Central Bedfordshire Council
Best Start in Life Parent Champion Lead
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Team: Early Years and Childcare Team
Job Family: Supporting - CBG9
Salary: £35,960 - £38,802 per annum pro rata
Hours: 37 hours per week
Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once a month
Contract Type: Hybrid - Fixed Term until 31st March 2029 (funded role)
Closing Date: 19th October 2026
Interview Date: w/c 26th October 2026
About the Role
At Central Bedfordshire Council, we are committed to ensuring every child has the best possible start in life. We are looking for an enthusiastic, motivated and community-focused Best Start in Life Parent Champion Lead to develop and coordinate our Parent Champion programme, helping families access support, services and opportunities that enable children to thrive.
This is an exciting opportunity to lead a growing network of Parent Champions who use their lived experiences to engage, empower and support families to navigate local services, find childcare, access support networks and understand school readiness. As a Best Start in Life Parent Champion Lead, you will recruit, train, support and develop a diverse network of Parent Champions who act as trusted voices within their communities.
You will be responsible for:
- Leading the development and delivery of the Parent Champion programme across Central Bedfordshire.
- Recruiting, training and supervising Parent Champions from a wide range of communities.
- Building strong relationships with families, community groups and partner organisations.
- Promoting key Best Start in Life messages and initiatives.
- Supporting engagement activities within Best Start Family Hubs and Children Centres, and community settings.
- Collecting feedback from families to help shape and improve services.
- Monitoring programme outcomes and producing reports demonstrating impact.
- Ensuring inclusion, equality and diversity are embedded throughout the programme.
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Key Requirements
- Experience of working with children, families, communities or volunteers.
- Experience of delivering engagement, outreach or participation programmes.
- Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
- Experience of training, mentoring or supporting volunteers.
- An understanding of safeguarding and family support services.
- The ability to work collaboratively across organisations and sectors.
- Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
You will be joining an established and stable team of childcare development officers and early years professionals and will have the opportunity to develop and lead on areas of interest relating to the role.
Our Offer
We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page.
Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer. We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.
You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack.
Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack.
For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Fiona Greatorex at fiona.greatorex@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or call 0300 300 6512
Safeguarding
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Central Bedfordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees, volunteers and contractors to share this commitment. This post is subject to the disclosure of criminal records.
To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.
Your application to us is a reflection of who you are professionally and should give us an accurate and authentic picture of your skills, experiences and if applicable qualifications. Before you submit your application, we will ask you to confirm if you have used AI.
All new starters will join us on a four-month probationary period. During this time, if you are offered a Hybrid role you will be required to attend a Central Bedfordshire Council office location more frequently to support thorough and well-supported onboarding into your role. Please keep this in mind if you anticipate extensive travel to Central Bedfordshire.
Please note we are unable to offer sponsorship for our roles. Successful applicants that may require a visa will need to consider the options for obtaining and/or maintaining the legal right to live and work in the UK for the duration of the contract offered.
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