Child support officer jobs

Do you believe every young person should have the opportunity to thrive, and want to help connect supporters with the chance to make that a reality?
 

Manchester Youth Zone is looking for a skilled, relationship-driven Philanthropy and Corporate Partnerships Lead to help grow and nurture a community of major donors and corporate supporters who play a vital role in breathing life into the charity's mission.
 

Salary: £39,318 to £42,672 FTE
Location: Manchester, with some homeworking (3 days onsite FTE)
Contract: 12-months with potential to extend, 40 hours per week FTE, with flexibility for reduced hours (minimum 3 days per week)
Benefits: 33 days annual leave, pro rata, an additional day off for your birthday, 5% employer pension contribution, access to an Employee Assistance Programme, onsite gym and sports facilities
 

About the charity
 

Located in Harpurhey (one of Manchester's most economically deprived areas), Manchester Youth Zone is an established independent charity dedicated to providing young people with somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to.
 

They support young people aged 8 to 19, and up to 25 for those with additional needs, offering high quality youth work, mentoring and targeted support during evenings and weekends. Their purpose is to create passion, purpose and pathways for every young person who walks through their doors.

About the role
 

Major donors have always been central to the youth zone's story. You will manage a portfolio worth over £1 million, nurturing and uplifting valued supporters, as well as securing new five and six-figure gifts.
 

You will create thoughtful, personalised donor journeys and steward significant relationships that lead to long-term, multi-year commitments.
 

This is an exciting opportunity for someone proactive and relationship-led, with the confidence to build trust quickly. Working closely with the Interim Chief Executive, Trustees and senior volunteers during a period of leadership transition, you will open doors, strengthen partnerships and bring the impact of the youth zone's work to life for donors.
 

There is a very real and significant opportunity for growth and development in this role, for the right candidate.

About You
 

You bring a strong track record of securing five-figure, multi-year gifts from either businesses or high-net-worth individuals, along with experience building and converting high-value pipelines.
 

An excellent communicator, you are confident making senior-level, face-to-face asks and developing compelling cases for support.
 

Strategic, organised and calm under pressure, you can manage competing priorities with ease, always maintaining accuracy and care.
 

You are moved and motivated by the opportunity to improve young people's lives and driven to deliver outstanding results.
 

How to Apply
 

Please send a copy of your profile or CV to Amelia Lee at Charity People, as the first step.
 

If your experience matches what we're looking for, we'll be in touch with further information on how to make your formal application.
 

Deadline: Only because this role has been advertised previously, we'll be accepting applications on a rolling basis. If you feel this disadvantages you in any way, reach out to Amelia Lee at Charity People and she'll ensure you don't miss out.

Charity People is a forward thinking, inclusive organisation that actively and deliberately promotes equity, diversity and inclusion. We know organisations thrive when inclusion is at the forefront. We evidence our commitment by matching charity needs with the skills and experience of candidates irrespective of background e.g. age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We do this because we believe that greater diversity leads to greater results for the charities we work with.

Healthwatch Brent, Westminster and RBKC

Healthwatch was set up in 2013 to champion the rights of health and social care users, and hold the health and social care system to account for how well it engages with the public. During 2026/27 these services are preparing for transition while continuing to build on their legacy.

Healthwatch’s remit covers all publicly funded health and social care services for adults and children.

Healthwatch Brent, Healthwatch Westminster and Healthwatch Kensington & Chelsea are three of 152 local Healthwatch organisations. The Advocacy Project Hosts three services. We’re building on the important work that’s been done to date,  planning for the future while bringing new insights from the voices of seldom heard and hard to hear groups.

About the role

Are you an accomplished Health and Social care manager looking for a new exciting challenge?  Are you adept at managing teams and services through change? Passionate about the role of independent voice and the value of lived experience in the NHS?  The Healthwatch senior manager role is for you.

As Healthwatch senior manager for The Advocacy Project you will play a central role in shaping the strategic and operational management of our Healthwatch services. This includes direct support to Healthwatch managers in Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, and Brent, ensuring that the services are inclusive, effective, and of high quality.

Key responsibilities

• To Provide strategic management for effective, inclusive and high quality local Healthwatch.
• Supporting the 3 advisory boards to be at their most effective during this period.
• Working with the CEO to engage with the ICB and other stakeholders to plan for next steps
• Make sure the work of HW Westminster (HWW), HW Kensington & Chelsea (HWRBKC) and HW Brent (HWB) conforms to all required principles, objectives and statutory obligations, and meets all contractual requirements between The Advocacy Project (as host organisation) and the local authorities.
• Line management of HW managers in each borough.
• Provide leadership to make sure the patient and public voice is heard across health, social care, in a continuously changing external environment.
• Working with managers in each borough, make sure HWB, HWW and HWRBKC involve the local community, particularly seldom heard groups, in influencing local and national policy and are responsive and sensitive to the needs of community groups with protected characteristics.
• Be available to represent The Advocacy project, HWB, HWW and HWRBKC at all strategic governance and external meetings with key stakeholders, liaising with nominated Board leads regularly.
• Support local managers to develop the services to respond to emerging trends and needs, while keeping abreast of Healthwatch England best practice to continually enhance the quality of the service.
• Develop effective partnerships with key staff in health and social care services.
• Work with local managers in each borough to ensure all projects are informed and influenced by local communities and strategic partners.
• Support the effective planning and resourcing of project work, working to Healthwatch England best practice guidance.
• Ensure that project plans and intended outcomes are clearly communicated to key stakeholders.
• Work with the shared Insight and Outcomes Analyst to make sure quality systems are effective and used to demonstrate the Healthwatch service is achieving outcomes and impact,and meeting key performance indicators.
• Ensure that lived experience and service user involvement is embedded in all evaluation.
• Provide reports to key stakeholders, including The Advocacy Project Trustees,  Commissioners, Advisory Boards, Health and Wellbeing Boards and Healthwatch England demonstrating our impact.
• dentify funding opportunities and work with The Head of Business Development to support funding bids.
• Work with the borough Communications leads to make sure all relevant internal and external stakeholders receive relevant, timely and up-to-date communication about all Healthwatch projects.
• Keep up to date with current trends in health policy, service provision, current practice and matters concerning people as citizens, by reading, attending courses and networking.

General responsibilities

• Participate in team meetings, training and organisational development.
• Contribute to monitoring reports.
• Keep to our policies, including health & safety, safeguarding and risk regulations.
• Work to our mission, vision, and values.
• Work flexibly to meet the needs of the service, in line with the changing local and national landscape and carry out other projects and tasks as needed.

Person specification

Essential

• Excellent knowledge of and experience of working at a high strategic level with the health and social care system and the voluntary and community sector, in particular Healthwatch.
• Thorough understanding of user engagement, community development, user involvement, and co-production principles and practice.
• Comfortable and capable of engaging with senior leaders in Health and Social Care both on a one-to-one basis and at strategic meetings such as scrutiny boards.
• Experience of managing through periods of change and uncertainty
• Experience working with diverse communities and tackling discrimination and inequality.
• Relevant experience in project delivery and evaluation, including data gathering and analysis, or training in research methods, statistics, or data analysis.
• Significant leadership or line Management experience including managing, developing and motivating a staff team.
• Experience in contract management and compliance.
• Excellent communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills. Effective in working with a wide variety of stakeholders ranging from trustees, commissioners, partners, colleagues, and local residents.  
• Excellent organizational skills; ability to work on own initiative and plan and prioritize own workload.
• Experience managing a budget.
• Commitment to working within The Advocacy Project and Healthwatch code of conduct, equality and safeguarding policies.
• Willingness to attend further training as appropriate and to adopt new procedures.
• Willingness to promote Healthwatch and The Advocacy Project in line with our mission, vision and values.

Desirable

• Experience working with volunteer boards and high caliber volunteers.
• Evidence of ongoing personal development and training related to the role.
• Detailed knowledge of NHS systems
• Understanding the public health challenges in Westminster, RBKC, and Brent.
• Experience working with senior managers in public sector bodies.

Benefits of working for us

We’re committed to providing an empowering, flexible and supportive working environment for all our staff.

Our employee benefits include 30 days annual leave (including up to 3 days between Christmas and New Year), participation in a pension scheme with 6% employer contribution, access to a free confidential counselling service, and an interest-free travel/bike loan.

All our staff are supported to learn and develop in a variety of ways, including a monthly lecture series where we invite sector experts to talk to our staff on topical issues.