Amaze Job Description
Job Title:
Leisure Development and Engagement Worker
Grade:
Responsible to:
Hours of work:
Annual Leave:
NJC Scale Point 26-28
Compass and Carers Cards Development Manager
2 posts. Flexible – between 18-20 hours per week each post
25 days pro rata
Background
Amaze is a local charity based in Brighton and Hove that gives information, advice and
support to parents and carers of children and young people with special educational needs
and disabilities (SEND), and is beginning to develop services for young people with SEND.
Amaze manages the statutory “disabilities register” for Brighton and Hove City Council
(“The Compass”), and offers all children and young people on the register from the ages of
0 to 24 a free leisure incentive card, the “Compass Card”, giving them discounts and
special deals across the city. Amaze has just been commissioned to develop and manage
a similar scheme for the county of West Sussex and this post will lead the engagement
work with families and the subsequent development of the leisure offers for the new
scheme.
Main Purpose of the Job:
Working closely with the Compass and Carers Card Development Manager, and remotely
across a patch covering half of West Sussex:
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To consult with a wide range of families and existing providers in West Sussex to
determine the priorities for the development of offers.
To develop excellent working relationships with key leisure providers and local
businesses to convince them to make significant offers for families with children and
young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
To develop a wide range of leisure discount offers to support the launch and ongoing
development of the scheme in West Sussex.
To widely promote the scheme to both children and young people with SEND, their
families and professionals already working with them in West Sussex in order to
increase membership year on year.
Main responsibilities:
Engagement:
 To work with the West Sussex Parent Carer Forum and other key West Sussex
organisations to find ways of contacting parents and young people in the area for
consultation and carry out focus groups and surveys to seek input to the scheme’s
development
 To develop innovative ways of engaging young people with SEND directly, working with
short breaks providers, schools and colleges
 To engage children, young people and their parent carers to find out what is needed to
make leisure activities more accessible and about their leisure needs/preferences
 To engage children, young people and their parent carers, as well as leisure providers
to identify any barriers and solutions that apply to particular groups of children and
young people and work to modify the scheme accordingly
 To develop publicity materials to encourage parent carers and young people to engage
with consultation on the scheme’s development and to register interest
 To consult with parent carers and young people on existing offers and to gain
information about priorities for the scheme’s future development
 To work with parent carers and young people to develop ways to feedback their
experiences of offers and offer providers and to suggest improvements, or new offers
on an on-going basis
Leisure Development:
 Working closely with the Amaze team and key stakeholders at West Sussex County
Council, local leisure providers, parents and young people, to develop a West Sussex
‘offers strategy’
 Identify priority areas for development, including spread of offers by geographical area,
are range, disability type, etc.
 Working closely with the Compass & Carers’ Card Development Manager to capitalise
on the experience of, and synergies between, Compass Card Brighton & Hove and the
scheme in West Sussex, e.g. passported offers, cross-border partnerships
 Develop relationships with potential new offer partners in West Sussex, and develop
appropriate materials (statistics, case studies etc) of why they should be persuaded to
join the scheme
 Negotiate the best possible free/low cost offers for children and young people with
SEND. Develop the full range of opportunities from one off offers, through to ongoing
discounts
 Negotiate with existing Compass partners to extend their offers for West Sussex
families, and when new offers are developed in West Sussex to negotiate their
extension for Brighton and Hove families.
 To share learning about offers development between the West Sussex and Brighton
and Hove schemes.
Scheme promotion:
 To work with other key partners to develop a communications/promotional strategy for
the new scheme
 With support from the Leisure Development Administrator, ensure that all
communications mechanisms are kept up to date with the latest offer details including
the Compass App, e-bulletins, Amaze website
 To widely promote the scheme to both children and young people with SEND, their
families and professionals already working with them in West Sussex in order to
increase membership year on year
 To develop excellent working relationships with established projects and organisations
across West Sussex incentivising them to also refer families to the new scheme
 Over time, to focus promotion on particularly under-represented groups such as very
isolated families, parents of under 5s and BAME families. To work in partnership with
other agencies targeting these families e.g. Reaching Families’ Rural Outreach Worker
 With the support of the Leisure Development Administrator, develop and produce a
regular e-bulletin to parents in West Sussex and update the news section of the
Compass ‘App’, highlighting the latest offers/deals and other time-sensitive
communications from Amaze
 In conjunction with the Database Manager, ensure the level of registrations is monitored
in order to track membership and increase the number of children on the scheme in line
with agreed targets
 Lead on Amaze’s public relations and external communications within West Sussex,
promoting key messages and raising awareness of the need for improved inclusive,
exclusive and affordable leisure activities for disabled children and young people –
utilising survey feedback as evidence
 Assist with developing and maintaining successful working relations with existing leisure
providers, and lead on relationships with new providers in West Sussex, dealing with
concerns, issues and queries from both families and leisure providers
 Work with the Database Manager to promote and disseminate the positive outcomes
from the development and use of the scheme for parents and providers
Participation/Monitoring/Evaluation:
 Identify and implement achievable ways to monitor levels of satisfaction of families,
children, young people, carers and leisure provider staff / other partners in West
Sussex.
 Working with the Database Manager, collate evidence/reports on the leisure needs of
children and young people with SEND in West Sussex, where possible mapping unmet
needs and priority concerns.
General Responsibilities:
 Develop links with West Sussex sports development teams, play and leisure strategy
groups and other appropriate groups, to raise the profile and promote the leisure needs
of children with SEND.
 Undertake other tasks appropriate to the role, as required by the Compass and Carers’
Card Development Manager
 Attend supervision and staff meetings regularly.
 Demonstrate a commitment to professional development, team working and the
principles of equal opportunities.
 To work within the framework of all Amaze policies and procedures
Leisure Development and Engagement Worker – Person Specification
Experience
1. Experience of building, maintaining and developing excellent working relationships
with a variety of different groups of parents, young people, professionals and other
partners/stakeholders
2. Experience of service user engagement - engaging with users, identifying their
needs and helping them communicate these to decision makers
3. Experience of the production of good quality publicity/marketing material for
different audiences. Experience of promoting a service would be desirable
4. Experience of negotiating offers or discounts would be desirable, or alternatively
sales experience or negotiation in a different context
5. Experience of writing reports and evaluations for funders
6. Experience of supporting the development of a new service or project
7. Experience of using MS Office, especially MS Excel, Word and Outlook
8. Experience of working with less heard/hard to reach group(s)
Skills, abilities and personal qualities
9. Ability to travel across their patch of West Sussex - full driving licence, or ability to
travel freely within the county
10. A good understanding of the issues faced by children and young people with SEND
and their parent carers and motivated to deliver positive change for families with
disabled children
11. Ability to engage young people with SEND - so during periods of consultation
some ability to work on afternoons/evenings at times and locations accessible to
them
12. Excellent written and verbal communication skills
13. Ability to lead, influence, persuade and enthuse a wide range of people from
service managers to funders to parents
14. Excellent interpersonal skills, to build relationships and work collaboratively
15. An ability to design and implement monitoring systems for evaluation purposes
16. Good IT skills and familiarity with software for word processing and presentations,
and ability to use desktop publishing software would be desirable
17. Ability to plan and prioritise workloads to deliver planned objectives/outcomes
18. Ability to work independently and remotely, taking the initiative and solving
problems if necessary
19. A commitment to team working
20. Ability to demonstrate understanding of equal opportunities and the value of
inclusion and diversity