Participation Worker

Job Title: Participation Worker
Starting Salary: £31,536 progressing to £34,433 pa
Hours: 37.0
Location: Hertfordshire
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Childrens Services

About the team

The Participation Team works to ensure that the voices of children, young people, and families are heard and acted upon at every level. We champion their involvement in shaping individual care plans and influencing wider service development. By building trusted relationships and creating meaningful opportunities for engagement, the team empowers young people and families who access Childrens Services to share their experiences and ideas. Our goal is to turn feedback into positive change, making services more responsive, inclusive, and effective.

About the role

This role is dedicated to advocating the voices of children, young people, and families, ensuring their views shape both individual care planning and broader service development. Working within the Participation Team, you will collaborate with children, young people and families in care, care leavers, and those subject to early help, Child in Need (CiN) and Child Protection (CP) plans.

Key Responsibilities:

• Engagement & Participation: Lead and support the CHICC (Children in Care Council) and other participation groups. Organise and deliver a variety of projects, events, and activities that engage children and young people across the service.
• Consultation & Influence: Use creative and age-appropriate consultation methods to gather views from a diverse range of children and young people. Ensure their voices are heard in statutory review meetings, including CP and CiN, groups, 1-2-1 visits, telephone consultation and events & activities.
• Community Building: Develop a representative community of young people, reflecting the diversity (e.g. age, disability, ethnicity, placement type).
• Communication: Create and maintain youth-friendly communication tools, including multimedia content, surveys, and film projects. Produce monthly e-bulletins to keep staff informed and engaged with participation work. Make calls part of auditing in practice week, EHCP (Education and Health Care Plans) feedback calls and any other projects the Participation team have.
• Collaboration & Advocacy: Work closely with social workers and other professionals to ensure children and young people’s views are considered in service planning. Attend regional and national events to share best practices and learn from others.

About you

Essential:

• Experience of working with Children, Young People and Families in a group setting.
• Experience of providing high quality services to children, young people and their families.
• Experience of successfully managing project meeting deadlines.
• Demonstrable commitment to diversity and inclusion when working with and obtaining the views of children and families.
• Good written, IT and organisational skills.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills
• Experience of working within a statutory setting with knowledge of the legislation that underpins safeguarding.
• A full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle.

Desirable:

• Experience of working within social care.
• Experience of Liquid Logic Case Management Systems.

In this role, you’ll have the chance to make a lasting impact by ensuring that the voices of children, young people, and families directly influence the services they rely on. Your work will help shape provision across HCC and partner organisations, including health, housing, and education, so that decisions are informed by real lived experiences. With the support of a dedicated team and access to ongoing training, you’ll play a vital part in creating positive change and improving outcomes for those who need it most.

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is within the Health and Social Care Services, level HSC8 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Health and social care

To hear more about this opportunity please contact either

Brooke Donovan – Team manager Brooke.donovan@hertfordshire.gov.uk 07580 744286 or Lauren Penrose – Service Manager Lauren.penrose@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Interview Date: 17th December in person at our Stevenage offices.

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Additional information

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Driving required
You’ll need to have the ability to drive and/or travel around Hertfordshire, either using your own mode of transport or a company car to travel to other locations.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.