monday 5th August.
An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.
Our Values
Our values are as important as our abilities and shape who we are as an organisation. Discover more about our values.
Our values are as important as our abilities and shape who we are as an organisation. Discover more about our values.
Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description. Our Life at Surrey handbook also attached provides insights of the culture at Surrey and how as a valued employee, you can help shape our Council.
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.
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