Vacancy: Project officer – Young People Leaving Care Programme – closing date 11pm Monday April 21st

Are you passionate about using your project skills to improve the lives of care leavers? Do you want a flexible home-based role where you can really make a difference to care experienced people nationally?  Are you a ‘get things done’ kind of person?

If so, we want to hear from you!  As a Project Officer for the Care Leavers Programme, you’ll be a key member of the team – using your skills and experience to continue the programmes success.

You will be working alongside people with lived experience and the wider Shared Lives Plus team to support and develop Shared Lives for Care Leavers.

Shared Lives Plus is the UK membership charity for more than 6,000 Shared Lives carers and 150 Shared Lives schemes. We also host the Homeshare UK Network, which has a membership of 20 local organisations. Our vision is a kinder, stronger society built on sharing our lives and our homes.

We help build communities where everyone lives a full life, regardless of the support they need. We do this by turning Shared Lives and Homeshare into thriving, mainstream options, with all the right structures in place to support and guide those who want to share their lives and homes.

We do this through a combination of guidance, support to our members, strategic advice (which involves providing practical support to local areas to grow Shared Lives), innovation programmes (to digitise, diversify and grow the model of support) and communications to raise public awareness.

Shared Lives Plus’ Chief Executive is also on the Leadership Team for IMPACT, the UK centre for implementing evidence in adult social care and we are deeply in the Social Care Future movement.  

It is an exciting time for Shared Lives and Homeshare. In England, we have seen the largest ever investment in Shared Lives through the Accelerating Reform Fund, a new initiative which seeks to scale innovations in social care and there is significant interest in children’s social care to see the model expanded for children leaving care.

The recently published report by the Housing for Older People’s Taskforce, also recommended that there be growth in Shared Lives. In Scotland and in Wales, Government has renewed its interest in supporting the growth of Shared Lives.  

Shared Lives Plus is an Equal Opportunities organisation, and we are committed to ensuring that all trustees are motivated, skilled and rewarded by their work. We are committed to anti-racism, disability equality and a human rights-based approach. We seek to involve people with lived experience in all strategic decisions, planning, delivery and evaluation of what we do.  

• To develop, support, and project manage the Care Leavers Programme across the four nations
• To provide support, information and advice to the schemes who are part of the programme, including arranging events, training and on-site sessions and workshops
• To co-produce the programme and its direction with all stakeholders
• Gather data, qualitative and quantitative, to evidence the impact to internal and external stakeholder, including current and future funders.

• To oversee and develop the programme plan, including risk management and mitigation, leading weekly programme meetings.
• To report exceptions and high levels of risk to line manager, CEO and board as required.
• Ensure that the programme remains on track and is delivering against its aims and objectives.

• Provide information and advice to programme members.
• Develop, write and maintain high quality information and learning resources useful for developing Shared Lives for care leavers.
• Identify issues of concern to programme members and develop strategies to address those issues in partnership with wider colleagues and stakeholders.
• Support members to raise awareness of their work locally and to participate in national awareness-raising work.
• Represent the Shared Lives Care Leavers Programme at internal and external meetings and events.
• Be part of the creation of training and learning sessions for schemes and their carers, to develop their skills and knowledge around care leavers.

• To support the care experienced Ambassadors to participate and engage in all aspects of the programme.
• To facilitate focus groups and forums to gather the views and experiences of those who interact with the Shared Lives for Care Leavers and ensure this is represented in messaging and resources.
• To co-produce guidance and resources to support the growth of Shared Lives as a viable option for care leavers across the four nations.
• To support the workshops, community of practice and other sessions to be useful and effective ways to bring the programme members together and drive the programme forward.

• Work with the Data and Support Officer to gather data on a quarterly basis.
• Analysis and interrogate data to identify trends and impact.
• Collect qualitative information from one-to-one sessions with each scheme in the programme, exploring their local challenges and opportunities.
• Create dashboards and other mechanisms to communicate the data collected.
• Play a vital role in the creation of evaluation data collection and reporting as required and communicate this to funders and wider stakeholders as required.

• Work in accordance with Shared Lives Plus’s aims, objectives, policies and procedures and promote a positive image of the organisation and its members.
• Undertake such other duties as may reasonably be required, commensurate with the level of the post. As Shared Lives Plus is a small organisation, all staff carry out ‘hands-on’ work at all levels, on occasion.

Qualifications

• Educated to degree level or can evidence similar level of experience
• Prince2 or similar

Skills

• Excellent presentation, communication and writing skills.
• Able to engage confidently and constructively with Shared Lives schemes, carers and people living in a Shared Lives scheme.
• Confident in using excel, power point and project management tools
• Able to work flexibly and creatively using own initiative.
• Excellent IT skills.
• Able to form good working relationships with others and work as an effective team member.
• Enthusiastic and adaptable.
• Managing and prioritizing own workload.

Knowledge

• Children’s social care and care leavers policy and pratice
• An understanding of Shared Lives and the philosophy underpinning our work and the sector.
• An understanding of the context in which Shared Lives operates, politically, financially and socially.
• Knowledge and understanding of relevant government policies, particularly around care leavers and transitions.

Behaviour and values

• Ability to demonstrate behaviours that reflect the Shared Lives Plus Values –
  • Authenticity
  • Integrity
  • Sense of Purpose
  • Zest and Energy

Attitudes

• Commitment to empowering people who use services and their families
• Demonstrable commitment to working in ways which promote equality of opportunity and diversity
• Values the principles of co-production, empowering people who use services and partnership working
• You will be an energetic, tenacious and friendly person who enjoys meeting new people and building relationships
• Confident, positive, and innovative
• A genuine team member – willing to help and support colleagues in a small team

Practical

• Ability to work the hours dictated by the needs and demands of the job
• Able to travel as and when required by the job, including national travel that may include occasional overnight stays

For an informal conversation regarding this role please call or email Rachel Leslie, Strategic Advisor for Care Leavers and Transitions on 07931 561 256 or rachel.leslie@sharedlivesplus.org.uk

For all applications for this role, please send updated CV and Supporting Statement to recruitment@sharedlivesplus.org.uk

Your Supporting Statement should be kept to a maximum of two pages and should include:

• Why you want to work for the shared living sector
• How you meet the requirements of each area of the person specification (please use the job description above) showing:
  • Relevant skills and experience
  • How your knowledge, values and attitude make you a suitable candidate
  • How you would meet the practical requirements of the job

Closing date for applications Monday 21st April 2025 at 11pm.

Full Interviews will be held via teams on Monday 28th April 2025 or Thursday 7th May 2025.