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SEND Participation Engagement Officer

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

London, United Kingdom£40,404Full timeCloses: 2026-09-13T22:55:00+00:00

Amplify young voices with SEND and help shape services that drive genuine inclusion.

As our Bi-borough Children and Young People’s Participation and Engagement Officer (SEND), you’ll empower young people to shape the local services that affect their lives. It’s a role with real impact – a chance to undertake genuine co-production and ensure the voices of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are directly heard across our communities.

Working Style

You’ll be based in the Borough for four days a week, playing a key role in serving the local community. Whether you’re running interactive sessions in schools, collaborating with local partners or engaging community groups, you’ll be part of a dedicated team making a real difference to residents’ lives.

What you’ll be doing

Your focus will be bringing youth participation to life, leading engaging activities for children and young people with SEND across Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster. Every day brings variety – whether you’re facilitating interactive workshops in schools and colleges or creating accessible information materials so every young person can share their views with confidence.

Working across two local authorities and the local NHS Integrated Care Board, you’ll collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, education providers and voluntary sector partners to ensure young people's insights directly shape policy and service delivery.

You’ll also represent young people’s perspectives at service level meetings and champion robust safeguarding practices across all engagement activities.

For further details, please review the Job Description and Person Specification 

What you’ll bring

You’ll bring substantial experience of working directly with disabled children and young people from diverse backgrounds, alongside a proven track record of leading participation and engagement programmes. You have a solid understanding of SEND, inclusion and multi-agency working, with practical experience involving young people in structured decision-making processes. Backgrounds in youth work, education, local government, the NHS or community engagement will suit this role well.

Your strength lies in your communication and relationship-building skills. You can easily adapt your facilitation techniques and communication styles to meet a wide range of needs, ensuring every participant feels respected, supported and heard. You’re proactive, organised and collaborative, with the ability to build trust across diverse communities and champion equality in everything you do.

Most importantly, you’re someone who genuinely believes in the power of the youth voice – and who’s ready to do the work to make sure those voices drive real change.

Why join us

At RBKC, we’re all in – investing in our people, our communities and our future.

This role offers a unique fixed-term secondment opportunity until 2 April 2027 to work across two ambitious local authorities and the NHS. You’ll gain broad exposure across local government, education and health sectors, strengthening your expertise in co-production, strategic service development and partnership working.

We offer a competitive salary, dedicated professional development, flexible working arrangements and comprehensive wellbeing support to help you thrive.

Interview Details and Role Requirement

Interviews will be held in person Tuesday 22nd September 2026

This role will require an Enhanced Children’s and Adult’s DBS

About us

Kensington and Chelsea is home to diverse communities, thriving businesses and unique local places. Everything we do is focused on supporting our residents, strengthening our approach and creating a fairer borough.

As a competent and caring Council, we take pride in our work every day, ensuring our services are delivered with care and competence. We listen to our residents, act with integrity and work together to build a borough that is greener, safer and fairer for all.

In this role, you’ll bring a get-stuck-in mindset to breaking down barriers and amplifying youth voices. Engaging young people with complex communication and support needs isn't always plain sailing, but seeing their feedback directly transform local services makes every ounce of effort worth it. By committing fully to co-production, you’ll turn complex challenges into meaningful opportunities for growth, inclusion and lasting change.

Ready to join us?

We’re all in – are you? If you share our values and have the skills to contribute, we’d love to hear from you.

Please apply online explaining how you meet the requirements set out in the person specification and job description. We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants.

We are committed to promoting equality and respecting diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

We are a Disability Confident Employer – committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible.

We are committed to fair, transparent, and consistent pay practices. New hires will start at the minimum of the salary range.

Employees receive annual salary increases until they reach the top of the pay scale. In addition, employees will receive any agreed cost of living pay rises.

We are committed to fair, transparent, and consistent pay practices. New hires will start at the minimum of the advertised salary range.

Employees receive annual salary increases until they reach the top of the pay scale. In addition, employees will receive any agreed cost of living pay rises.