We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Project & Systems Manager to take a lead role in iCare: Identifying Carers, Advancing Recognition and Equality, an ambitious five-year system- change project funded by The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF).

iCare aims to improve earlier and more consistent identification of unpaid carers across the Lothians, addressing barriers to support and helping to create meaningful and lasting change in practice. The project will develop an early carer identification blueprint, strengthen good carer conversations using the Adult Carer Support Plan (ACSP) framework, and co-design and implement a new integrated digital carer identification platform.

Working with iCare Project Coordinators in East, West and Midlothian (the iCare Project Team), and under the direction of the iCare Project Steering Group, you will lead and coordinate delivery across the project. You will line-manage VOCAL’s Midlothian iCare Project Coordinator and provide professional leadership and coordination across the wider iCare team. The East and West Lothian Project Coordinators will be employed and line managed by partner organisations Carers of East Lothian and Carers of West Lothian respectively.

This is a senior, hands-on role with key responsibilities that include:

• leading the day-to-day delivery of iCare across the Lothians, ensuring delivery remains focused on agreed plans, milestones, outcomes and funder requirements;
• coordinating the different strands of the programme, managing priorities, dependencies, risks and issues;
• supporting the iCare Project Steering Group and translating agreed priorities and decisions into effective delivery;
• leading monitoring, evaluation and reporting, using evidence and feedback to understand progress and support continuous improvement;
• developing strong and effective partnerships across health, social care, the third sector, research, digital and community organisations;
• championing consistent, high-quality approaches to early carer identification, good carer conversations, ACSPs and preventative support;
• ensuring carers meaningfully influence the project through the Carers Assembly and wider inclusive engagement; and
• ensuring that new digital approaches complement rather than replace, non-digital routes to support.

As iCare develops a digital platform, you will also help to ensure that VOCAL’s own systems, processes and practice develop alongside it. This will include translating carer, practitioner and organisational requirements into practical system and process improvements and ensuring that VOCAL’s case-management arrangements, recording practices and carer journeys develop appropriately.

About you

We are looking for someone who can bring people, practice and systems together and turn an ambitious vision into practical, coordinated change. You will have experience of leading and managing projects, services or programmes and supporting organisational, service or systems change.

A confident and collaborative partnership worker, you will be skilled at building relationships, bringing people with you and engaging others in a respectful and inclusive way. You will also have experience of working alongside digital or technical colleagues to develop services or systems, from defining operational requirements and co-design through to testing and implementation.

You will have a good understanding of unpaid caring and the impact it can have on carers’ health and wellbeing, alongside knowledge of the carer support landscape and relevant legislation. This will include an understanding of the health and social care system in Lothian and Scotland, and how to influence and support practice change within complex systems.

We have an exciting opportunity for a confident and organised Project Coordinator to help deliver iCare: Identifying Carers, Advancing Recognition and Equality. Funded by The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF), iCare is an ambitious five-year system-change project.

Working with carers, practitioners and NHS partners, the project will address barriers to support and drive changes in practice to improve earlier and more consistent identification of unpaid carers across the Lothians. It will support the development of an early carer identification blueprint, strengthen good carer conversations using the Adult Carer Support Plan (ACSP) framework, and co-design and implement a new integrated digital carer identification platform.

The postholder will join a project team comprising an iCare Project & Systems Manager, based within VOCAL, and Project Coordinators covering Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian. The East and West Lothian Project Coordinators will be employed and managed by Carers of East Lothian and Carers of West Lothian respectively. All four roles will work closely together to deliver shared priorities, promote consistent practice and support learning across the Lothians.

The Project Coordinator for Midlothian will undertake a range of duties, including:

• Supporting the day-to-day delivery of iCare by maintaining clear work plans, action logs and records, and ensuring effective follow-up across project workstreams.
• Building positive working relationships with the wider project team, carers, VOCAL colleagues, NHS and community partners, and other carer centres.
• Supporting meaningful carer involvement through the development and coordination of a Carers Assembly, ensuring that carers lived experience helps shape project priorities, changes in practice and digital development.
• Planning and supporting focus groups, workshops, briefings and training sessions with carers and practitioners.
• Supporting co-design and user testing of a digital carer identification platform, while ensuring digital options complement rather than replace non-digital support.
• Gathering feedback and data, and contributing to project learning, evaluation and reporting to the funder.

About you

You will understand unpaid caring and the impact it can have on carers’ health and wellbeing. You will also have a good understanding of the carer support landscape, including the role of Adult Carer Support Plans and the responsibilities of statutory health and social care partners. You will bring experience of supporting a project or service, working collaboratively with others, and engaging people in a respectful and inclusive way. You will also have strong organisational and administrative skills, clear written and verbal communication, digital confidence, and the ability to hold sensitive, person-centred and outcomes-focused conversations.