Public Affairs Advisor - Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition

We’re looking for a highly skilled and experienced public affairs professional to join our small staff team to lead our public affairs activity and to grow the influence of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition. This is an exciting opportunity to influence positive change at a time of significant policy and political developments.

As Public Affairs Advisor, you will lead on the Coalition’s public affairs and influencing activity. You will be responsible for influencing the Government’s policy and legislative agenda relating to children and young people’s mental health, forging relationships with the new Parliament, and ensuring the Coalition’s views are heard across Westminster and Whitehall.

With over 370 members across the country, our Coalition has a significant potential to extend its influence. Many of our existing members are well placed to influence at a local level through working with their NHS Integrated Care Boards, councils and MPs, but do not always feel confident carrying out public affairs work. As Public Affairs Adviser, you will work with our members to upskill them to carry out their own influencing activity through a series of ‘Learning and Development’ workshops.

You will have Public Affairs experience of developing successful strategies to influence legislation or government policy, have strong knowledge of political systems and processes, have existing networks and contacts, and feel passionate about creating positive change for babies, children and young people.

This is a new role within the Coalition staff team and is generously supported by the Prudence Trust and the Hollick Family Foundation.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the development and delivery of the Coalition’s parliamentary influencing strategy.
• Build and maintain relationships with Parliamentarians and other key stakeholders, such as civil servants and special advisers.
• Lead the Coalition’s engagement with Parliament and Government, ensuring strong systems are in place to capture and track engagement.
• Monitor and respond to political and legislative developments affecting our work, making recommendations for responses, and proactively seeking opportunities to further the Coalition’s objectives.
• Provide political intelligence to the staff team, Chair and our members, and help to prepare staff for parliamentary activity as appropriate.
• Produce high quality written briefings, reports and other materials that communicate our messages clearly and effectively to a parliamentary audience. This will also include contributing to other Coalition communications such as media responses, newsletters, blogs, and social media posts.
• Plan and deliver events aimed at political stakeholders, for example, parliamentary events and roundtables.
• Participate in collaborations with other charities for shared influencing activities, for example the Fund the Hubs campaign and the Future Minds campaign.  
• Support work on legislation as appropriate, including drafting amendments.

Working with members

• Regularly engage with members to understand their influencing priorities and to gather insight to help inform the Coalition’s wider influencing priorities.
• Connect Coalition members to decision makers and help spotlight their work, for example, helping to organise visits to services.
• Provide advice to members on engaging with their local decision-makers such as their local MP, Integrated Care Boards and Councillors.
• Deliver workshops with members to share information and skills related to influencing and public affairs activity. For example, this could include delivery of sessions on influencing local systems, working with the government, and legislative processes.  

General

• Work closely with the Coalition Lead, the Policy and Public Affairs Assistant, and Chair of the Coalition to develop and review priorities for the Coalition and support to drive these forwards. You will also be required to work closely with the staff at Centre for Mental Health.
• Support with the development and implementation of the Coalition’s work plan and projects.
• To undertake any other duties as reasonably required by the Coalition Lead or Chair of the Coalition

The deadline for applications is Sunday 27th April 23:59