The Role

An exciting opportunity has arisen to lead the work of the Council’s Education and Business partnership.  The EBP is known as Wandsworth BEST (Business and Education Succeeding Together) and annually provides work experience for over 1,500 young people.

This is an excellent opportunity for candidates who are committed to the value of work experience and enjoy working with employers from all sectors.

You will work with the Head of Lifelong Learning and the BEST Board on devising and implementing the strategy for work related learning and enterprise.  The role involves designing and managing the delivery of the work experience and education business links programme and ensuring that the operational, health and safety and quality standards are maintained and implemented.

Additionally, you will be expected to support a number of careers and work related programmes funded through the European Social Fund and participation in the Council’s apprenticeship programme.

You will need to have management experiences as you will manage and develop a team of coordinators responsible for the delivery of work related learning programmes; good written and spoken communication skills are also required as you will market BEST , as well as working collaboratively with other Local Authorities and formulating bids and initiatives to increase opportunities for income generation and to expand the opportunities for Work Related Learning and Enterprise across the Council.

The post is part of the Lifelong Learning team in Children’s Services. Lifelong Learning is responsible for a wide range of activities and courses across the borough. This includes the provision of apprenticeships at a range of levels; work experience for children and young people as well as adults; and community learning opportunities. Adults across the borough can access a wide range of accredited learning opportunities including  maths, English and ESOL.  An extensive number of short courses are available to support employability skills for both employed and unemployed adults. 

In return, we can offer you working arrangements that will enhance your work-life balance.  These include compressed hours, home working (dependent on service need), part time working, annualised hours, term time only, and a generous holiday allowance of 31 days plus bank holidays. 

In addition, we offer a range of staff benefits such as Performance Related Pay, membership of the Local Government contributory pension scheme, childcare vouchers, new technology scheme, interest-free loans on annual travel cards, discounts at many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments. A wide range of developmental opportunities are also offered.

Interview Date: Week Starting Monday 18 March 2019

Equality Statement

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services.

We are pleased to be Disability Confident employer.

Important Information:

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils