Project Officer - Programme Management Office, Children's Services

Barnsley Council; Barnsley; Hybrid; GBP 37,000 - 39,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Award-winning team

Excellent pension scheme

Flexible working

Training and development

Health and wellbeing

Employee discounts

Job summary

Barnsley Council is hiring a Project Officer in Children’s Services to support delivery across the Programme Management Office. The role is part-time (18 hours per week) with hybrid working and requires careful data handling and governance administration.

You will work to maintain project documentation, coordinate governance, and support analysis. A background in children's services or the public sector is useful, and the council offers flexible working, a strong pension, and opportunities for

Qualifications

• Experience in a children’s services or public sector setting is useful.

Responsibilities

• Maintain project documentation and governance records.
• Coordinate governance administration across the PMO.
• Support data collation and analysis for programme reporting.
• Maintain the programme information architecture and related documentation.

Skills

Governance administration

Data analysis

Job description

50145814

Directorate: Children’s Services | Service: Children’s Services

Position reference: 50145814

Directorate: Children’s Services | Service: Children’s Services

Salary: £36,581 - £39,481 pro rata

Working Arrangements: Hybrid Working

Hours per week: 18

Contract type: Permanent

We are happy to talk flexible working arrangements with you, please get in touch.

Employee rewards and benefits

• We’re an award-winning team and one of the biggest employers in the borough supporting around 243,000 people.
• Working at Barnsley Council means being part of a team that makes a real difference to people’s lives, where you can develop the skills you need to make change happen.
• If you join the team you’ll receive great pay alongside an excellent pension scheme. With flexible working we’ll also support your work/life balance, helping you to adjust your hours and take time off when you need it.
• We’ll help you to develop your career and grow your skills with opportunities for training and development.
• There’s so much happening in our thriving borough and your talent and skills will help us make Barnsley the place of possibilities .
• Key to our success is working with our residents, partners, businesses and organisations and building these partnerships to bring about change in Barnsley.

Closing date: 20/11/2026 23:59

This post requires a Basic Criminal Record Check

Prospective employees will be required to give a reasonable account of any significant periods (6 months or more in the past 3 years) of time living abroad

When applying, please ensure you are prepared to start work with all the necessary legal documents, such as a valid visa, relevant to the type of work you will be undertaking. Please be aware that our organisation does not possess a Home Office license and, as a result, is unable to provide sponsorship for anyone seeking a visa as a skilled or temporary migrant worker.

Pensions Regulations have provisions to reduce pension payments in certain circumstances of those who return to work within local government service. If you are in receipt of a pension upon commencing employment with the authority, this may affect your pension entitlements and you should therefore seek advice from the relevant Pensions Authority.

At Barnsley Council you can start a career that makes a real difference to people’s lives, helping our council and residents to be the best they can be.

We’re an award-winning council and one of the biggest employers in the borough, supporting around 243,000 people. We put people at the heart of everything we do, and that includes our employees. As part of the team, we offer lots of benefits and rewards to support you to thrive and grow, like flexible working, employee discounts, support for your health and wellbeing, and opportunities for training and development to grow your career and develop your skills.

There’s so much happening in our thriving borough, and now’s the perfect time to join our excellent Children's Services as we work to make Barnsley the place of possibilities.

About The Post

Build Something That Matters

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council has made a significant and deliberate investment in children’s services. The Children in Care Sufficiency Strategy 2026-2030 is a Cabinet-approved, four-year programme designed to change how Barnsley plans for, commissions and delivers provision for children in care and children with special educational needs and disabilities. It’s funded, it’s live, and it’s already delivering.

The strategy works across three pillars: reducing avoidable entry into care, stabilising placements for vulnerable adolescents, and strengthening how the Council commissions and directly provides residential and specialist care. The interventions it funds include Reset Home, Mockingbird constellation fostering, a new Vulnerable Adolescent Pathway, a Reunification Fund, a strengthened kinship offer, and Barnsley’s own internal residential homes.

This sits alongside one of the most significant periods of national reform in children’s social care and SEND in a generation. Barnsley has chosen to get ahead of that, investing in real change rather than waiting to react.

The workforce that delivers this will grow alongside the programme. The strategy sets out additional staffing capacity across specialist intervention services, the Adolescent Pathway, commissioning and the development and operation of internal residential provision. Some of those roles are in development and will be advertised as the programme progresses.

The five roles we’re recruiting to now are the Programme Management Office: the team that sits at the centre of all three pillars, keeps the programme on track, maintains the evidence base, and provides the governance and assurance infrastructure that makes everything else possible.

Project Officer

Every programme depends on people who make sure the detail is right. The Project Officer supports delivery across the PMO, maintaining project documentation, coordinating governance administration, supporting data collation and analysis, and keeping the programme’s information architecture in good order.

Reporting to the Head of Programme Management Office, you’ll be comfortable working in a formal programme management environment, confident handling data and producing written materials, and organised enough to manage competing priorities without things slipping. Experience in a children’s services or public sector setting is useful. What matters most is that you’re reliable, precise and take the quality of your work seriously.

This is a part-time role at 18 hours per week. We’re open to how those hours are arranged across the week.

Job Profile documents

Job Profile: Project Officer (Childrens) Profile.docx

Vacancy Exposure Profile: Exposure Profile LOW.doc

Why work for us?

We’re committed to creating a workplace where differences are valued and everyone truly feels able to be themselves. If you have any support needs during the recruitment process, please let us know.

At Barnsley Council, we believe in second chances and value diversity. Our recruitment process is inclusive, and we welcome applicants with past convictions. We’re committed to fairness and do not discriminate. Join us in building a future where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. #InclusiveHiring #SecondChances