Job Introduction
We are looking for a Best Start in Life Coordinator to join Portsmouth's Best Start Family Hub network. This is an exciting role coordinating the day-to-day delivery of the Best Start in Life Inclusion Practitioner service across Portsmouth, supporting babies, young children aged 0-5, and their families to access early, practical and inclusive support when children may have emerging needs, developmental differences or additional needs.
This is a fixed Term contract until 31st March 2029
The Role
The role is about supporting practitioners to provide help early, promoting consistent family-centered practice, and helping children and families access the right support at the right time. Support offered through the service will be needs-led rather than diagnosis-led, meaning families can receive advice, guidance and practical help without needing to wait for a diagnosis or meet a referral threshold.
The postholder will provide operational management, practice support and quality assurance to Best Start in Life Inclusion Practitioners. The role will help ensure the service is consistent, accessible and responsive across Family Hubs, community settings and partner sites. The coordinator will work in partnership with existing services and will complement the established inclusion offer across Early Years, Family Hubs and community settings.
You will help ensure the service supports access and inclusion across the full Best Start offer. This will include overseeing outreach activity, monitoring accessibility and engagement, supporting practitioners to strengthen family confidence, and ensuring the service contributes to early outcomes including speech, language and communication development and school readiness.
The Ideal Candidate
We are looking for a professional with a relevant Level 4 qualification (or equivalent experience) in an area such as early years, education, health, social care, family support or SEND, together with ongoing professional development.
You will have experience of supporting children aged 0-5 with additional or complex needs, working closely with families and carers, and delivering family-centred support in partnership with other services. Experience of coordinating services, caseloads, staff or volunteers, supervising practitioners, and contributing to service monitoring, quality assurance and improvement activities is essential.
The successful candidate will have a strong understanding of child development, SEND, safeguarding, Early Help and Family Hub approaches, inclusion, and strengths-based practice. Knowledge of speech, language and communication development, school readiness, and supporting underserved communities is also important.
You will be an excellent communicator with strong organisational and analytical skills, able to build effective relationships, manage competing priorities, support and develop practitioners, facilitate meetings, maintain accurate records, and produce clear reports.
Please ensure that you download and read the full job profile attached below for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.
Working Arrangements: Attendance requirements to the designated workplace for the role in line with the Hybrid - Working a minimum of 2 days in the office per week
Informal enquiries, please contact: Claire Mason at claire.mason@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
Interview date: 12th October 2026
Application process
We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.
We strongly encourage candidates to add all Career and Education History to their application, as CVs are not reviewed as part of the shortlisting process.
As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience.
We are a disability confident employer and have an Armed Forces Covenant. We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.
You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.
Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our career's portal homepage: Careers Portal - Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council
Safeguarding
Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at Standard/Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Please read the relevant DBS privacy notice before submitting any information.
You will need to explain any gaps in your career history within the last 5 years - this is essential for all safeguarding roles.
Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616 800.
