Research and evaluation manager jobs

Sensory Services by Sight for Surrey has been established for over 100 years.  We enable and empower people who are Deaf, hard of hearing, blind, partially sighted, and deafblind to overcome barriers and to be as independent as possible.

An exciting opportunity has arisen within our Children and Young People’s Service.  The team enables and empowers children, young people and families to thrive, by providing a variety of vibrant and impactful services, activities and events.

This role would suit someone who enjoys and is skilled at supporting families to overcome barriers they face as a result of having a disabled child, including providing one to one support, practical assistance, and group workshops.  Candidates should have experience of working with children, young people and families in a support role.

Key responsibilities

· Ensure parent carers have someone to work alongside them to help to overcome barriers they are facing as a family as a result of their child/’s sensory impairment.

· Provide practical assistance (such as letter writing and attending meetings with a parent carer) where this is needed.  This will include assisting with the Education & Health Care Plan (EHCP) to ensure it accurately reflects their needs.

· To assess and identify when the needs of the children and their families are not being met and work with parents, other professionals, and organisations as appropriate to address the issues with the aim of ensuring that the children have the opportunities and environments that will enable them to reach their potential and achieve their aspirations.

· Reduce loneliness and social isolation for parent carers by both connecting them with wider parent carer support services, and by organising and facilitating opportunities for them to come together, such as through drop-in events at community café’s and parent led support groups.

· Empower and enable parent carers to have the knowledge, skills, confidence, and support they need to advocate for their child/children through organising group training workshops and development around specific topics, creating and sharing resources that will help, and through our Power to The Parents event.

· To support children and young people through transition from children’s services into adult services, engaging with SEND services and adult services where appropriate.

· To follow all policies, including those focused on confidentiality, equality, and diversity. 

· Keep accurate and up to date records of work completed and support provided.

· Create, share and store two anonymised case studies each month which demonstrate the barriers faced by families, and the impact of the service.

· To attend weekend and school holiday activities and events to meet and support the children, young people, and their families at a time that works for them. 

· Ensure the family support service is needs led and inclusive for all.

· Offers first line emotional support to parents and young people as they come to terms with their vision impairment/ multi-sensory impairment as appropriate and make onward referrals where appropriate for more robust assistance, such as through our counselling service. 

· To encourage parents to become involved in activities available to children & their families and to support older children to engage with the 11UP and Young Adults programme as age appropriate.

· To keep up to date with current legislation, local and national policies, research and services and to share these appropriately.

· To be proactive in safeguarding all children and adults from abuse, and report any suspected incidents of abuse, following our policies and procedures which link with the Surrey County Council Safeguarding framework.

· To undertake all mandatory training, and continuous professional development (CPD) 

· To represent the charity at external forums and as appropriate, attend meetings as a representative.

· To co-operate fully as a member of the staff team and to ensure good communication at all times including attending team meetings, supervision and annual appraisal.

· To complete any other requests, with appropriate training, to support the wider team and charity goals.

Person Specification

Essential

· Significant experience of direct work with families in a support capacity

· Experience of planning and managing own workload within established guidelines

· Experience of working in partnership with outside agencies such as the Local Authority and Education.

· Ability to respond professionally and reflectively in situations where emotions may be running high.

· Ability to problem-solve and respond in a practical way to issues that arise.

· Ability to produce own routine correspondence using/ creating standard letters

· Experience in facilitating groups and workshops.

· Excellent communication skills, with a range of audiences in a range of formats. 

· Advanced influencing skills.

· Ability to understand and react to the needs of vulnerable families.

· Ability to prioritise, and to work under pressure to specific timescales and targets.

· Knowledge, understanding and experience of working with safeguarding processes.

· Knowledge of the Equality Act and other relevant legislation, with the ability to acquire this knowledge pro-actively where it is not already in place.

· Excellent understanding of confidentiality and professional boundaries

· Knowledge and understanding of data sharing protocols

· Experience of working independently, and as part of a team.

· Ability and willingness to travel across the county as required to meet the needs of families (mileage paid at 0.45p per mile)

· An enthusiastic, positive and ‘can do’ attitude.

Desirable

· Experience working with children, and young people who have a vision impairment, multi sensory impairment, those who are hard of hearing or Deaf.

· British Sign Language (BSL) skills

· Instructed advocacy qualification

· Professional qualifications in related discipline

· Experience of setting up and developing services or projects

· Experience of producing case studies and impact reporting

We can offer you:

· A generous annual leave allowance (full time annual leave entitlement is 28 days per annum, plus bank holidays)

· Investment in your development

· Access to an Employee Assistance Programme

· Pension contributions 6% matched with the Pensions Trust

· Annual flu vaccinations and an eye test every two years with a contribution towards work related glasses

· Free parking

· A vibrant and friendly team! 

An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service will be required, which we can arrange.

The Operations team forms the bedrock of the charity and this new role offers considerable room for growth and development.

Working with the wider Operations & Impact team, you will lead on managing the tech [SS1] and office environments, taking ownership of the relationships with key external suppliers, ensuring that the team has the support and equipment they need to do their best work.

You will also work closely with the Operations team to co-ordinate the trustee meeting cycle, scheduling meetings, and acting as the key contact point for trustees.

You will work closely with the CEO by providing some support with arranging and scheduling meetings, and as such will be comfortable communicating at all levels.

You will be central to the entire National Numeracy team, maintaining the internal meeting structure and framework that supports a hybrid working environment.

You will be joining the only independent charity in the UK dedicated to improving the nation’s numeracy at a time when the profile of our charity and the numeracy issue is rising. We are looking for someone who is highly motivated with bags of energy and initiative.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Rehabilitation Music Therapist to join our Psychological Services Team. This role will require the successful candidate to provide specialist music therapy to children and young people accessing the neurorehabilitation, continuing care, or step-down services.

The music therapy service is part of the Psychological Therapies Services, that promotes child and young people-centred practice within a wider multidisciplinary rehabilitation approach. You will deliver child and family focused, goal led interventions, working in collaboration with the family and the team around each child or young person that you are allocated.

Staff benefits include London weighting, shuttle bus, and more… Read more below

Role Requirements

• Provide high quality, evidence-based music therapy provision for children and young people, in partnership with other members of the Multidisciplinary Team.
• Undertake Psychosocial Assessments to assess the holistic needs of CYPF.
• Undertake specialist music therapy assessments of children with highly complex needs, e.g. co-occurring needs, through standardised and non-standardised assessments and clinical observations.
• Chair internal meetings to gain shared understandings of the presenting issues and intervention plans for CYPF.
• Attend and contribute to Multidisciplinary Team meetings, to discuss individual children/ young people and service in general, as required e.g. reviews, case conferences, clinics, etc.
• Promote collaborative working relationships through effective communication.
• Work therapeutically with children and young people who have complex needs and may present with mental health needs and/or behaviour that may be challenging associated with their acquired brain injury or the trauma experience.

Interview Date: To be confirmed

Strictly no agencies, please.

About Us

The Children’s Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with acquired brain injury, providing expert rehabilitation, education, therapy, and care at our national specialist centre in Tadworth, and to children and their families across the UK, via our Brain Injury Community Service.

Boasting a beautiful 24-acre site in Surrey, we are located just outside of London, close to the M25 (accessible via Junction 8, A217 to Tadworth) and easily accessible via National Rail, by way of: Clapham Junction, Sutton, and Epsom.

Staff Benefits

The work we do is highly rewarding, and in addition to an attractive salary, we offer a valuable range of benefits, including our staff flexible benefits platform, on-site nursery, free eye tests, enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay, time out days for those experiencing menopause symptoms and time off for gender reassignment.

We also offer additional annual leave days for those with long service, with entitlements ranging from 35 to 41 days (including bank holidays) depending on your length of service.

Other benefits include free on-site parking; a staff shuttle service from Epsom and Sutton train stations to Tadworth Court, subsidised cafeteria, on-site staff accommodation (subject to availability), the ability to retain your NHS pension (where applicable), Teacher’s pension (where applicable) or the opportunity to join an alternative scheme, and the opportunity to develop your career in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Rehabilitation of Offenders

Many roles at The Children’s Trust are exempt from the provisions of Section 4 (2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, by virtue of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013 and 2020) and as such, are subject to an Enhanced DBS check. Successful applicants will be required to complete an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check, which will disclose all unspent convictions and adult cautions and any spent convictions or adult cautions that would not be protected.  The exceptions to this are our retail roles within The Children’s Trust shops, which are subject to Basic DBS checks which will disclose unspent convictions or adult cautions.

Equal Opportunity Employer

To help us achieve our ambition to give children and young people with brain injury and neurodisability the opportunity to live the best life possible, we want to accurately reflect the UK’s diverse population. We want equity, diversity, and inclusion to be at the heart of everything we do, and our people, services, and culture to reflect the diverse needs of all. Through our diversity and inclusion strategy, we have made a commitment to increase the diversity of our charity and create an inclusive culture. We have networks across the organisation working to ensure that these aims are met - including an LGBTQIA2S+ group, Ethnic Diversity Group, and Spark – our broad EDI group. Read more about our EDI work here. We welcome applications from all who share our ambition regardless of background. We will strive to ensure that any reasonable adjustments are made in respect of interview and working arrangements.

Online Searches

In accordance with statutory safeguarding and child protection guidance, online searches will be conducted for shortlisted candidates before interview. The online searches will be conducted by a person who is independent of the interview and selection process and will focus on relevant information returned via searches of the candidate’s name (and variations thereof). Social media searches will be limited to professional platforms such as LinkedIn. Any concerns relating to suitability for work with children and young people will be forwarded to the interview panel, for discussion during the interview.

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced strategic lead to drive the next phase of our Right to Health campaign. This new role will work with our experienced and well respected team and our extensive network, to make the political case for the better legal recognition and real-world protection for the right to health. 

An ideal candidate

You will be a passionate and experienced advocate for health, human, social or environmental rights, committed to driving meaningful change in the UK. You will bring proven expertise in leading policy, advocacy, or parliamentary engagement work - ideally within health, human rights, social or environmental justice sectors - and thrive in building strong, strategic relationships with government, civil society, and community stakeholders.

You have a good understanding of the structural causes of health inequality and the power of human rights frameworks to address them. You will know how the UK political and parliamentary systems work, and you are skilled at influencing these processes through clear, compelling narratives backed by evidence.

You are able to communicate with clarity and impact, tailoring your message to diverse audiences - from policymakers to grassroots activists. You are confident working independently and collaboratively within a small, flexible team, balancing strategic vision with practical delivery. Your approach is solutions-focused, inclusive, and grounded in the lived realities of people affected by health inequalities.

Most importantly, you are motivated by the opportunity to join a dynamic and well respected organisation and lead a strategic campaign that challenges the status quo and contributes to a fairer, more just UK.

You have the right to work in the UK and be able to work from home in London or within easy reach of London.  A minimum of weekly attendance in London will be required.

This opportunity is open to applicants wishing to deliver the work on a self-employed freelance or employed basis.