Children and Young People Social Prescribing Project Lead

About the role

Are you passionate about improving the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people? Are you looking for an opportunity to lead an innovative and impactful programme?

We are seeking a Children and Young People’s Social Prescribing Project Lead to join the Public Health team at North Northamptonshire Council on a 12-month fixed-term contract. This is an exciting opportunity to lead the development and delivery of a new social prescribing pilot, supporting young people aged 11–18 to access early, non-clinical support.

You will be responsible for the end-to-end delivery of the project, including planning, implementation, performance management and evaluation. Working closely with schools, health partners, youth services and VCSE organisations, you will build strong partnerships and develop effective referral pathways that connect young people to meaningful community-based activities.

This role requires excellent project management, communication and leadership skills, with the ability to work collaboratively across a wide range of stakeholders. You will also provide support and oversight to Link Workers, ensuring high-quality, person-centred interventions that improve wellbeing, resilience and social connection.

If you wish to arrange an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact Andile.Chigbo@Northnorthants.gov.uk.

This opportunity will expire at midnight on Tuesday 9th June 2026.

Interviews are currently expected to be held during the week commencing the 22nd of June 2026.

What will you be doing?

Principal Responsibilities:

1. Service & Project Management - To plan, organise, and manage all aspects of the CYP Social Prescribing pilot. This includes establishing referral pathways, developing resources and tools, supporting recruitment and induction of staff, ensuring appropriate systems are in place, and maintaining oversight of day to day delivery. The postholder is accountable for ensuring the service meets its agreed outcomes, timescales and quality standards are met.
2. Stakeholder Management - To identify, engage, and maintain effective relationships with key stakeholders including schools, GPs, health services, youth organisations, leisure services, VCSE partners, and internal council teams. The postholder must ensure clear communication, manage expectations, and provide strategic and operational leadership to optimise referral flows and service impact.
3. Project Governance - To work within relevant council policies, safeguarding procedures, data sharing requirements, and project governance frameworks. Responsible for ensuring the pilot is delivered consistently, ethically, and safely, with all processes clearly documented.
4. Resource & Budget Coordination - To support management of the project budget, including monitoring expenditure, maintaining accurate records, and providing updates to the public health team. To administer the CYP discretionary activity fund by processing requests, tracking usage, and ensuring spending remains within agreed limits and supports equitable access.
5. Leadership & Support to Link Workers - To provide leadership, management, guidance and operational oversight to the CYP Social Prescribing Link Workers. This includes helping to prioritise caseloads, ensuring access to relevant resources, coordinating training, and supporting the planning and delivery of high quality personalised social prescribing interventions.
6. Service Improvement & Development - To support continuous improvement of the service by identifying operational gaps, gathering feedback, and embedding good practice. The postholder will contribute to refining pathways, resources, and tools that strengthen early intervention and align with the Council’s prevention and Next Generation Working approaches.
7. Project Documentation & Monitoring - To ensure all project documentation is maintained and up to date, including referral logs, partnership agreements, process maps, risk registers, caseload summaries, evaluation data, and progress reports. Responsible for ensuring accurate recording of risks, issues, benefits and outcomes within required timescales.
8. Reporting & Professional Advice - To prepare clear, concise updates and reports for the Public Health team, senior leaders, steering groups, and partners, and to act as the responsible officer for identifying issues, risks and required changes.
9. Communication - To lead effective internal and external communication about the service, choosing the most appropriate methods (face to face, written, digital, presentations). To support youth friendly communication approaches and ensure consistent messaging across all stakeholders.

About you

Education, Qualifications and Training

Essential Criteria

• Degree in a related area (e.g. health, public health, social care, education, youth work, business studies) or equivalent professional qualification/experience.

Desirable Criteria

• Recognised project management qualification e.g. PRINCE2, MSP, Agile, LEAN
• Training related to mental health, early intervention, safeguarding, or youth participation.
• Evidence of continued professional development relevant to working with children and young people or community-based services.

Experience and Knowledge

Essential Criteria

• Experience of managing small to medium sized projects (< £250k)
• Experience of using tools and techniques associated with service improvement and project management.
• Experience of managing small scale business improvement or change, e.g. for a single team.
• Experience of managing business improvements, including full process mapping and options analysis and appraisal.
• Demonstrable experience of leading, managing or directing people and project teams.
• Knowledge of project/change management concepts and methodologies e.g. PRINCE2.
• Knowledge of ICT capabilities to meet business needs.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of analysing and solving complex process and systems problems
• Experience identifying, managing and influencing stakeholders across multiple sectors (e.g. schools, health, VCSE).
• Awareness of national/local policy agendas relevant to CYP mental health, early intervention, social prescribing, youth services, and local government challenges.
• Awareness of the National and Local Government agenda, current issues and challenges.

Ability and Skills

• Ability to recognise political sensitivity within a project.
• Ability to plan, coordinate and deliver activities to set timescales, prioritising effectively.
• Ability to influence, negotiate and work collaboratively with partner organisations, including translating CYP needs into service requirements.
• Ability to develop and deliver projects and successfully manage change in working practices as a result of a project.
• Ability to recognise political sensitivity within projects and respond appropriately.

Equal Opportunities

• Ability to demonstrate awareness/understanding of equalities, inclusion, and the behavioural, physical, social and welfare needs of children and young people.

Additional Factors

• Ability to travel across North Northamptonshire as required.

Our Benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

Customer-focused
Respectful
Efficient
Supportive
Trustworthy

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

Disability Confident Employer

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

Our Employment and Disability Service provides bespoke support to individuals facing barriers to employment, helping them work towards their goals to start, stay and succeed in employment. For further information please click here The Employment and Disability Service (EADS) | North Northamptonshire Council

Armed Forces Community

The council obtained the Gold status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS).

Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council (northnorthants.gov.uk)