User Voice and Participation Officer - Woking, United Kingdom - Surrey County Council

Tom O´Connor

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Description
Job Introduction

The starting salary for this role is £29,844 per annum for working 36 hours per week. This is a 12-month fixed term contract.

Participation Officer - Surrey Youth Cabinet


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.


The UVP Team run Surrey Youth Voice which includes 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.

We are recruiting a Participation Officer to specifically lead Surrey Youth Cabinet and our Young Mayor programme.

You might have experience working with young people around civic participation e.g., young mayor programmes, public campaigns, or even school councils.

However, this is not essential as full training will be provided. More information can be found on Surrey Youth Voice - Surrey County Council ).

As a Participation Officer, you will be responsible for:

  • Organising and managing children and young people participation projects and events.
  • Supporting and creating opportunities for children and young people to have their voice heard.
  • Embedding positive service change following feedback from children and young people.
  • Writing reports and presenting children and young people's feedback to senior management, boards, and partners.
  • Advocating for children and young people's rights and championing participation.
  • Supervising and supporting UVP apprentices.
  • Passionate about children and young people participation.
  • Able to build positive rapports with children and young people.
  • Ability to empathise and be compassionate whilst being resilient when hearing others' experience, which can be upsetting.
  • Experience of supervising, coaching, or mentoring multiple people and able to evidence how the support offered enabled others to reach their full potential.
  • Experience of effectively managing multiple areas of work, such as engagement events, market research projects, training, reporting and surveys etc.
  • People and influencing skills: able to work with a wide range of people, actively listening and truly hearing others' views.
  • Teamwork: we are all in this together and collaborate internally and externally to achieve our ultimate goals.
  • Ability to analyse data, see feedback themes and create meaningful reports.
  • Support our team values: we are empowering, trustworthy, honest, collaborative, and inclusive.
This is a role that will give you fulfilment and the opportunity to truly make a difference. You will become part of a team that supports each other's mental health, learning needs, and personal growth.


The team is currently based in Woking, but you will be expected to travel across the county to deliver services.


At Surrey, our values and behaviours are just as important as our skills and abilities. They shape who we are as an organisation. Find out more about the values
we follow.
Additional Information
The job advert closes at 23:59 on 28/05/2023 with interviews to follow.


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.


Contact Details

Benefits
From flexible working to job sharing (where possible) we are committed to providing a healthy work life balance. A laptop and mobile will be supplied if applicable to your role. You will benefit from 26 days' annual leave and a generous local government salary related pension.

For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit
MyBenefits for Surrey County Council staff.

**Our Commitment

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