Our Vacancies  

We are looking for key actors in adult social care, including funders/decision-makers, service providers, people who receive care and support, carers and front-line staff to join us as Local Network Coordinators. There will be Local Networks in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, all focused on the same issue, with the ultimate aim to produce an action plan to take change forward, drawing on learning from other parts of the UK.

Each Local Network will get together four times over a period of six months to discuss a particular issue using materials provided in advance, with members sharing experiences and suggesting practical ideas for positive change. The notes from these meetings will be fed back to the UK Networks’ Lead (Kate Hamblin) and Networks Manager (Amber Cagney), who will then produce a summary of key points raised from the Networks across the UK for discussion at the next meeting. We hope this iterative process of discussion and shared learning will result in action plans which will facilitate change. 

We would like Local Network Coordinators to:

• attend a training and planning meeting with other Local Network Coordinators
• work with IMPACT to recruit members 8-10 people including people who receive care and support, carers, front-line staff, funders/decision-makers and relevant service providers to their local Network.
• run four Network meetings, roughly six weeks apart, with financial resources available to support this (including room hire and refreshments)
• lead the discussion at the Network meetings, guided by the materials supplied by IMPACT
• summarise the points raised in each meeting and send a note of this to IMPACT’s Networks Manager
• meet three times with the other Local Network Coordinators from across the UK with the UK Network Lead (Kate Hamblin) to plan and debrief after each Network meeting
• work with their Local Network to create an action plan for practical change.
• provide feedback six and 12 months after the Network ends.

There are resources available to support the IMPACT Networks and your involvement as a Local Network Coordinator, including:

• A Local Network Coordinator fee (£5,000).
• Additional resources to support participation costs (up to £2,450, including support for people who are unsalaried [£75 per person per meeting], replacement care/PA support for Network members, travel expenses)
• The support of the Networks Lead (Kate Hamblin) and Networks Manager (Amber Cagney)

Networks focus on specific topics and we have vacancies in the following areas:

Carers, transitions and co-production (from October 2024 – April 2025): Transitions, including service transitions (such as from hospital; from children’s to adults’ services and into a residential care setting) can be experienced as ‘shocks’ or as stressful both for the person experiencing them and those who care for them. This Network will focus on carers (unpaid or ‘informal’ as opposed to care workers) and how they can be better involved during periods of transition. Sometimes carers are ‘forgotten’ or ‘taken for granted’ in the processes and decision-making, and the aim of this Network is to explore how they can be more involved in ways that align with the values of ‘co-production’. We are looking for coordinators in Scotland.

Please contact Amber Cagney ([email protected]) if you have any queries or would like to talk about being a Local Network Coordinator.