Wiltshire Parent Carer Council Consultant Vacancy

Wiltshire Parent Carer Council CIC (WPCC) Parent Carer Consultant

Job Information Pack

Coproducing a single social care pathway for children, young people and adults with disabilities

Contents About the WPCC

Page 1

About the Project

Page 2

Person Specification

Page 4

Job Description

Page 5

Additional Information

Page 6

How to Apply

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About the Wiltshire Parent Carer Council CIC (WPCC) The Wiltshire Parent Carer Council CIC (WPCC) is an independent organisation which is managed and run by parent carers, for parent carers, seeking to enable the voice and experiences of parent carers to positively influence the services that their children and families use.

Representing over 3,000 parent carers of children and young people in Wiltshire with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND), the WPCC provides a specialist consultation and participation service which enables parent carers to have a voice about the services and support their children and families use. This service offers real opportunities to influence and shape provision across the local area, and work in partnership with the people who commission and deliver services in Wiltshire.

The WPCC also provides its specialist information and signposting service called SENDIS, to support parent carers of children and young people with SEND, and those working with them. WPCC’s SENDIS service is a ‘one-stop shop’ that provides a wealth of specialist information as well as signposting to specialist services which support families raising a child or young person with SEND. This service is enhanced by our Outreach Service and Telephone Triage Team.

Improving local services for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities

There’s nothing that can’t be done if we raise our voice as one 1

About the Project Wiltshire Council has asked the WPCC to lead on coproduction with parent carers, to develop proposals to create a single social care pathway for children, young people and adults with disabilities. Wiltshire Council wants the WPCC to undertake coproduction on specific proposals to create an all-age disability service within social care and to transform day opportunities for disabled people. This will involve bringing together people who have lived experience of social care and/or who use or have used these services.

The objective of the coproduction project is to enable parent carers to have a strong voice in the development of social care support in Wiltshire. The coproduction period and subsequent write-up and analysis should take no longer than three months from start of contract. It is anticipated that the contract will start on or around midNovember 2021.

The Council specifically wants to hear the views of disabled young people and their families about: ➢

how we improve our current transitions arrangements.

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how we create a seamless all-age disability pathway.

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what kind of day opportunities young people want to access, which help them to learn new skills, play an active part as citizens in their community, and live independently.

The scope of the coproduction is to actively listen to the experiences and views of people with lived experience, to hear what outcomes disabled people and their families want from services and to ensure these are at the heart of any future service model.

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The coproduction should focus on outcomes and cover: ➢

What is important to the person about their life, what they would like to change and how the proposed services could help them to achieve those changes.

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How existing or potential customers want to coproduce their support plans with professionals, networks, etc; and how they want to review progress against support plans.

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What are the possible options around the current model, what are the possible risks and benefits of a new way of working by adult services reaching in earlier and aligning resources where appropriate, and how likely are these risks and benefits.

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What does a good life look like for young people who have a disability, and how ?

When trying to engage parent carers in the coproduction, it will be important to consider individuals or groups who are directly affected by the service, now and in the future; and other individuals or groups who may have a valuable role to play going forward. It is also important to recognise those individuals and groups who may be ‘seldom heard’. It will be important to ensure that all communities are given equal opportunity to contribute and take proactive steps to make reasonable adjustments where appropriate. We will need to ensure that parent carers throughout Wiltshire (excluding Swindon) are given the opportunity to engage.

Alongside face to face engagement, we will also use digital technology where possible, relevant or appropriate to enable the widest possible participation.

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About You 

You will be a good communicator

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You will need to have an understanding of coproduction

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You need to have lived experience as a parent carer*. You could be a carer of an adult over the age of 25, or a parent carer of a child or young person under the age of 25

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You will have the confidence, skills and preferably the experience to deliver a project

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You will need to be motivated and be able to work independently to achieve results without close supervision

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You will have excellent people skills and be able to engage with a diverse audience

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You will have sufficient ICT skills to enable you to present information, facilitate virtual engagement sessions, collect feedback and produce reports

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You will need to be able to produce regular progress reports

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You will need to liaise with others and be able to work in partnership with other organisations at appropriate points during the project

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You will be punctual, organised, friendly and demonstrate a positive professional attitude

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You take pride in your own work and you are meticulous in attention to detail and accuracy

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You work well as part of team and you are able to show initiative and manage your own workload

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You will demonstrate a commitment to work in accordance with the principles of equality and diversity

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You will take responsibility for ensuring you work safely to maintain the health and safety of both yourself and others

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You understand and respect the need for confidentiality and data protection

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You are flexible, quick to learn and able to adapt to change

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you acknowledge when you make mistakes and take responsibility for addressing and correcting them

* The term parent carer is taken to mean anyone over the age of 18 who provides care to a disabled child for whom they have some parental responsibility. This does not have to be a parent but could include a relative with caring responsibilities, a foster parent or adoptive parent for example.

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Your Role You will need to have the necessary skills and experience to take responsibility for leading and delivering this project, ensuring the views of what parent carers want from services are heard and ensure these are at the heart of any future service model.

You will need to plan, organise and facilitate coproduction sessions for groups of parent carers to engage in and analyse the results. It is expected that you will have a knowledge of the county of Wiltshire and an understanding of how customers and carers in Wiltshire may wish to be engaged. You will need to plan and facilitate a number and range of different engagement opportunities so that all parent carers are given equal opportunity to contribute and you will take proactive steps to make reasonable adjustments where appropriate. You will make effective use of technology in delivering this project.

You will need to identify potential barriers to engagement, both generally (e.g. providing accessible venues/formats for discussions, finding out which times work best for people) and/or for specific groups, and identify how these barriers will be mitigated and/or overcome.

You will need to travel within Wiltshire in order to ensure as many parent carers are given the opportunity to engage in coproduction as possible. You will be able to claim travel expenses from the WPCC, incurred as a result of engagement activity.

You will need to produce a written report at the end of this project that includes an analysis of all findings. This report will need to be written in partnership with a partner organisation who will be responsible for engaging with young people with SEND.

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Other Information This is a three month project, expected to start on or near mid-November 2021.

You will be paid £170 per day for a maximum of 27 days. You will need to organise your time across the three month project and you will have some flexibility in organising which days you will work. It is expected that you will usually work within the hours of 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday but some flexibility may be required depending on how and when some parent carers wish to engage in coproduction sessions. You will need to plan and organise your time to include planning and preparing for engagement sessions, delivering and facilitating sessions, analysing findings and reporting.

A self-employed contract with the successful candidate would be preferred, but a fixed term contract will be considered if this is the preferred option of the successful candidate.

You will have some support from the WPCC team including promotion of coproduction sessions, support and supervision from the Strategic Director, and support to source and book venues from the Office Manager.

The WPCC can arrange the loan of a laptop if necessary and access to equipment such as a projector and stationery. You will be provided with a WPCC email address for the duration of the project.

Closing date for applications is 5pm on Sunday 14th November 2021.

Interviews for successful shortlisted candidates will take place on Monday 22nd November 2021, at the WPCC office which is in central Trowbridge.

It is hoped the successful candidate will start as soon as possible after the interview, subject to necessary checks. You will need an enhanced DBS; the WPCC will arrange this if you do not have a valid certificate.

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Ready to Apply?

Thank you for taking the time to read this pack.

If after having read the information in this pack, you have any further queries about the role and would like to talk to someone about it before deciding whether you would like to apply, please contact the WPCC Strategic Director, Stuart Hall on 01225 764647 or director@wiltspcc.co.uk who will be happy to help.

If you would like to be considered for the position, please proceed by completing our online application form: https://form.jotform.com/Stuartwork/parent-carerconsultant.

Please note, CVs or covering letters will not be considered.

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