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Our Story:

Halton is a vibrant local authority with a rich history and heritage, featuring two iconic bridges that connect communities across the River Mersey. Located in Cheshire, Halton boasts excellent transport links between Liverpool and Manchester, as well as close proximity to both Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester Airports.

Our progressive community strategy aims to bring about meaningful, long-term improvements that enhance lives. It’s an exciting time to join us as we develop new policies and transform the way people access services.

We are immensely proud that when asked what’s great about working for Halton, the most popular response from our workforce has been ‘our colleagues’.

Our Team:

Halton Family Hubs support children and young people from birth to age 19 (or up to 25 for young people with special educational needs and disabilities). Bringing together council, health and community services, Family Hubs ensure that children, young people and families can access the right support, at the right time, in the right place.

Our Family Hubs provide welcoming and inclusive spaces, both in local communities and through outreach services, where families can access practical, non-judgemental support. Services include maternity and health visiting support, early years development and play opportunities, family support, parenting programmes, speech and language development, emotional wellbeing support, and targeted help for children with disabilities, additional needs and their families.

As part of the Government's Best Start for Life and Family Hubs programme, Halton is strengthening its early identification and inclusion offer for babies and young children with emerging or additional needs. We are therefore creating a team of Best Start Inclusion Practitioners (BSIPs) who will play a key role in ensuring children aged 0-5 receive timely support to achieve the best possible developmental outcomes.

Working across Family Hubs, outreach venues and partner settings, Best Start Inclusion Practitioners will help identify emerging developmental needs at the earliest opportunity and provide practical, evidence-informed support to children, families and professionals.

The team will work collaboratively with other professionals to promote inclusion, strengthen family confidence and improve access to services. Through advice, modelling of inclusive practice, developmental activities and workforce support, BSIPs will help ensure that every child gets the best possible start in life.This is an exciting opportunity to join a developing service at the forefront of early identification, inclusion and family support, helping to shape and embed Halton's Family Hub SEND offer and make a lasting difference for children and families.

To help us plan our workforce across the borough, applicants are asked to indicate a preference for working in either Runcorn or Widnes as part of their application. Whilst every effort will be made to accommodate preferences, all practitioners will be expected to work flexibly across the Family Hub network to meet the needs of children and families

Hours: 37 hours per week

Your Contributions:

We are seeking 5 enthusiastic and committed Best Start Inclusion Practitioners to join our Family Hubs team. You will be passionate about improving outcomes for babies and young children with emerging or additional needs, supporting families to access the right help early, and promoting inclusive practice across Halton's Best Start for Life and Family Hub network. Working as part of a multi-agency team, you will help ensure children receive the support they need to thrive and reach their full potential.

As a Best Start Inclusion Practitioner, you will play a vital role in the early identification of emerging SEND and developmental needs, providing practical support, advice and inclusive interventions that help children achieve the best possible outcomes. You will work closely with families and alongside colleagues from health, education, SEND, early years and community services to build confidence, remove barriers and promote inclusion.This role is ideal for someone who is passionate about improving outcomes for young children, enjoys building positive relationships with families and professionals, and can confidently work within a multi-agency environment. You will be proactive, approachable and solution-focused, with the ability to use your professional judgement to identify needs early and support families to access appropriate services.

Essential Qualifications, Skills and Experience

You will hold a minimum Level 3 qualification in Early Years, Education, Health, SEND, Child Development or a related field and be able to demonstrate:

• Experience of working directly with children and families, particularly within early years, family support or SEND services.

• Experience of partnership and multi-agency working across health, education, community or voluntary sector services.

• Practical experience of supporting inclusive practice and the early identification of additional or emerging needs.

• A sound understanding of child development from birth to five years.

• Knowledge of SEND systems, early years provision and family support pathways.

• The ability to use observation, assessment information and professional judgement to inform support and identify next steps.

• Excellent communication, engagement and relationship-building skills.

• The ability to work flexibly, independently and collaboratively across a range of settings.

• A commitment to strengths-based, family-centred and inclusive approaches.

Desirable Experience:

We would particularly welcome applications from individuals who have experience of:

• Delivering group-based activities, parent programmes or short interventions.

• Supporting children with SEND, speech and language needs or developmental differences.

• Neurodiversity-affirming practice.

• Evidence-informed early years, parenting or family support interventions.

If you are motivated by making a difference to children's lives, committed to inclusion, and excited by the opportunity to help shape and deliver Halton's Best Start Family Hub SEND offer, we would love to hear from you.

Our Offer:

Aside from working with a great team, our employees have access to a fantastic range of benefits, including:

• A generous annual holiday allowance starting at 34 days per year (including bank holidays), increasing with long service

• Membership of our defined benefit, salary-linked Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with generous employer contributions

• 3 x Salary Life Cover via Local Government Pension Scheme

• Investment in your personal development

• Free Car Parking at HBC sites

• Flexible working arrangements

• Extensive employee benefits platform including discounted shopping, car leasing, gym memberships, wellbeing hub and Employee Assistance Programme

Next Steps:

At Halton Borough Council, we want all of our candidates to feel well-informed so if you would like to have an informal chat about this role, please contact Adam Hindhaugh - Adam.Hindhaugh@halton.gov.uk

Interviews are expected to take place w/c 24th August

At Halton Borough Council we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce and a vital part of this is to encourage diversity in all respects. We are committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and tailored to best suit the needs and strength of the individual. This includes making adjustments for people with a disability, neurodiversity or with long-term health conditions. If you require accommodations, please reach out during the recruitment process so that we can make this the best possible experience for you – resourcing@halton.gov.uk

Please refer to the attached Job Profile for further information about the role and our values.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications. If you’re interested, please complete your application as early as possible.

We look forward to receiving your application!