Based in any UK office (Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London or Manchester) or home based

Do you want to play a key role in an organisation which stands up for children? Join us as a Senior Policy Adviser and help us to change outcomes for children experiencing the injustice of poverty in the UK.

Every child has the right to have their basic needs met, and to receive the support to ensure they can reach their full potential. The greatest barrier to this in the UK is poverty and inequality. 

Our UK mission is to make a sustainable reduction in the number of children growing up in poverty, and to narrow the learning gap between those children and their better-off peers.

We believe this future is possible. It requires more money to be put back into the pockets of parents and carers, decent jobs, more opportunities for young children to play and learn, and policies and services which centre children and families’ needs, reduce discrimination, and that are designed to help children to flourish by preventing difficulties at the earliest possible stage: in pregnancy, at birth, in the crucial first 1,001 days of life and throughout childhood.

We work closely with the communities we aim to support. We recognise their diversity and strengths as well as the challenges they face, and we aim to reflect their diversity and experiences in our UK staff team.

This role is situated in the UK Child Poverty Squad within our Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns Division. We integrate lobbying government, research, policy, media and campaigning and organising into one agile, powerful engine for change. It’s fundamental to how we do things that we alongside families who know what poverty feels like.

As Senior Policy and Advocacy Adviser (UK Child Poverty), you will lead Save the Children’s UK child poverty policy work targeting Westminster / the UK government. You will work with minimal supervision, leading complex research and policy projects whilst always working effectively and collaboratively with others and demonstrating positive leadership behaviours. You’ll be comfortable with complex issues and working with experts. But you’ll also be comfortable synthesising insights from parents and young people and have strong political nous. You have a gift for simplifying ideas and policy solutions, making sure they make sense to others, and are practical and doable for decision makers.

You will:

• Lead / oversee Save the Children’s UK child poverty policy development work and projects targeting Westminster / UK government, with minimal supervision from the Head of Child Poverty, developing credible policy proposals with input from colleagues across the 4 nations, and which resonate with parents, children and young people
• Hold the evidence, practice and policy landscape and external stakeholders in England / Westminster on UK child poverty and its impact on children’s early learning, supporting the Policy and Advocacy Adviser to build and maintain their expert knowledge
• Contribute to the success of SCUK’s UK child poverty mission by ensuring UK child poverty expertise is at the heart of our change strategies: primarily our UK / Westminster child poverty strategy, but also providing your expertise to multi-disciplinary teams across the 4 nations as needed, and to senior colleagues

To be successful you will:

• Have in-depth knowledge and understanding of the evidence base around child poverty, and the impact on children’s learning, as well as the policy landscape and external stakeholders with a focus on Westminster
• Experience of working with children and / or parents to develop research plans, policy proposals or advocacy strategies
• Significant experience of using evidence from a range of sources to analyse policy challenges and develop creative, credible, salient policy solutions
• Be solutions-focused with a creative problem-solving approach
• Comfortable taking risks, in order to learn, grow and develop
• A strong team player with an empowering and collaborative working style, and excellent interpersonal skills
• Positive, resilient, and committed to improving the lives of families on low incomes across the UK, demonstrating positive leadership behaviours to others

Diversity & Inclusion 
To help us attract and encourage applications from a wide range of people, we are holding an open information session so that you can find out more about working at Save the Children, the UK Impact team and our vision and mission for children in the UK.

Save the Children UK is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity in all aspects of our work both external and internal. We strive to be an inclusive employer and particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups such as returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people who are LGBT+, from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions, and from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

At Save the Children we are committed to the safeguarding and protection of children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work with children are recruited to work for us. This post is subject to a range of vetting checks including a criminal records disclosure.

If you share our belief in the power of children, join the fight. It takes relentless determination, creativity, and a commitment to real change. Because every child should be able to make their mark on their world and help to build a better future. We look forward to hearing from you.

Closing date: 28 February 2021.

Do you want to play a key role in an organisation which stands up for children?

Join us as our Planning and Accountability Officer and help us to change outcomes for children experiencing the injustice of poverty in the UK.

Every child has the right to have their basic needs met, and to receive the support to ensure they can reach their full potential. The greatest barrier to this in the UK is poverty and inequality.  

Our UK mission is to make a sustainable reduction in the number of children growing up in poverty, and to narrow the learning gap between those children and their better-off peers. We believe this future is possible. It requires more money to be put back into the pockets of parents and carers, decent jobs, more opportunities for young children to play and learn, and policies and services which centre children and families’ needs, reduce discrimination, and that are designed to help children to flourish by preventing difficulties at the earliest possible stage: in pregnancy, at birth, in the crucial first 1,001 days of life and throughout childhood. 

We work closely with the communities we aim to support. We recognise their diversity and strengths as well as the challenges they face, and we aim to reflect their diversity and experiences in our UK staff team.

The role
As Planning & Accountability Officer you will be joining the Strategy, Planning & Business Development Team. You will support the following:

• Planning

You will support designing and the running of our annual planning and budgeting cycles

• Accountability

You will support the UK Impact Team to understand our impact and progress against our strategy and plans, through robust accountability, risk management, reporting, and monitoring mechanisms

• Staff engagement and communications

You will lead on making sure all UK Impact Team and Save the Children staff are engaged and motivated by our work, through great communications, knowledge management, and experiences

What we are looking for
We are hiring for aptitude as well as professional experience. We know you might have some of the skills we are looking for, but we also know that we all bring more to the table from a range of other experiences too - from life, volunteering, education etc.

• You will be an analytical and creative problem solver, with good numerical and qualitative analysis skills
• You’ll have proven strong planning and organisational skills
• You’ll have experience of supporting project management or managing projects yourself
• You will have some experience organising and designing meetings, workshops, and managing internal communications channels
• You’ll be a flexible team player who understands that everyone plays a role in building great teams
• Excellent written skills, with the ability to craft engaging copy for an internal audience

• Commitment to working with integrity, holding strong values and respect for all others

Our commitment to diversity and safeguarding

Diversity & Inclusion
To help us attract and encourage applications from a wide range of people, we are also holding an open information session so that you can find out more about working at Save the Children, the UK Impact team and our vision and mission for children in the UK.

Save the Children UK is committed to diversity and equality of opportunity in all aspects of our work both external and internal.

We strive to be an inclusive employer and particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups such as: returning parents or carers who are re-entering work after a career break, people who are LGBT+, from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, with a disability, impairment, learning difference or long-term condition, with caring responsibilities, from different nations and regions, and from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

Safeguarding
At Save the Children we are committed to the safeguarding and protection of children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work with children are recruited to work for us. This post is subject to a range of vetting checks including a criminal records disclosure. 

Closing date: 28 February 2021.

If you share our belief in the power of children, join the fight. It takes relentless determination, creativity, and a real commitment to real change. Because every child should be able to make their mark on their world and help to build a better future. We look forward to hearing from you. 

The British Council builds connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language. 
 
We work in two ways – directly with individuals to transform their lives, and with governments and partners to make a bigger difference for the longer term, creating benefit for millions of people all over the world. We help young people to gain the skills, confidence and connections they are looking for to realise their potential and to participate in strong and inclusive communities. We support them to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications. Our work in arts and culture stimulates creative expression and exchange and nurtures creative enterprise. We connect the best of the UK with the world and the best of the world with the UK. 
 
These connections lead to an understanding of each other's strengths and of the challenges and values that we share. This builds trust between people in the UK and other nations which endures even when official relations may be strained. We work on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2019-20 we connected with 80 million people directly and with 791 million overall, including online and through our broadcasts and publications.

THE CONTEXT

The Cultural Engagement Business unit has a portfolio of programmes and projects delivered across the British Council’s entire global network of 110 countries including the UK.It covers the following sectors:
•  Arts – visual arts; drama and dance; architecture, design and fashion; creative economy; cultural skills, culture and development; film; literature; music
•  Education – schools, skills and vocational education, higher education, science and research
•  Society – civil society and young people; social enterprise; justice security and stability; gender and inclusion

Cultural Engagement has a significant size portfolio of client-funded contracts from various HMG departments and the EU requiring a global approach to safeguarding implementation to client standards.  There is high profile reporting to these clients that needs to be globally coordinated and delivered through the Head of Safeguarding to manage our reputation.

THE OPPORTUNITY

This is an exciting opportunity to assist with the implementation of a new safeguarding framework across all Cultural Engagement programme delivery in line with the global Safeguarding strategy and policies. This role has been specifically created to support the Cultural Engagement Business Unit of the British Council one of two business units in the British Council.

There is already a foundation of good practice in relation to child protection in cultural engagement programmes, however, with a recent move by the British Council towards a more proactive wider safeguarding approach which includes adults at risk there is significant work to do to do in this area in partnership with the global safeguarding team.  

 Duties will include:

• Manage and ensure comprehensive implementation of the safeguarding framework across all Cultural Engagement programmes and projects aligned to the global safeguarding policy, strategy
• Create safeguarding tools and resources specifically for Cultural Engagement in partnership with the global safeguarding team to assist with risk identification, management and mitigation
• Provide safeguarding advice, consultation and support to all Cultural Engagement programmes/delivery, projects and events, including the provision of specialist advice and support as required to embed safeguarding 
• Support and advise the regional/country/global safeguarding leads as required in relation to Cultural Engagement activity and safeguarding risk management. 
• Create and share safeguarding data reports and analysis of incidents and cases relating to concerns/issues within this business area to Cultural Engagement leadership team
• Raise awareness of the new and increased safeguarding risk to programmes
• Update the Cultural Engagement framework of support and guidance for programme managers and all staff

ABOUT YOU

• Experience of working in an international development/humanitarian context within in an international organization
• A sound and demonstrable knowledge of child protection/safeguarding service delivery within international settings
• Experience of delivering effective safeguarding engagement and learning initiatives
• Demonstrate an understanding and in-depth knowledge of the global safeguarding agenda
• Experience of project management within an international context
• Have extensive experience of safeguarding risk management including safeguarding case management

Role Specific Skills            l

• Partnership working across varied stakeholders
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Data analysis, report writing and supporting the work of senior managers within a safeguarding setting
• International service delivery – within a safeguarding/child protection setting
• Networking and relationship building
• Supporting new service delivery
• Ability to be flexible and to work with all levels of seniority both internally and externally
   

What you will receive:
Outstanding Civil Service Pension Scheme
32 Days Holiday
Annual Travel Season Ticket Loan
Annual Performance related bonus
London weighting £3,300

Pay Band  8
Contract type: IndefinitieContract
Location:  Manchester, London, Belfast,Cardiff and Edinburgh