Youth Commissioner - Children's Services

Job Description

Salary: £25,731 - £27,870 per annum (pro rata at 22.5 hours) – pending 2025/26 pay award

Grade - B

Fixed Term Contract – 17 months

22.5 Hours per Week

Thurrock is located between East London and Essex, easily accessible by road, rail and even the Thames. We are a diverse and growing community of families, and Thurrock Council is committed to delivering services that meet their needs.

Thurrock Children’s Services is rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted. We offer a close-knit, supportive team culture where your voice and ideas will be valued.

Are you passionate about making a difference in the lives of children and young people? Do you believe in the power of lived experience to shape better services? If so, we want to hear from you.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and driven individual to join our Children’s Services Commissioning Team as a Youth Commissioner. This is a unique opportunity to work alongside professionals, children and young people to ensure that the voices of children, young people and families are central to how services are designed, delivered and improved.

As Youth Commissioner, you will:

• Work with children, young people and families to gather their views and experiences.
• Collaborate with commissioning and operational teams to co-produce services that meet real needs.
• Support young people to be involved in service design, procurement and monitoring.
• Help translate feedback into meaningful service improvements.

The Children’s Commissioning Team oversee all purchased services from the needs analysis that shapes them, through service design and advertisement of tender opportunities, implementation, and ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of these services. We cover over 30 different areas including:

• Foster Care and Residential placements for looked after children
• Supported Accommodation
• SEND residential schools
• Mental Health Services
• Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence and Abuse services
• Advocacy
• Adoption Support
• Home Tuition
• Respite for disabled children
• Speech and Language support
• Autism support
• Young Carers

Our range of work continues to expand as we identify new opportunities to improve effectiveness and value for money of the services we buy.

Key Skills and Experience Required:

• Strong desire to make a positive impact for children and young people
• Excellent listening and communication skills
• Ability to express and present the views of others clearly and with confidence
• Creative thinking and confidence to propose new ideas
• Ability to work collaboratively with teams and external partners
• Interest in issues affecting children in social care and those with SEND
• Able to manage your own workload and meet deadlines
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Commitment to equality, diversity, and safeguarding

We are keen to hear from applicants who have lived experience of the children’s social care system or the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, including care leavers, those with experience of child protection or youth offending services, or those who have accessed SEND support.

What We Offer

• Excellent remuneration package
• Generous annual leave entitlement – 25 days rising to 30 after 5 years’ service (pro rata if part time)
• Career average pension scheme
• Salary sacrifice schemes (e.g. cycle to work)
• Flexible working to support work-life balance
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave
• 24-hour health advice and wellbeing support
• Excellent training and CPD opportunities
• Funded DBS
• Mileage reimbursement at 45p per mile

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check at a basic level is required for this role.

Advert Closing Date:

• Redeployment Only: 03/07/2025
• Internal & External: 20/07/2025

Interview Date: to be confirmed

Unless a valid reason for an alternative arrangement is provided, all interviews will be conducted in person.

For further information please contact:

Mark Livermore (Lead Commissioner - SEND) mlivermore@thurrock.gov.uk

To view the Job Profile and Person Specification please follow the link below:
Download Job Profile (PDF Document)

About us

Why Thurrock?

Working at Thurrock Council gives you the opportunity to join an organisation that is changing at pace, one where you can make a real difference to the lives of the people we serve.

Thurrock Council is moving towards a new community leadership approach which involves linking with local partners and communities as we shape our improvement for the years ahead.

This is an exciting time to join us, to shape the future success of our changing organisation and to have a positive influence on our borough.

Our location

Thurrock is located on the north bank of the river Thames. Our urban centres are a vibrant mix of established towns and new young communities, with a diverse and growing population of around 160,000 residents.

We are an emerging cultural and arts centre, home to the production centre for the Royal Opera House and the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural Skills. We have excellent retail and leisure opportunities, including Lakeside Shopping Centre, country parks, forests, and marshes.

Thurrock is just half an hour journey away from the centre of London by train and well connected by road.

Staff benefits

We offer lots of staff benefits, including a generous annual leave entitlement and hybrid working. We champion flexible working and job share applications are welcome.

Further information can be found here Employment benefits | Working for the council | Thurrock Council

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Thurrock Council is committed to equal opportunities. As a Disability Confident Employer, disabled people will be offered an interview where they meet all essential criteria on the person specification.

We serve a diverse community where people are different yet equal. Diversity underpins everything we do.

For further information about Thurrock Council please visit our website: Thurrock Council