Parent Carer Forum Co-production Support Officer SEND Reform in London

SEND Reform Programme / Experts at Hand

📍 Location: East London Local Authority - Hybrid, with face-to-face engagement required
💷 Day Rate: £500 per day (negotiable for the right candidate)
📄 Contract: Initial 3-month rolling contract, with likely extension
📌 IR35 Status: Inside IR35
🤝 Recruitment Agency: Tempest Resourcing, on behalf of the Local Authority

Tempest Resourcing is recruiting on behalf of an East London Local Authority for an experienced Parent Carer Forum Co-production Support Officer to support its SEND Reform Programme, including the Experts at Hand initiative.

This is an exciting opportunity for a skilled participation, engagement and project management professional to help embed co-production across SEND reform priorities and workstreams.

The successful candidate will play a key role in ensuring that the voices and lived experiences of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), parents and carers meaningfully influence service design, development and decision-making across Children's Services.

A significant focus of the role will be working closely with the Parent Carer Forum, building trust, strengthening participation and supporting members to engage confidently and effectively in co-production. The role will also involve collaboration across education, health, social care, SEND teams and wider stakeholder networks.

• Develop and support the delivery of a participation and co-production plan aligned with the SEND Reform Programme.
• Work closely with the Parent Carer Forum to strengthen engagement, build trust and support meaningful participation.
• Engage directly with parents, carers, children, young people and wider stakeholders to ensure their experiences inform service development.
• Plan, coordinate and facilitate workshops, meetings, focus groups, consultations and engagement activities.
• Gather, analyse and present feedback, translating lived experience into actionable recommendations for service improvement.
• Embed co-production principles across SEND reform priorities and workstreams.
• Build effective relationships across local authority services, education, health, social care and voluntary and community sector organisations.
• Make complex information and processes accessible to stakeholders with different levels of experience and understanding.
• Promote inclusive engagement and ensure diverse communities have opportunities to contribute.
• Work independently, manage competing priorities and maintain momentum across engagement and project activities.

The ideal candidate will bring:

• Strong experience in co-production, participation and stakeholder engagement, ideally within SEND, Children's Services or a comparable public sector environment.
• Experience building trusted relationships with families, parent carer groups, community representatives and people with lived experience.
• Excellent workshop facilitation skills, including planning and leading collaborative discussions, meetings and consultations.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to influence across health, education, social care and local authority services.
• Project and programme coordination experience, with the ability to organise activities, manage competing priorities and deliver outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to explain complex processes in clear, accessible language.
• Experience gathering and analysing feedback and translating findings into meaningful service improvements.
• The confidence to work independently, take initiative and adapt to changing priorities.

Experience working directly with children and young people, particularly those with SEND, would be highly valuable.

This is a people-focused role requiring someone who is personable, approachable and relatable, with the ability to build credibility and trust with parent carers, children, young people and professionals.

You will be comfortable working with stakeholders who have differing perspectives and levels of experience, and confident in facilitating discussions, encouraging participation and influencing others to ensure lived experience informs decisions.

You will combine strong relationship-building skills with practical project delivery, working effectively across organisational boundaries in a community-facing environment.

This is a hybrid role, not a fully remote opportunity. The successful candidate will need to be visible within the community and undertake face-to-face engagement and relationship-building with the Parent Carer Forum and wider stakeholders.

• Location: East London Local Authority
• Driving licence: Not required
• DBS: Basic DBS check anticipated, subject to confirmation

• Rate: £500 per day, with some flexibility for the right candidate
• IR35: Inside IR35
• Duration: Initial 3-month rolling contract
• Extension: Likely, subject to confirmation

The selection process will focus on interpersonal skills, communication, relationship-building and relevant professional experience.

1. CV shortlist - reviewing experience in co-production, participation, SEND and stakeholder engagement.
2. Informal conversation - exploring personality, communication style, approach to relationship-building and motivation.
3. Formal interview or assessment - covering workshop facilitation, stakeholder engagement, SEND experience, project delivery and experience working with children and young people.
4. Parent Carer Forum involvement - ideally including Parent Carer Forum representation in the selection process.

Initial interviews are anticipated during the first week of November.

📩 For further information or to express your interest, contact Charlotte Newton at Tempest Resourcing.

Please submit your CV outlining your relevant experience in co-production, participation, stakeholder engagement and project or programme delivery.