Volunteer Development Officer - (Maternity Cover)

Leicestershire County Council; Coalville; On-site; GBP 27,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading council as a Volunteer Development Officer in Coalville, dedicated to supporting families and enhancing volunteer services. Work alongside a committed team, contributing to impactful community initiatives while enjoying competitive pay and generous benefits.

Benefits

Mileage paid at 45p per mile

Free parking when based at County Hall

Access to Local Government Pension Scheme

Generous annual leave entitlement

Access to staff wellbeing and counselling service

Employee discount scheme

Qualifications

• Experience working with parents and/or children.
• Experience in designing and delivering training or group activities.
• Ability to engage with children and families from diverse backgrounds.

Responsibilities

• Support and enhance services for families in need.
• Recruit, train, and support volunteers.
• Manage stay & play groups and community fridges.

Skills

Organisational skills

IT skills

Volunteer engagement

Child development knowledge

Education

NVQ3/NNEB or relevant Childcare qualifications

Job description

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Job Description

Children and Families Department

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: Coalville Family Hub, High Street, Coalville, LE67 3EA (main base) and across North West Leicestershire

Worker Category: Field-Based Worker

Salary: £27.717 - £30.066 per annum (pro-rata for part-time)

Working Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Fixed term for (12 months) (secondment available for internal applicants)

Closing Date: 6th July 2025

Interview Date(s): 4th August 2025

***If you are an internal applicant interested in this as a secondment, please gain your manager's approval prior to applying***

An exciting opportunity to be part of a strong and ambitious team of Volunteer Development Officers, this could be the role you have been waiting for!

At Leicestershire County Council, we are committed to doing our very best for vulnerable children and families, working to make a positive impact on their lives so they can achieve their potential and flourish.

We received the Investors in Volunteers award for the fourth consecutive year, which is a testament to our volunteer offering and the support volunteers receive.

Over the last five years, our volunteer offering has grown stronger, with more support, training, development, and celebration of the impact volunteers bring to our service and what we can deliver for children and families.

Across Leicestershire, we currently have 6 Volunteer Development Officers and around 200 volunteers who, on an average week,run:

• 18 stay and play groups
• 25 youth and parent mentoring sessions
• 3 parent wellbeing groups
• 5 community fridges
• and support staff-run activities

About the Role

The Volunteer Development Officer will play a crucial role in supporting and enhancing the services provided by the Family Help Service in North West Leicestershire. This position is dedicated to recruiting, training, and supporting volunteers who work directly with families in need. Our volunteers in North West Leicestershire run stay & play groups at Family Hubs across the district, run the Coalville community fridge and mentor children and parents. The Officer will ensure that volunteers are well-equipped to contribute effectively to the program, enhancing the overall impact on families within the community.

Work outside usual office hours, depending on operational needs, may be required.

Driving licence & access to a vehicle/car are essential.

A DBS enhanced check for a regulated activity is required for this post.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

Please refer to the 7-point criteria, giving examples of how you meet the criteria below

• Detail your standard of education to NVQ3/NNEB and/or any relevant Childcare, Youth and Community, Health and Social Care, IAG, Community Regeneration qualifications.
• Explain your experience of working with volunteers.
• Detail your experience of working with parents and/or children.
• Describe your knowledge of child development and the differing needs of children and young people, and your understanding of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child
• Tell us about your excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities, IT skills to include the ability to use Microsoft packages and databases/case management systems
• Explain your ability to engage with people from a variety of backgrounds, in particular children, young people and families that are hard to reach
• Demonstrate any experience in designing and delivering training or group activities.

You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion.

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and will ask you to provide evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are keen to support employees in balancing their working lives with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances while still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below. This may include requests for term-time working, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, home/remote working, etc.

Every role within the Council has a defined working style that determines where it can work. The worker category applicable to this post is detailed in the above advert. You can find out more about our worker categories on the Our Working Styles page on our career site.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Lisa Dinsdale, Volunteer Coordinator

Telephone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

By the Way

A Few More Benefits of working in Leicestershire....

• Mileage paid at 45p per mile.
• Free parking (if based at County Hall and some other local offices).
• Opportunities to progress within a large public sector organisation with over 5000 employees.
• Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Work for an organisation which 93% of our staff say is a good employer.
• Working within a Department which is rated Outstanding by Ofsted.
• DBS check paid for by us.
• Competitive salary.
• Excellent Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Generous annual leave entitlement.
• Commitment to learning and development.
• Access to staff wellbeing and counselling service.
• Access to an employee discount scheme, providing a whole host of retail discounts, including your supermarket weekly shop, holidays and gym membership!

How to Apply

Leicestershire County Council is an inclusive organisation which is on a journey to embed and celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion at every level. We warmly welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, as having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values and enriches the services we offer our communities. We particularly welcome applicants from Ethnically Diverse and LGBTQ+ communities and people with disabilities to create a balanced workforce and one that reflects the communities we serve. Applicants with a disability who meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above will be offered an interview under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme.

To apply for this job, please click on the apply button. You will need to upload a supporting statement explaining how you meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above. For more information, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when applying for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support.

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.

About Us

About Leicestershire County Council

Leicestershire County Council is a Disability Confident, Menopause Friendly, Mindful Employer, Fostering Friendly, Forces Friendly, and Cycle Friendly organisation. In August 2021, we also signed up to the Race at Work Charter. We are strongly committed to promoting equality and opportunity, championing employee wellbeing and investing in staff training and development.

Our aim is to work with communities and partners to deliver public services that make Leicestershire the best possible place to live and work for everyone. Our employees play a key role in supporting this goal and helping us deliver the vital services we provide to the people of Leicestershire.

For further information on what it's like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following:

Our Recruitment Process
Our Organisational Values
Our Employee Benefits
Working for Us