Participation & Co-production Lead

ID: 1866          Participation & Co-production Lead (London Region)

Service:           Family Action London Region Services

Salary:

-       Grade 3 point 24-28

-       Starting at £36,501 - £40,024 FTE per annum (£21,900.60 - £24,014.40 per annum, pro rata)

-       Inclusive of £3,866 Inner London Weighting FTE per annum

Location: London Region (hybrid working arrangements available, subject to service requirements).

Hours: Part-time, 22.2 hours per week (0.6 FTE). We offer flexible working arrangements.

We offer flexible working arrangements - please see below for more details.

Contract: Permanent position (funding is currently secured for two years and may be extended if additional funding is secured).

Family Action & the Role’s Impact:

At Family Action we support people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities.

This is an exciting opportunity to lead and strengthen participation and co-production across Family Action's London services. This role will enable children, young people, families and adults to influence the design, delivery, evaluation and continuous improvement of services, ensuring that lived experience is at the heart of decision-making.

As the regional lead for participation and co-production, you will provide leadership and specialist advice to managers, build organisational capacity, and establish sustainable participation structures across London. While the role has a broad regional remit, youth participation will be the initial priority area.

Main Responsibilities:

·       Lead and champion participation and co-production across Family Action's London services.

·       Support the implementation, development and continuous improvement of Family Action's national Participation and Co-production Strategy across London services, ensuring regional learning and lived experience inform organisational practice.

·       Coordinate regional participation initiatives, including advisory groups, consultations, engagement activities and co-production opportunities.

·       Establish sustainable participation structures, including a Young People's Advisory Group during the initial phase of the role.

·       Support managers and teams to embed inclusive participation and co-production approaches within services.

·       Work collaboratively with EDI, Learning & Development, Practice Development and Communications colleagues to promote participation, share learning and communicate impact.

·       Monitor, evaluate and evidence impact, contributing to service improvement, partnership development and future sustainability.

Main Requirements (for details check the job description and person specification):

We are looking for someone with:

·       Experience of leading, facilitating and embedding participation, engagement and co-production approaches within services or organisations.

·       Experience of influencing managers, leading projects and driving positive organisational change.

·       Experience of working with diverse communities, including people experiencing disadvantage, inequality or social exclusion.

·       Experience of facilitating inclusive engagement and empowering people with lived experience to influence decisions affecting their lives and communities.

·       Strong communication, relationship-building and stakeholder engagement skills.

·       Knowledge of participation and co-production principles, frameworks and methodologies.

·       A strong commitment to participation, co-production and ensuring the voices of people with lived experience shape service development.

Desirable:

·       Personal lived experience relevant to the communities we support.

·       Knowledge of national participation structures, standards and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Appointments are subject to Family Action receiving a satisfactory disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service – Enhanced

Benefits:

-       an annual paid leave entitlement that commences at 25 working days, and after a full year of service, rising each April by one day, subject to a maximum of 30 working days plus bank holidays / of 30 working days plus bank holidays

-       up to 6% matched-pension contributions

-       enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions

-       eye care and winter flu jabs vouchers

-       cycle to work scheme

-       investing in your professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities

We are forward looking, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement. We are a people focused, can-do organisation, which strives for excellence in all we do and operates with mutual respect.

To Apply:

·       Click the ‘Apply’ link below and fill out our digital application form

·       Closing Date: Sunday, 20th September 2026 at 23:59

Interviews are scheduled to take place from 14th-15th October 2026 at Family Action Head Office, with slots throughout the working day and early/late slots available.

For any queries, or if you would like to discuss any aspect of the selection process or the potential for flexible working, please email: austra.welburn (full email addres located on advert document)

All appointments with Family Action are subject to satisfactory Safer Recruitment checks.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:

We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any adjustments if shortlisted for interview. We also make reasonable adjustments on the job, where required.

We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates. We are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Actionbecause we know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and we strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support.

All candidates with a disability are welcome to apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and request priority consideration for an interview, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role.

To help remove financial barriers to working with us, we will reimburse reasonable travel costs if you are invited to attend an interview in person.

*Ordinarily Family Action appoints new starters at the starting point of the salary scale (with subsequent annual pay progression), unless you have experience that would justify appointment further up the salary scale or there are any other exceptional reasons.