Why apply for this role?

Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) is undergoing an exciting period of reform designed to make a step change in improving outcomes for children.

We have a fantastic opportunity for a Participation Advisor to join our team and use their passion and innovation to involve children and young people to improve CHS’s functions and uphold children’s rights.

Building on the work that has already been done, you will support an ambitious programme of participatory work involving children and people with experience of the hearing system to drive forward improvements in practices and standards.

Your role

You will lead focused, creative and structured engagement work with groups of children and young people, including our Experts by Experience group. You will create the space, audiences and opportunities to ensure the voice of children and young people with lived experience of the hearing system are elevated and influence decision making within CHS and across the Children’s Hearings System.

You will provide support to our Experts by Experience group to enable them to develop their own skills and confidence when they participate with CHS.

Critical to this role will be your ability to build connections with key partners to share learning, improve practice and bring about lasting change. You will help build a strong brand and identity to this work.

About you

You must have experience of working with children and young people to bring about lasting change. You will have a good working knowledge of the Children’s Hearings System, the legislative landscape, children’s rights, and the issues that face children and young people in the hearing system.

You will be supported to further develop your knowledge of the Children’s Hearings System and be given exposure to national forums and development opportunities that will build on your existing knowledge.

You will work closely with CHS colleagues, children and young people and partner organisations to encourage and use feedback to help bring about lasting change.

You will have knowledge of confidentiality and trauma informed practice, and how to effectively engage and encourage young people with lived experience of the hearing system. Above all you must be committed to children’s rights and have experience of being involved in programmes of work that have resulted in impactful improvements.

For information on how to apply, please see bottom of the advert.

Life at CHS

At Children’s Hearings Scotland, our highly trained Panel Members make decisions for Scotland’s unique Children’s Hearings System that upholds and promotes the rights of infants, children and young people. Our 2,500 volunteer Panel Members take part in children’s hearings in their local areas, making decisions with and for infants, children and young people. Our organisation also supports a network of Area Support Teams throughout Scotland who support Panel Members in their local communities.

As an organisation that works within the Children’s Hearings System, we are passionate about making a positive contribution to improving outcomes for Scotland’s infants, children and young people.

You can read more about our core values on our website as well as view an introductory video to our organisation. We also offer a generous benefits package from hybrid working to flexi hours and a fantastic pension scheme – check out our full benefits summary.

Diversity and Inclusion

CHS is an equal opportunities employer. We encourage diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We actively encourage applicants from all protected characteristics and are committed to providing any reasonable adjustments required during the application and assessment process, and upon joining us.

Hybrid working and working pattern

This is hybrid role and you are expected to travel in line with business needs, including meeting young people at a location that works for them. This will involve being 'on-site' an average of two days per week. You are also expected to travel on occasion to the CHS Head Office at Thistle House, Haymarket, Edinburgh. This involves attending directorate meetings throughout the year and any other additional organisational activities of which you will be given reasonable notice.

The standard working week is Monday to Friday but this role will require a level of evening and weekend work in line with business needs.

Why apply for this role?

Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) is undergoing an exciting period of reform, designed to make a step change in improving the outcomes for infants, children and young people who need us most. Children’s Hearings Tribunal Members play a vital role in Scotland’s society. They listen and make legal decisions for infants, children and young people. They ensure that the young person is at the heart of every decision taken – because every decision, no matter how big or small, has an impact.

As Quality Partner, reporting to the Quality Manager you will support the delivery of our ambitious Quality strategy, helping drive continuous improvement and ensure we are delivering effective and high-quality tribunals across Scotland.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced Quality Partner who will use their passion and experience for quality to help drive organisational excellence. This role is pivotal to support and monitor consistent, reliable performance and high standards of operational delivery. You will play an important part in helping our people to make high quality decisions, supporting the knowledge and behaviours that are required of the Hearing Tribunal to help improve outcomes for infants, children and young people.

You will have a track record of delivering evidence-informed projects or services and be ambitious about achieving excellence. You will have skill, experience and enthusiasm with managing complexity and using data to deliver robust approaches to quality, monitoring, evaluation and improvement. Working as part of a small Quality team, you will help build and maintain processes to collect evidence and drive progress through the implementation of our strategic plan.

An experienced and effective leader, you will be working with the National Team and partners and must be able to build collaborative relationships. Through engagement and gathering

evidence, you will reflect the experience and perspectives of the volunteer community. You will be committed to listening to the voice of people with lived experience of the care system to shape and influence what we do and how we do it.

For information on how to apply, please see bottom of the advert.

Your Role

Ensuring an agile and robust quality offer, you will work to influence and collaborate with other functions across CHS including Practice and Standards, Participation, Learning and Local Delivery teams to ensure implementation alignment and relevance of the Quality Strategy and its operational delivery.

You will bring experience of working with project teams, diverse stakeholders and leaders to deliver tangible improvements. You will use this track record to work collaboratively, showing leadership and challenging practice and culture when necessary to deliver quality services. You will have excellent communication skills.

Gathering and communicating evidence and data of what we do well, and where we need to improve is a critical element of this role. Working with colleagues, you will help shape practice and policy. You will also influence learning with effective feedback loops that share good practice as well as understanding from situations when CHS has not fully met the expectations of children and young people.

You will play a key role in working with our Tribunal Delivery Managers, as well as supporting our network of 130 Panel Practice Advisor volunteers who work with CHS to improve quality.

Our Positive Outcomes Directorate team

This role sits with the Positive Outcomes directorate, which also includes Practice and Policy, Participation, Complaints and feedback and Learning. The role of the team is to engage with our strong volunteer community, and to raise the profile of who we are and what we do. You will collaborate with other departments and teams across the wider organisation.

Life at CHS

Our 2,500 volunteer Panel Members take part in children’s hearings in their local areas, making decisions with and for infants, children and young people. Our organisation also supports a network of Area Support Teams throughout Scotland who support Panel Members in their local communities.

As an organisation that works within the Children’s Hearings System, we are passionate about making a positive contribution to improving outcomes for Scotland’s infants, children and young people.

You can read more about our core values on our website as well as view an introductory video to our organisation. We also offer a generous benefits package from hybrid working to flexi hours and a fantastic pension scheme – check out our full benefits summary.

Diversity and Inclusion

CHS is an equal opportunities employer. We encourage diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We actively encourage applicants from all protected characteristics and are committed to providing any reasonable adjustments required during the application and assessment process, and upon joining us.