Families First Youth Participation Officer

About the Role
Enfield Council is seeking an enthusiastic and passionate Families First Youth Participation Officer to lead and strengthen youth voice and participation across children's services. This exciting role will play a key part in ensuring children and young people are active participants in shaping the services that support them, their families and communities. Working as part of the Youth Development Service, you will coordinate and develop a range of participation opportunities, including the Enfield Youth Council, Youth Leadership Academy and other youth-led forums, ensuring that young people's experiences, ideas and ambitions directly influence decision-making, service design and the delivery of the Families First Partnership Programme.
You will support young people to engage confidently with senior leaders, elected members and professionals, helping them develop leadership, communication, research, project management and campaigning skills. Through meaningful participation, you will empower young people to influence change, challenge inequality and contribute to improving outcomes for children and families across Enfield.

About Enfield Council
Enfield is a vibrant, diverse and ambitious borough with a clear vision to create a lifetime of opportunities for everyone who lives, works and learns here. We are committed to putting residents at the heart of everything we do and ensuring that children and young people have a genuine voice in shaping their future. Through our Families First approach, we are transforming services to provide earlier intervention, stronger partnerships and improved outcomes for children, young people and families.
Our Youth Development Service has a strong reputation for delivering innovative programmes that support young people to thrive. We are proud of our commitment to participation, inclusion and youth leadership, and we believe that young people should be partners in decision-making rather than simply recipients of services.

About You
We are looking for a skilled and motivated practitioner with experience of working directly with children and young people and facilitating meaningful participation opportunities. You will have experience supporting youth councils, advisory groups, participation programmes or similar initiatives that enable young people to influence services and decision-making.
You will be confident in building positive relationships with young people from diverse backgrounds, including those with lived experience of services and those facing additional barriers to engagement. Strong facilitation, communication and partnership-working skills are essential, alongside the ability to translate young people's experiences and feedback into practical recommendations that influence policy, commissioning and service improvement.
You will have a strong understanding of safeguarding, equality, inclusion and trauma-informed practice, together with a commitment to empowering young people and championing their voices. A recognised Youth Work qualification or equivalent professional qualification is desirable, along with the flexibility to work evenings, weekends and during school holiday periods as required.

What We Offer
This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of youth participation within one of London's most ambitious local authorities. You will join a dedicated and supportive team that values innovation, collaboration and continuous learning. In addition to Enfield Council's excellent benefits package, you will have access to ongoing professional development opportunities, regular supervision, specialist training, and the chance to work directly with young people, senior leaders and partners to influence meaningful change across the borough.

If you are passionate about youth voice, participation and creating opportunities for children and young people to shape the services that affect their lives, we would love to hear from you.
Contact Details -
If you would like to know more about the role, please contact Yemi Akinfenwa on 02081320656 for an informal discussion or to arrange a visit to the team.
If you have any difficulties accessing this information, please contact cinzia.percival@enfield.gov.uk
We do not see your name or title when shortlisting your application. This is one of many initiatives to build a more talented and diverse workforce. However, if you put your name on your CV or Statement it will be visible to us. For this reason, we ask that you do not include your name on these documents. Please note it is your responses to the Essential/Desirable criteria, as detailed in the Job Description and Person Specification which is available on the job advert, that will determine if you are shortlisted for an interview, therefore we encourage you to always address the essential and desirable criteria in your application/CV.
We are passionate about our people and how we deliver services to our community in Enfield. That’s why we encourage a culture that puts our customers at the heart of everything we do - by empowering our people to work together to find solutions, be open, honest and respectful, take responsibility and listen and learn. If you value these behaviours too, we’d love to hear from you - and of course we are always happy to talk flexible working, click here to find out more.
Why it's great to work for Enfield Council:

- An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
- Up to 32 days annual leave depending on grade and length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year and an extra day off at Christmas.
- A blend of remote and office based working for most roles.
- Interest free season ticket loan repayable over three or ten months.
- Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods.
- Employee Assistance Programme to provide advice and counselling services. This is a free and confidential service available to staff and members of their family.
- Health and leisure discounts and tax-free bikes for work.
- 1 month paid sabbatical for Children’s Social Workers

We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications have been received. Therefore, we advise that you complete fully and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
If you have previously applied for this role within the past 6 months, unfortunately, a second application will not be considered.