Vacancy -- Children's Commissioner for Wales

Vacancy details

Children's Commissioner for Wales
The Children’s Commissioner’s office will be relocating to Port Talbot in 2021. This will be the permanent office base. Travel across Wales is needed as part of the role, although travel and working from the office are subject to flexibility in response to the pandemic.
£90,000 to £95,000 per annum.
31
month

Function of body

Wales was the first country in the UK to have an independent Children’s Commissioner – a lead followed by the other UK nations. 

Established by the Care Standards Act 2000, the Children's Commissioner for Wales is an independent children’s human rights institution. The Commissioner’s remit is laid down in the Children's Commissioner for Wales Act 2001, which amended the Care Standards Act 2000.

The principal aim of the Commissioner is to safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of children.

This is a high profile role which has a significant media and public profile.  Appointments are made by the First Minister following a rigorous process including children and young people, a young person’s appointment panel and a cross party appointment panel.

The Commissioner’s Office currently has more than 21 full time equivalents of staff and the Welsh Government provides a budget of £1.579 million per annum. 

 

The Children’s Commissioner for Wales remit covers all areas of the devolved powers of the Senedd Cymru insofar as they affect children’s rights and welfare. In summary the Commissioner has the following powers:

  • The power to review the effect on children of exercise of functions or proposed exercise of functions of defined public bodies including Welsh Government. 
  • The power to review and monitor how effective are the arrangements for complaints, whistleblowing and advocacy of defined public bodies in safeguarding and promoting the rights and welfare of children.
  • The power to examine cases in respect of individual children in certain circumstances.
  • The power to provide assistance to a child in certain circumstances.
  • The power to make representations to the Welsh Government about any matters affecting the rights and welfare of children which concerns the Commissioner and for which they do not have the power to act.

To find out more about the Children’s Commissioner’s powers please see the attached: Children's Commissioner for Wales powers

Role description

  • You will safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of all children and young people up to the age of 18 (and in some cases to 25) in Wales.  This is the principle aim of the Commissioner as set out in legislation.  
  • You will inspire people to achieve better outcomes for all children and young people in Wales under all areas of policy, legislation, decision-making and practice that affect their lives directly or indirectly.  
  • You will continue to stimulate national discussion and debate about achieving a society that respects children and young people and places a real value on offering them the opportunities they need to fulfil their individual potential.   
  • You will provide national leadership and make a positive difference to children and young people’s lives by establishing and maintaining strong partnerships and powerful relationships with people and organisations.   
  • You will have regard to and champion the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) – an international charter which sets out the minimum standards for children and young people wherever they live. The UNCRC underpins all of the Commissioner’s work.  
  • You will lead on the engagement with and scrutiny of Government and other organisations to deliver responsive services shaped by evidence and the thinking and opinions of children and young people.   
  • You will fulfil the role of Corporation Sole and Accounting Officer for the organisation, ensuring ongoing transparent financial accounting, monitoring and review mechanisms are maintained.   
  • You will lead and manage the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, and will ensure it continues to be a strong, confident, inspiring and resilient all-Wales organisation that works effectively as a team, with robust governance and business structures, to ensure that children and young people are a national priority.

Welsh language skills

The Welsh Government acknowledges the importance of developing and growing bilingual capabilities in public appointments in Wales, and welcomes applications from candidates who demonstrate their capability to work in both English and Welsh.  The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the recruiting body of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.
Welsh language skills need to be learnt when appointed

Person specification

The First Minister is seeking to appoint an individual who can demonstrate the following:

  • the ability to demonstrate experience of engaging with and representing the views of others, in particular leading diversity and inclusion for marginalised or under-represented groups, and standing up for their rights;  
  • an understanding nature alongside an understanding of the particular challenges of representing the views of children and young people;  
  • a sound knowledge base of and a commitment to furthering children’s human rights; 
  • exceptional influencing skills, including the ability to listen, communicate and inspire confidence with a diverse range of stakeholders from children and young people to decision makers at the most senior level;  
  • the ability to express complex issues simply and articulately and present evidence in a clear and compelling way;  
  • independence of judgement and the ability to quickly analyse complex problems and identify potential solutions;       
  • the confidence and competence to speak out on issues affecting children and young people in Wales, including to the media, Government and Senedd Cymru; 
  • experience of effective leadership of an organisation or distinct unit within a larger organisation, including financial and people management;  
  • self-motivation and the ability to be pro-active, determined, positive and resilient;  
  • the enthusiasm to be an effective ambassador to improve outcomes for all children and young people;    
  • professional integrity, credibility and sensitivity to maintain confidence and trust; and  
  • proven knowledge of the political landscape in Wales and legislative position in respect of children’s rights and an understanding of how the Children’s Commissioner can operate effectively in this context.

To be considered, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills and experience to meet all the essential criteria for appointment.

Interview dates

8 November 2021
19 November 2021

Closing date

28/06/2021, 16:00

Additional information

For further information regarding the selection process, please contact:

Public Appointments Team

Public Bodies Unit

Email: publicappointments@gov.wales

 

For further information regarding the role of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales please contact Karen Cornish, Deputy Director, Children and Families Division

Tel: 0300 025 3424

Email: Karen.Cornish@gov.wales

 

If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please contact publicappointments@gov.wales.

For further information about Public Appointments in Wales, please visit www.gov.wales/publicappointments

How to apply

To apply for this role, click on the ‘Apply’ button below. The first time you apply for a post, you will need to complete a registration form for the Welsh Government’s online application system.  You will only need to register once, and you will be able to keep yourself updated on the progress of your application, and any other applications you make, via your registered account.

Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to access the application form.  To apply you will need to submit two supporting documents.

  • The first document should include two personal statements (in one PDF Document): one written for children and young people and one written for adults. Both statements will be considered as part of the public appointments process.

    How you choose to present the information is up to you. However, you should aim to provide detailed examples that demonstrate how your knowledge and experience matches each of the criteria, and which describe what your role was in achieving a specific result. It will also benefit the selection panel if you can be clear which particular evidence you provide relates to which criteria. Providing separate paragraphs in relation to each criterion is common practice.

    For your personal statement written for children and young people you will still need to provide detailed examples that demonstrate how your knowledge and experience matches each of the criteria but you should write it in such a way that children and young people can easily understand. You also may want to reflect on the three priorities for the next Commissioner provided by children and young people on page 4 of the Candidate Pack.

    Please limit your two personal statements to two pages each. Your application may be rejected if you exceed this limit.

  • The second document is a full, up to date CV.  The two documents should be uploaded to the ‘Reasons for applying’ section of the online application form.

In your application, you will also be asked to provide details of any activities which have helped you to develop skills that would be useful in a public appointment role, and list the organisations for which you undertook these activities.  We also need to know about any political activity that you’ve undertaken over the last 5 years. 

It is recommended that you register for an account and access the application form as soon as possible so that you see how the application form is structured, before starting to prepare your evidence.  You don’t have to complete the application form all in one go.  You can save your responses, and log in and out as required, until you’re ready to submit – just follow the guidance in the application form.

If you’d like to apply for this opportunity in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please contact the Welsh Government’s Public Appointments Team on PublicAppointments@gov.wales.

Commissioner for Public Appointments logo

This vacancy is closed to applications.