Housing Support Practitioner

Partnership Manager, Refugee Employability

Company Overview

You would be joining Palladium, a global impact organisation, with 3,000 employees in over 90 countries. We are a mission-driven business, for whom the impact of our work is as important as the commercial return; the common feature of all our work, regardless of contract size, is the requirement that it contributes to positive social and economic impact. We simply call this ‘Positive Impact’. For the past 50 years, we have been helping our clients to see the world as interconnected in over 90 countries- by formulating strategies, building partnerships, and implementing programs that deliver lasting positive impact. We are experienced in implementing large, complex programmes supporting skills and employment and are currently delivering 30 programmes for the UK Government.

Programme Overview

The Refugee Employability Programme is a new initiative that offers enhanced support to defined cohorts of legally recognised refugees in the UK. Starting in September 2023, the programme will provide tailored support for each participant focussed on gaining sustainable employment. Palladium will work with employers, local government, and other community partners to ensure that individuals are fully supported with their journey back to employment and integration into UK society. The programme includes delivery of employability- focussed English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) tuition for some of the defined cohorts.

Palladium is responsible for delivering the programme in the South East of England

Primary Duties and responsibilities:

As Partnership Manager you will be responsible for building partnerships in the South East to ensure that there is strong awareness of the Home Office Refugee Employability Programme and a manageable flow of eligible customer referrals is established from the outset of the programme.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Map and build links with all the stakeholders in the geography who are already providing support services for refugees; ensure that the Palladium team has a clear understanding of the additional support available and has referral pathways to engage that support for service users if appropriate.
• Manage end-to-end supplier relationships, providing structured engagement with suppliers and regular feedback on performance and quality.
•  Engage with potential customers, explain the benefits of the service and assess eligibility in order to support a referral.
• Work closely with the ESOL Delivery Manager to ensure there is a common understanding of respective areas of responsibility and any overlapping areas are carefully managed.
• Commission or engage with suppliers for spot purchase of additional support which customers need and for which there is an agreed internal business case.
• Engage with employers to support customers gaining an understanding of the UK labour market and working practices, work experience and paid employment as required.
•  Accurately forecast and pipeline referrals monthly, and proactively ensure that there is a sufficient flow of eligible referrals to meet local demand and contract requirements.
• Lead the organisation of the Quarterly Service User Forum, with support from the Operations Manager.
• Collaborate with colleagues, suppliers, and partners, building strong and effective working relationships to deliver excellent performance.  This includes supporting the processes for co-location of services, accessing AEB-funded training for service users, collaborating with local third sector organisations and engaging with employers.]
•  Manage x2 Customer Service Advisor(s) in support of the customer referral process.

Skills and experience:

Required

• Experience in a responsible management position developing strong partnership networks in the South East
•  Experience in delivering contractual performance targets or Service Level Agreements
• Strong influencing and engagement skills, with experience of building lasting and effective working relationships with a wide variety of external stakeholders
• A level of independence and professionalism to take the lead as needed

Desirable

• Leadership of supply chain management in the field of employability, integration, refugee support or English for Speakers of Other Languages
• Exposure to the challenges experienced by refugees or asylum seekers, or personal lived experience
• Experience in launching new support programmes, including the early phases of generating referrals for a new programme
• Fluency in languages other than English would be an advantage

Key Competencies:

• Taking responsibility, driving tasks through to completion and achieving results
• Ability to engage, motivate, challenge and inspire
• Proactive and solution focused, bringing both creativity and practicality to bear
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Use of management information to inform and drive performance improvement
•  Excellent organisation and prioritisation skills
• The determination and drive to make a positive difference.

Location 

This is a highly mobile role covering a large operational geography, with the expectation of regular travel to meet partners, support team members and build referral routes and pipelines for the service. Our base office is in Southampton, and travel costs for larger distances to other locations will be reimbursed by Palladium.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.  

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance.

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse.  All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process