Programme Leader

Role Profile

Place of work: Hybrid, time split between home working, our office and out in the community of Cornwall (includes weekly face to face meetings in Cornwall)

Role summary

This role is multifaceted, helping Cornwall VSF to deliver our contracts effectively.It is envisaged that this role will initially be solely focussed on the People in Mind contract.It is anticipated that once the Programme Lead is embedded into the PiM service, that a second contract will be added to their portfolio.

Key Duties

Programme management.

Create, update, communicate and manage the overarching programme plan, contract risk register monitoring, budget, and evaluation - reporting progress on a quarterly basis.Ensure the plan reflects the bid and where plans have diversified, ensure rational is communicated to the partnership and commissioners.

Develop and manage trusted relationships all levels to ensure effective networks, communication and collaboration are created, nurtured, and enhanced.

Develop excellent relationships with ICS stakeholders (including NHS, local authority, and commercial organisations). Manage relationships all levels to ensure effective networks, communication and collaboration are created, nurtured, and enhanced.

Work with VSF’s Leadership and Finance Officer to ensure the budget lines you are responsible for are effectively managed, monitoring spend against profile on at minimum a quarterly basis.If underspends are incurred work with the partnership to ensure funds are re-prioritised.

Develop and oversee the referral processes and reporting.

Ensure that points of referral such as the Community Gateway have the information needed about the providers to make accurate referral assessments.

Provide guidance to partnership about enquiry routes.

Develop and maintain an in-depth understanding of each separate delivery element.

Develop and oversee various levels of governance within the programme, e.g. steering group, programme managers, people with lived experience.

Formalise the governance arrangements for the contracts, working closely with the Steering Group to ensure governance enables ambitions.

Ensure all partners are meeting commitments in their bid proposals and contracts.Lead on partner relationship management.

Where gaps in provision are identified facilitate partnership discussions and feed into learning cycle to ensure decisions are made in a timely fashion.If the partnership decides to add new core partners, ensure that a detailed specification is created.

Manage delivery of the insight and impact of the programmes including a Human Learning Systems approach to insight, and Social Return on Investment approach to impacts, working closely with VSFs Intelligence and Impact specialist.

Proactively identify and develop emerging initiatives and opportunities for the VCSE sector, relevant to your contracts.Horizon scan for additional opportunities.

Organise and facilitate engagement events with the wider VCSE sector, including sessions with ICB/Cornwall Council and colleagues from outside the sector.

Work with senior leadership to develop and manages processes for conflict management, safeguarding and crisis management, quality assurance, provider underperformance, complaints, provider diversification or negotiations for provider service amendments.

All aspects of line management of Cornwall VSF programme team

Grant Funds

Lead on Cornwall Community Foundation contract liaison ensuring grant funding is delivered as planned, that the learning approach is embedded, reporting provides the data needed and that VSF has the communications content required.

Work with our learning partner to ensure learning events are well plan and that learning questions and plans are available well ahead of time.

Annually set the priority target areas for VCSE grant funding budgets, by facilitating discussion with the partnership and the Cornwall VSF team.

Ensure that learning is fully considered by the steering group and that delivery changes as a result of learning.

Ensure appropriate performance, impact and financial reporting processes are established for any grant elements within VSF’s management, governance procedures, and standards.

Personal health budgets

Working with wider VCSE partners, create a specification of what the programme requires from a PHB delivery provider, that includes guidance, process, forms, data, analysis, follow up with recipient and data capture and analysis from the follow up.

Work with learning partner to determine a learning approach for PHB.

Develop reporting measures for PHB and update information quarterly.

Human learning system approach

Work with learning partner to create a plan for the learning approach that covers all aspects of the partnership and on prioritise learning outcome that can be accommodated.

Facilitate the steering group considering learning and discussing potential changes to plans and service delivery.

Engage and lead on elements when required for programme managers, practitioners and CWF grantees learning sessions.

Reporting

Work with the Programme Coordinator and Intelligence and Impact lead to ensure the programme is capture all data required to enable continuous improvement of the programme.

Ensure that data is analysed to demonstrate important intelligence and impact and the relevant information is shared with Comms officers to feed into the Communications plan.

Lead on reporting to wider partnership on collective performance.

Lead on quarterly reporting to commissioners at quarterly online or face to face meetings.

Ensure end of programme reporting offers evidence of the value and impact of the partnership in readiness for re-commissioning

Communications

Work with the Communications (comms) Officer to create a communications strategy and delivery plan that will be shared with partners and funders.

Work with the Comms Officer to ensure that comms reporting metrics are determined so that appropriate data can be captured.

Oversee the creation of a comms brand strategy and guidance for the partnership, comms templates such as impact stories, case studies, requests for comms support, partner comms plans.

Ensure the comms officer works with partners to develop comms plans for their element of the service and that partners report back on their comms activities, this should be collated for impactful reporting to commissioners and for analysis on what has provided good return on either time or money spent.

Oversee the creation of social media channels for the contract and the social media strategy.

Work with Comms Officer to determine how to spend the modest comms budget, prioritising where the money is used and assessing the impact of the spend.

People with lived experience

Work with the Comms Officer to ensure that the voices of people with lived experiences are embedded in the strategy of the programme, by working either with other organisations such as Healthwatch and wider VCSE partners or by cultivating a specific programme group if necessary.

Ensure that this is embedded for the lifetime of the programme and that people with lived experience have a route to feedback about the services.

When feedback/steering is provided, ensure it is fed into the learning cycle.

General working requirements

Keep up to date with Cornwall VSF’s aims, policies and procedures and ensure these are followed

Working with VSF leadership to ensure the working culture of the VSF is collaborative, inclusive, reflective, constructive and matches the co-produced intentions for your VSF contracts.

Have an affinity to Cornwall VSF’s values of Compassion, Transparency and Inclusivity and always deliver your work with these values in mind.

Have a good understanding and awareness of current sector issues and the Cornwall community.

Have a good understanding of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care System.

Ensure the work reflects equality, diversity and inclusion legislation policy, and best practice

Monitor and evaluate activities appropriate to the role and contribute to the service planning process by providing regular reports and feedback on areas of responsibility.

Use VSF’s CRM system to share information about our stakeholders and membership organisations that would be beneficial to all colleagues.

Key Relationships

Chief Executive 

Operations Director

Staff team (Programme Coordinator 1.0 FTE and Comms Officer 0.6 FTE)

Programme partners

Learning partner

Funders and stakeholders

Person specification 

Essential Criteria 

Extensive programme management experience.

Demonstrable ability as adaptable and effective communicator, delivering and accepting information at a variety of people levels (verbal, written, presentation). 

Ability to analyse, understand, explain, and make recommendations based on complex information. 

Fully conversant with Microsoft Office Suite including excel, word, outlook, PowerPoint, and Teams. 

Well-developed planning and organisational skills, with the ability to manage and prioritise own workload

Proven ability to monitor and maintain casework systems and procedures, service delivery against agreed targets 

The ability to commit to and work within the aims, principles, and policies of VSF and work towards achieving its strategic priorities. 

Adaptable, flexible.

Excellent inter-personal and negotiating skills.

Excellent time management and organisational skills

Excellent problem-solving skills

Commitment to reflective performance and continuing professional development.

Ability to travel and work across Cornwall. 

Understanding of the voluntary and community sector and the challenges and opportunities facing the sector. 

Other requirements 

The normal duties of the role may involve travel on a regular or occasional basis. It is a condition of employment that the post holder can exercise satisfactory travel mobility to fulfil the obligations of the role. 

Be familiar with all relevant GDPR, procedures, ensuring that all statutory obligations are complied with

In-depth understanding of the business of running a charity or voluntary sector organisation including reporting requirements

Complete a satisfactory DBS check. (This can be applied for on appointment).