Children's Development Manager

• Dec 2020 - Present

Commissioning Manager (Children's Social Care & Early Help)

• Jul 2016 - Dec 2020

Lead on commissioning for Children's Social Care and Early Help.Achievements:- Lead for commissioning across children’s services, with a key focus on early intervention and children’s social care- Line management of small team (2 x Principal Commissioners, 1 x Placement Officer), embedding a positive and energetic team ethos- Accountable for the Children’s Commissioning budget, constantly ensuring balance and value- Contract & performance management of numerous commissioned or grant-funded services, with a principled focus on outcomes and social impact- Strong stakeholder and provider engagement, knowing & shaping the market, building trusted relationships across a wide set of partners- Project management of service reviews and development, incorporating co-production at every stage

Troubled Families Project Manager

• Aug 2013 - Jul 2016

Achievements: - Took over embryonic local programme and established strong multi-agency governance, communication, and operational processes to enable positive programme outcomes (e.g. having a 96% success rate in turning around families, and generating £300k+ of ‘payment by results’ after 18 months, which led to being invited to be an ‘early starter’ of the 2015-2020 national programme)- Led the implementation of new services, evidence-based interventions and workforce development, to provide targeted, outcome-focused support to vulnerable families- Commissioning and contract management of voluntary sector family services, plus management of 15 in-house staff, to deliver effective and efficient provision- Clearly evidenced and articulated – to a range of audiences – the benefits (both human and financial) of the local programme, using quantitative and qualitative data

Strategy and Performance Manager (Community Safety)

• Dec 2007 - Jul 2013

Achievements:- Established, coordinated, and performance managed the ‘Stronger Communities Initiative’ in the three most deprived areas of St Helens, which resulted in annual falls in crime and anti-social behavior in these previously very challenging areas- Project managed the development of an ‘Integrated Offender Management’ model in St Helens, which led to year-on-year reductions in reoffending from the Borough’s most prolific criminals- Led the area’s response to Hate Crime, working with a vast range of organisations to establish a strong marketing strategy and clear processes for victim support- Brokered information sharing from across partner agencies, giving rise to regular collation and analysis of data to help inform both strategic and operational decision-making

Service Review & Research Officer

• Aug 2007 - Dec 2007

Short-term contract reviewing voluntary-sector services commissioned by the Children's Services department. Short-term contract reviewing voluntary-sector services commissioned by the Children's Services department.

Constituency Assistant

• Feb 2005 - Jun 2006

Working in the busy constituency office of a prominent MP, who was a Government Minister at the time, dealing with constituent cases, media relations, policy and research. Working in the busy constituency office of a prominent MP, who was a Government Minister at the time, dealing with constituent cases, media relations, policy and research.