Community Connector

Suffolk County Council; Lowestoft; On-site; GBP 33,000 - 49,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Up to 29 days annual leave (pro rata)

LGPS pension

Travel, health and wellbeing benefits

Training and career development

Flexible working options

Job summary

Suffolk County Council is seeking two part-time Community Connectors to join the Youth and Communities Service in Suffolk. Post 1 is 25.5 hours per week at Beccles; Post 2 is 18.5 hours per week at Ipswich. You will coordinate across schools, health, and community groups to improve outcomes for children, young people and families.

The role focuses on collaboration, system improvement and service development, with flexible working options and a commitment to safeguarding and inclusion.

Qualifications

• Level 5 qualification or equivalent knowledge and experience.
• Experience with children, young people and families.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills.
• Full driving licence with access to transport.

Responsibilities

• Build and strengthen multi-agency partnerships across education, health and community organisations.
• Support clear pathways between services for coordinated support.
• Use local data to inform service development and improvement.
• Support the delivery of Suffolk's Early Help Strategy and Families First.
• Work with Family Hubs, schools and community organisations to identify strengths and needs.
• Facilitate partnership meetings and shared learning opportunities.

Skills

Level 5 qualification

Experience with children and families

Relationship-building

Stakeholder management

Communication & facilitation

Data analysis

Safeguarding & inclusion

Driving licence & mobility

Education

Level 5 qualification or equivalent

Job description

• Suffolk County Council
• Address: Butterflies Children's Centre, Castle Hill, Beccles, NR34 7BQ or Hawthorn Family Hubs, Hawthorn Drive, Ipswich, IP2 0QY. Community based
• Salary: £40,777 per annum (pro rata)
• Hours: Part time, 18.5 or 25.5 hours per week, flexible working options available
• Contract:Permanent, 2 positions

At Suffolk County Council, we believe every child and young person should have the opportunity to live their best life. Our Children and Young People's Services work alongside families, communities and partners to provide the right support at the right time, helping children and young people thrive.

We are looking for passionate and motivated Community Connectors to join our Youth and Communities Service. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in shaping how services work together across Suffolk, supporting our Families First ambitions and helping to create stronger, more connected communities.

• Post 1 - 25.5hours per week, based at Butterflies Children's Centre, Castle Hill, Beccles, Suffolk NR34 7BQ.
• Post 2 - 18.5hours per week, based at Hawthorn Family Hubs, Hawthorn Drive, Ipswich, Suffolk IP2 0QY.

Your role and responsibilities

As a Community Connector, you will help strengthen relationships between schools, health services, voluntary and community organisations, Family Hubs, the Integrated Front Door and Family Help teams. You will act as a key link across the system, helping partners work together more effectively to improve outcomes for children, young people and families.

The role is focused on collaboration, community development and system improvement rather than holding a caseload. You'll use local insight, partnership working and innovation to help identify need, develop solutions and ensure families can access the right support as early as possible.

You will:

• build and strengthen multi-agency partnerships across education, health and community organisations.
• support clear and effective pathways between services, ensuring children and families receive coordinated support.
• use local data, intelligence and feedback to support service development and continuous improvement.
• support the delivery of Suffolk's Early Help Strategy and Families First programme.
• work closely with Family Hubs, schools and community organisations to identify strengths, needs and opportunities within local communities.
• facilitate partnership meetings, communities of practice and shared learning opportunities.

What you will need

We're looking for someone who is passionate about improving outcomes for children, young people and families through effective partnership working.

You will have:

• a Level 5 qualification, or equivalent knowledge and experience in a relevant field.
• experience of working with children, young people and families, communities or partner agencies.
• strong relationship-building and networking skills.
• experience of bringing together a range of stakeholders to achieve positive outcomes.
• excellent communication and facilitation skills.
• the ability to analyse information, identify trends and help shape local solutions.
• a commitment to safeguarding, inclusion and delivering high-quality services.
• a full and current driving licence and have access to personal transport or meet the mobility requirements of the role through other reasonable and suitable means.

This role would suit candidates with backgrounds in community development, early help, education, youth work, family support, public health, partnership working or related fields. This aligns with the service's need for expertise in community development, partnership working, education and family support.

If you believe you can succeed in this role, even if you don't meet all requirements, please still apply. We would appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.

The team

Our Youth and Communities service brings together Suffolk County Council's universal early help, youth and community-based provision and forms a core part of the Families First system.

The service includes Family Hubs, Community Connectors, Young Persons Workers and other preventative and community-facing services. We work closely with the Integrated Front Door, Family Help, Safeguarding and wider partners so children, young people and families can access the right support early and within their communities.

Partnership working is at the heart of our approach. You will work alongside colleagues across Children and Young People's Services, Public Health, education, health, policing, and the voluntary and community sector to strengthen prevention, early intervention and joined-up working.

Empowering Everyone

We're big believers in potential, possibility and the power of different ideas. We're always searching for ways to encourage, respect and enable everyone to be the best they can be. We want to represent the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all individuals, especially those from groups that are currently underrepresented in the organisation, as shown in our Workforce Equality Report .

For more information

Please contact Julia Haig for a casual conversation. You can reach them by either calling 01473 260751 or emailing [e-mail]

This authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. A DBS check will be undertaken for the successful candidate.

As a modern and effective council, we offer a wide variety of careers to suit people with a range of skills, abilities and ambitions. We offer working options that flex to reflect the way people work today and take the time to understand and support your individual needs. We're driven to make a positive difference to the world around us and encourage everyone with drive and focus to join us and build an influential and impactful career. Reimagine the possibilities.

In return, you'll enjoy:

• up to 29 days annual leave entitlement (pro rata), plus UK bank holidays and two paid volunteering days
• membership of a competitive Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• travel, lifestyle, health and wellbeing benefits
• performance-related annual pay progression, in addition to an annual cost-of-living pay increase
• training and encouragement to expand your knowledge
• a variety of career development opportunities across our organisation
• diverse and active staff networks
• flexible working options, with the right to request flexible working from your first day

Plus lots more!

If you want to know more about our benefits, values and equality commitments please visit our Suffolk County Council careers website (careers.Suffolk.gov.uk) .