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 CoWL (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 West Lothian 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, CoWL 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.

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.

Carers of East Lothian is a values driven local charity making a real impact in the community supporting adults who care for family and friends. We have an excellent reputation, gaining recognition through the Carers Trust ‘Excellence for Carers’ Award and have secured the contract to deliver adult carer services across East Lothian for an initial two-year period and a total period of up to six years, to 2031. We are a Carer Positive Exemplary employer, Disability Confident Committed and a Living Wage employer. We are currently recruiting for the following opportunity:

Key Responsibilities:

• Re-establish, champion and promote Respitality as a valued part of Carers of East Lothian’s short breaks offer.

• Build relationships with local hospitality, tourism and leisure businesses, approaching at least one new business each month to secure donated breaks.

• Work with carers to understand their circumstances, preferences and support needs; match them with suitable local or national breaks and assist with bookings, donor communication and referrals where required.

• Develop partnership working with East Lothian Young Carer Service and colleagues to extend appropriate opportunities to young carers and families and, where helpful, combine breaks with other grants.

• Maintain accurate records of enquiries, donations, matches, outcomes, feedback and impact, and provide regular statistics and progress updates for funders and stakeholders.

• Ensure delivery complies with GDPR, confidentiality, safeguarding procedures and organisational policies.

• Contribute to the Respitality Delivery Network, maintain contact with Shared Care Scotland, and support related carer-friendly initiatives including Carer ID Card, Carer Positive and Think Carer training.

• Undertake other reasonable operational duties consistent with the purpose and level of the post.

Flexible working arrangements and 6% matched pension.

If this sounds like the kind of meaningful, varied and enjoyable role you are looking for, please apply and tell us how your skills, experience and enthusiasm would help us develop Respitality for carers in East Lothian.

Shared Care Scotland is a small team with big ambition: we aim to be the lead organisation in Scotland on all aspects of short breaks policy and practice. We are looking for an enthusiastic and skilled Operations Assistant to fulfil an important organisation-wide role in providing efficient, accurate and responsive administrative support that helps colleagues, Board members, partners and enquirers work effectively.

If you have skills and experience in delivering administrative and operational support to a busy and diverse team, are self-motivated and keen to develop your knowledge of the health and social care sector then we’d love to hear from you.

For the right candidate, this is an exciting opportunity to work with a dedicated team to deliver on a range of activities that can improve the lives of unpaid carers in Scotland.

In return we offer a supportive, collaborative team environment with excellent terms and conditions.

About Shared Care Scotland

Shared Care Scotland (SCS) is a dynamic and ambitious charity dedicated to improving the quality and provision of short breaks in Scotland for adult and young carers and the people they help care for. It is estimated there are 700,000 to 800,000 unpaid carers in Scotland.

We have a vision of a Scotland where everyone who receives support or provides unpaid care can live a satisfying life, with the assistance they need to take regular, quality breaks from demanding caring routines.

As one of Scotland’s leading National Carer Organisations we contribute to the development of policy and best practice for carers. We host a national online directory of short break services, manage a £10m Short Breaks Fund on behalf of the Scottish Government which provides grant funding to third sector organisations to help carers access breaks from caring, and deliver an innovative social tourism programme called Respitality.

For more information visit our website: sharedcarescotland.org.uk