Children and young people advisor jobs in Nottingham
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We are looking for a Weekenders Journey Guide to support prospective Weekend Foster Carers from their first conversations with Now Foster through to the next stages of the recruitment and assessment journey.
This is a highly relational, candidate-facing role. You will be one of the main people helping applicants understand what Weekenders is, explore whether it is right for them, stay motivated through the process, and feel supported to take the next step.
Introductory conversations (our ‘intro chats’) will be a core part of the role. You will speak with people who are curious about fostering, but who may also feel unsure, nervous or are still working out whether they can foster. Your role will be to bring warmth, clarity and momentum: helping people feel welcomed, informed and confident, while also making sure the right people progress at the right pace.
You will use Now Foster’s digital platform (a bespoke CRM system) to manage the candidate journey, track progress, record key information and help the team understand where applicants are getting stuck or moving forward. You will play an important role in making sure we are attracting the right leads, supporting them well, and learning how to improve the journey as we grow.
This role would particularly suit someone with experience of fostering or working in fostering. It could also suit someone from a related background who is deeply motivated by innovation in this area and excited by what fostering could look like if it were designed around children, carers and relationships.
You do not need to be a qualified social worker, but you do need to be emotionally mature, reflective, organised and comfortable working closely with a social work-led team. You will need to understand safeguarding, and be confident holding thoughtful conversations with prospective carers.
What You’ll Be Doing
Supporting candidates through the journey
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Acting as a consistent, warm and encouraging point of contact for prospective Weekend Foster Carers.
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Carrying out intro chats with people who have expressed interest in the Weekenders programme.
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Helping candidates understand the Weekenders programme, what the role involves, and what the journey looks like.
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Supporting candidates to reflect on whether Weekenders is right for them.
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Keeping candidates engaged, informed and motivated as they move through the process.
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Helping people overcome practical barriers where appropriate, while being honest and clear about expectations.
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Making sure candidate communication feels relational, timely and values-led.
Helping the right people progress
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Helping identify candidates who are ready to move forward, as well as those who may need more time, more information or a different route.
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Support candidates to progress, pause or close, as advised by our fostering service colleagues.
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Using strengths-based and motivational approaches to help candidates reflect on their motivations, support networks and capacity.
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Working closely with social work colleagues to escalate questions, concerns or safeguarding issues appropriately.
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Supporting candidates to prepare for training, home visits and assessment stages.
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Helping ensure the process is clear, efficient and supportive.
Supporting groups, events and community activity
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Supporting information events, training sessions and candidate-facing events.
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Co-delivering sessions with social workers and other colleagues.
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Helping create a welcoming community for people exploring Weekenders.
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Supporting socials and community-building activity for applicants and approved Weekend Foster Carers.
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Helping candidates connect with the mission and feel part of something meaningful.
Administration, data and follow-up
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Keeping candidate records, notes and next steps up to date on Now Foster’s digital platform.
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Using Google Workspace, Trello and other tools to access key documents and manage your workload.
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Making sure no candidate falls through the cracks.
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Supporting data capture so the team can understand what is working and where candidates are getting stuck.
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Helping improve templates, messages, prompts and workflows for the candidate journey.
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Supporting home visit admin and logistics where needed.
Contributing to innovation and learning
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Gathering feedback from candidates to help improve the journey and bringing this insight from candidate conversations into team discussions.
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Helping the team understand what motivates people to become Weekend Foster Carers, what worries them, and what helps them move forward.
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Supporting testing and iteration of new candidate journey approaches.
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Helping us build a process that is warm, efficient, inclusive and effective.
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Contributing to a new model of fostering that is relational, ambitious and designed around children and young people.
You’ll Thrive in This Role If You Are
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Warm and relational – able to build trust quickly and make people feel welcome.
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Emotionally mature – able to have thoughtful conversations about motivation, care, family life and uncertainty.
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A strong communicator – clear, encouraging and confident across phone, video calls, emails and written updates.
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Motivational and strengths-based – skilled at helping people see their potential while also being honest about what fostering involves.
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Organised and proactive – able to manage a busy candidate journey, track next steps and keep people moving.
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Tech-savvy – comfortable using digital platforms, Google Workspace and Trello.
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Confident in your judgement – able to decide when someone should progress, pause or close, while knowing when to seek advice.
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Safeguarding-aware – able to recognise when something needs to be escalated and comfortable working within clear safeguarding processes.
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Reflective and curious – interested in learning what works and improving the candidate journey over time.
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Comfortable with ambiguity – happy working in a small, growing charity where things are evolving.
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Committed to better outcomes for children and young people – motivated by Now Foster’s mission and the potential of Weekenders.
Experience We’re Looking For
Fostering experience would be highly beneficial. For example, this could include experience as a foster carer, working in fostering, supporting foster carers, working with fostering services, or working in a closely related part of children’s social care.
We are also interested in people with experience in:
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Volunteer management
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Children’s social care or youth work
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Community work
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Social prescribing
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Mentoring or coaching
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Recruitment, onboarding or candidate support
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Relationship-based support roles
Most importantly, we are looking for someone who understands the importance of relationships, can guide people through a meaningful decision-making process, and is excited by the possibility of building a different kind of fostering journey.
Bonus Points For
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Lived experience of the care system or fostering.
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Experience working directly with prospective or approved foster carers.
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Experience using motivational interviewing, coaching or strengths-based approaches.
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Experience supporting people through an application, recruitment, assessment or onboarding journey.
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Experience delivering or supporting information sessions, preparation groups, training or community events.
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Experience working remotely or in a flexible, fast-moving team.
An interest in innovation, service design or changing how fostering works.
About Us
Now Foster is a team of innovative social workers, designers, and entrepreneurs on a mission to change fostering in the UK.
We bring together social work, service design, public sector transformation and lived experience to create better outcomes for children and young people. Our overarching vision is to transform the fostering system by bringing many more wonderful people into it as foster carers, so that children and young people have the relationships, stability and support they need to thrive.
You will be joining a small, ambitious and passionate team, alongside our trustees, freelancers and advisors, all of whom play an active part in shaping our work. We partner with local authorities and not-for-profits who share our values and are ready to embrace change. As a registered charity, everything we do is driven by purpose, not profit.
About Weekenders
Weekenders is Now Foster’s flagship programme. It pairs children and young people in foster care with inspiring adults who can offer guidance, stability and encouragement on a regular basis. It is about showing up, making a difference, and being that person a young person can count on.
The programme is growing quickly. We are scaling Weekenders across London and beyond, testing new ways to support applicants, local authorities and independent social workers, and building the operational foundations needed for long-term growth.
A core part of this growth is making sure that people who are interested in becoming Weekend Foster Carers receive the right balance of warmth, encouragement, information and challenge as they move through the journey. That is where the Journey Guide comes in.
Working Pattern and Location
This role is offered at 4 to 5 days per week, with a salary of £34,000 pro rata.
The role can be based anywhere in England, with occasional travel to our Weekender delivery areas. Our Weekenders team is currently based across London and Manchester, and our wider organisational team is based in Oxford. Most work will be home-based, but there will be some in-person meetings, events, training sessions or bi-monthly co-working days.
The role will involve some work outside standard office hours. This is likely to include:
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Around one weekend day per month, which you would take back as time off during the previous or following week.
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Some evening work, for example around one information event per month.
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Some evening intro chats with prospective foster carers, where this helps people engage with the process.
We work flexibly and will support the successful candidate to manage their time in a sustainable way.
Safeguarding
Now Foster is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
This role will involve contact with prospective carers, rather than direct work with children and young people. However, you will need to understand safeguarding, work within Now Foster’s safeguarding processes, and escalate any concerns appropriately.
This role will require an enhanced DBS check.
What’s In It For You
Joining Now Foster means being part of something different. We are small, ambitious and innovative, and you will play a key role in helping Weekenders grow.
You will be close to the people exploring whether they could become Weekend Foster Carers, and your work will directly shape whether they feel supported, confident and ready to take the next step.
You will join a supportive, collaborative and values-led team. We work hard, care deeply about what we do, and are building something bold and lasting: a new way of fostering that blends social work, design, technology and relational practice.
We will provide the tools and technology you need, cover agreed travel and expenses, and support you to work flexibly within the rhythm of the programme.
How to Apply
Please send us your CV and a short cover letter explaining:
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Why you are interested in Now Foster and the Weekenders programme.
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The experience you would bring in supporting, guiding or motivating people.
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Any experience you have of fostering, working in fostering, children’s social care, community work, volunteer management or similar.
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What excites you about innovation in fostering and what fostering could look like.
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Your availability, including whether you are looking for 4 or 5 days per week and when you could start.
You must have the right to work in the UK.
We recognise that some candidates may use generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to support the preparation of their application. While this is acceptable, applications must remain an authentic reflection of your own experiences and motivations. We ask candidates to let us know if and how they used AI as part of the recruitment process.
Our Commitment to Equality
Now Foster is committed to being an equal opportunities employer. We celebrate diversity and actively encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, identities and experiences.
Recruitment and selection decisions are made on the basis of fair, objective and transparent criteria. We will also make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process to ensure accessibility for all candidates.
Please Note: We are hoping to appoint as soon as possible and will close recruitment once we find the right person so candidates are advised to submit an application as soon as they are able.
Registered Charity 
Thank you!
Join CAP's senior leadership team and help transform the UK's relationship with alcohol.
Applications close at 9 a.m. Thursday 25th June.
Location: Fully remote (in person board meeting twice pa) or option to work from London Bridge or hybrid.
Who we are
This is an opportunity to join a small organisation with a huge mission – to change the UK’s relationship with alcohol, starting with children and young people. In 18 years, we have established more than 360 partnerships across the UK with a common aim: to empower local communities to develop evidence-based strategies to tackle underage drinking.
Using a tried and tested model to tackle underage drinking and provide positive alternative activities for children, Community Alcohol Partnerships (CAP) supports local partnerships of councils, police, retailers, schools and health providers to reduce the problems associated with underage drinking both for individuals and communities.
About the role
We are looking for a part-time Finance & Governance Manager who will play a key part in a small, close-knit head team. The successful candidate will need to be both hands-on and collaborative, working closely with the head office team, supporting our eight regional advisers, and supporting the Board on finance and governance updates.
This role would suit someone who:
- Is technically strong in finance but comfortable working in a small, agile environment.
- Enjoys combining finance with governance and organisational support.
- Is hands-on, detail-oriented and proactive.
- Takes pride in clear, professional presentation of financial information.
- Is comfortable as an integral part of a small team rather than operating at arm’s length.
This is a well-rounded role with real opportunity to bring structure, clarity and improvement, but it requires someone pragmatic, flexible and comfortable with both the breadth and hands-on nature of the position.
Applications for this role close at 9 a.m. Thursday 25th June.
For further information about the role and to register your interest, please click 'redirect to recruiter' to be redirected to the Peridot Partners page and contact our advising consultants:
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Thank you!
About Adolescent Health Study
The Adolescent Health Study (AHS) is an ambitious new UKRI-funded initiative to establish a prospective, longitudinal population study that will generate a globally leading open science data platform and research resource. AHS aims to recruit at least 100,000 young people aged eight to 18 years from across the UK and to follow their mental and physical health and wellbeing over at least 10 years. It plans to collect data through questions and measures; to obtain bio-samples for a wide range of genomic and other high-throughput assays; and to capture linked data relevant to health and wellbeing from participants’ health, education and other administrative records. Recruitment will take place mainly through schools. There will be a strong emphasis on engaging with and involving young people, schools, parents and other relevant stakeholders in the design and delivery of the study, as well as on including young people that represent as wide as possible a range of backgrounds, experiences and characteristics. AHS will focus on enabling a wide range of research, including studies of the critical biological and social developments that occur during the transition from childhood to adulthood and the determinants of both mental and physical health and wellbeing in adolescents and young adults.
Purpose of the post
The Procurement Lead is responsible for developing and delivering a robust procurement and commercial strategy that ensures value for money, compliance with Procurement Act 2023 regulations in line with AHS being primarily public funded and supports AHS study and operational objectives. The role will lead on sourcing, contracting, supplier management, and commercial governance, ensuring ethical, transparent, and efficient use of public funds.
Main responsibilities
Procurement Strategy & Leadership
- Develop and implement a procurement and commercial strategy aligned with organisational goals and funding requirements.
- Lead procurement planning across research programmes, operations, and corporate services.
- Act as a subject matter expert on public procurement policy and best practice.
- Drive continuous improvement in procurement processes, systems, and capability.
Tendering and Contract Management
- Oversee end-to-end procurement processes including tendering, evaluation, and contract award.
- Ensure compliance with UK public procurement regulations (e.g., Procurement Act and associated guidance).
- Draft, review, and negotiate complex contracts, including research, clinical, and grant-related agreements.
- Manage contract lifecycle including performance monitoring, renewals, and extensions.
Commercial Governance & Compliance
- Establish and maintain procurement policies, procedures, and governance frameworks.
- Ensure all procurement activities meet audit, transparency, and reporting requirements for public funding.
- Identify and mitigate commercial risks across supplier engagements.
- Support internal and external audit processes.
Supplier & Stakeholder Management
- Build and maintain strategic supplier relationships, ensuring high performance and innovation.
- Collaborate with internal stakeholders (research teams, finance, legal) to understand needs and deliver value-driven procurement solutions.
- Work with external stakeholders including funders, partners and strategic advisors to develop optimum outcomes
- Provide commercial advice and guidance to senior leadership and project teams.
- Promote sustainable and ethical sourcing practices.
Financial & Value Management
- Deliver value for money through effective sourcing and negotiation strategies.
- Monitor procurement spend and identify cost-saving or efficiency opportunities.
- Contribute to budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning processes.
- Ensure funding is used appropriately, ethically and in line with public funding requirements.
Knowledge, skills and experience
Essential
Professional qualification in procurement or supply chain e.g., CIPS Level 5 or equivalent
Degree or comparable experience in business, finance, law, or related field.
Proven track record of managing complex procurement exercises and contracts.
Experience in procurement or commercial roles within regulated procurement environments, specifically those classed as a public authority
- Strong understanding of UK public procurement regulations and best practice.
- Commercial acumen with strong negotiation and contract management skills.
- Experience of drafting and reviewing heads of terms and commercial agreements.
- Knowledge of intellectual property (IP) considerations in research contracts.
- Strong experience in supplier and stakeholder management.
- Excellent analytical, financial, and problem-solving abilities.
- Strong communication and influencing skills across all levels of an organisation.
- Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities effectively.
Desirable
- CIPS Level 6 or equivalent
- Membership of a professional body (e.g., MCIPS or FCIPS).
- Experience managing high-value and complex contracts, including collaborative or partnership agreements
- Experience in procurement or commercial roles within charity and/or research sectors
- Detailed understanding of intellectual property (IP) considerations in research contracts.
- Detailed knowledge of the UK Procurement Act (or Public Contracts Regulations 2015 historically) and transitions between them.
- Experience of drafting and reviewing heads of terms and commercial agreements.
- Understanding of subsidy control, state aid, or funding compliance frameworks.
- Ability to analyse procurement data and generate insights using tools such as Excel, Power BI, or similar.
- Experience leading organisational change or transformation programmes in procurement.
- Ability to build procurement capability across a non-procurement stakeholder base.
Dimensions
- This is a full-time role, 37.5 hours per week, offered initially as an 18-month fixed-term contract with potential route to permanency.
- Flexible working across several geographical locations in the UK. Travel may be required to AHS locations and partner organisations.
- AHS is a national organisation, and our activities take place across the UK.
Application Process
All candidates are required to complete the application form which can be found when clicking 'Apply Now' via Charity Job.
Please refer to the ‘How to Apply’ section of the downloadable application form.
Please note that only applications submitted directly to Gravitate HR will be accepted for this position.
The closing date for applications is 11:00pm on Sunday 12th July 2026.
Interviews are currently expected to take place on Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st August 2026.
Equal Opportunities Policy Statement
AHS is an equal opportunities employer, and as such aims to treat all employees, consultants and applicants fairly. It is our policy to provide employment equality to all, irrespective of:
- Gender, including gender reassignment
- Marital or civil partnership status
- Having or not having dependants
- Religion or belief
- Race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins)
- Disability
- Sexual orientation
- Age
We are opposed to all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination. All job applicants and employees who work for us will be treated fairly and will not be unfairly discriminated against on any of the above grounds. Decisions about recruitment and selection, promotion, training or any other benefit will be made objectively and without unlawful discrimination.
Values
It is an exciting time for the Adolescent Health Study (AHS) as we establish our senior leadership team and begin to plan the pilot studies. As the senior executive team evolves, the AHS values will be grounded in inclusivity, integrity, accountability, and collaboration.
All candidates are required to complete the application form which can be found when clicking 'Apply Now' via Charity Job, within Supporting Documents.
Please refer to the ‘How to Apply’ section of the downloadable application form.
Please note that only applications submitted directly to Gravitate HR will be accepted for this position.
The closing date for applications is 11:00pm on Sunday 12 July 2026.
Interviews are currently expected to take place on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 August 2026.
