Job Title: Communications and PR Manager

Job Description

Location:First4Adoption at theCoram Campus, Bloomsbury

Salary:£32,000 including inner London weighting (pro rata)

Contract Hours:28hours per week

Responsible to: Customer Services Manager, First4Adoption

Relationships & Contacts: Potential adopters,Coram Children’s Legal Centre(CCLC) colleagues & teams, Coram staff, and other project stakeholders e.g. Department for Education, British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), Local Authorities and Adoption Agencies.

Context

The National Gateway for Adoption is operated by First4Adoption. First4Adoption is run by a charity consortium of Coram Children’s Legal Centre, Adoption UK and Coram and is funded and supported by the Department for Education (DfE).

First4Adoption is the national adoption information service for people interested in adopting a child in England. It is designed to assist potential adopters by providing clear, consistent and accurate information about the adoption process. A new telephone and website service operated by this project provides a first point of contact for potential adopters to help them navigate the process of adopting a child in England.We are now looking for a talented individual to lead national recruitment and coordinate regional activity working with adoption agencies and consortia of agencies across the country.

This role will lead the creation of First4Adoption’s dedicated adopter recruitment function. We are looking for an accomplished and enthusiastic communications and PR specialist to raise the profile of First4Adoption and handle all PR and media communications.

Increasing the number of adoptions to take children out of care and speeding up the adoption process is a key priority for the Government. The number of children who would benefit from adoption continues to outstrip the number of available adopters. The most recent figures show a shortfall of nearly 3,000 adopters. As well as filling the current shortfall of adopters we also need to increase the long term supply by recruiting an extra 1,000 adopters year on year to meet the growing number of children in care for whom adoption is the best option.

The Government has invested significantly in reforming adoption systems, improving services and cutting red tape to increase the capacity and speed at which adoption agencies and local authorities can place children into adoptive families. The deficit in adopters now remains the primary barrier to achieving timely adoptions.

Purpose of the Role

To coordinate and leadall PR and communications for First4Adoption to increase and promote awareness of the service and the offer to its audience

Main Duties & Responsibilities

To lead on the development and implementation of First4Adoption’s communication and PR strategy
To lead national PR activity and co-ordinate regional activity to promote awareness of First4Adoption
To lead and manage First4Adoption’s social media presence
To lead on the development and monitoring of brand guidelines and key messages
To manage and develop national partnerships to promote First4Adoption and adoption
To plan and organise First4Adoption’s presence at events such as conferences
To develop and write press releases and news articles
To plan and lead all communications and PR in relation to National Adoption Week and other key events
To work with adoption agencies and consortia to promote use of First4Adoption
To work with First4Adoption’s National Recruitment Manager and Web and Information Manager to ensure coordinated work and spend in line with First4Adoption marketing and communications strategy
To work closely with a range of partner organisations across the adoption sector as well as with local agencies (both local authorities and voluntary adoption agencies.
To monitor press coverage and social media engagement
Any other tasks within competence as required by line management

Person Specification

Criteria required for the role / Essential / Desirable
Skills & Knowledge: / First degree with GCSE English Language and Mathematics
Comprehensive understanding of PR and communication mix, including understanding of appropriate media to reach different audiences
Proven and demonstrable experience of working with a wide range of media, developing and implementing media strategies
Proven experience in successful media relations; writing press releases and successfully generating media coverage through media liaison
Ability to work to tight, competing deadlines on a range of different projects
Sound editorial judgement.
Experience using and managing social media
Strong interpersonal and communication skills and be able to demonstrate high level persuasive skills / An understanding of children’s services, adoption or legal sectors
Experience: / At least 3 years’ experience of working in the field of communications
Building robust and efficient relationships with key stakeholders and partners / Experience working on campaigns and with national government
Disposition: / Highly motivated, results-orientated self-starter with a focused professional approach
Able to lead projects on own initiative, and to meet tight deadlines
Entrepreneurial, creative and innovative, finding effective new solutions to complex problems
Commitment to Coram Children’s Legal Centre’s equal opportunities policy
Technical: / Outstanding copy writing and creative skills
Excellent writing skills
The highest level of proof reading and grammatical accuracy
Computer literate with good MS Office skills
Excellent social media skills and awareness of analytics