Candidate information

Appointment of Chief Executive

December 2020

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Thank you for your interest in the CEO position at Whizz-Kidz. I would like to share here with you some insights and perspective on the organisation that I hope will encourage you to apply.

It's an extraordinary organisation, with a wonderful mission: to help disabled young people to lead happier and more fulfilling lives. In simple terms, we provide children and young adults with bespoke mobility equipment and a range of supporting services, which they would not be able to get otherwise. It is hard for most of us to imagine just how important the right wheelchair is. Literally, it becomes part of them, not surprising perhaps when they can spend up to 16 hours a day in it.

It is so heart-warming to see a child fitted with the right wheelchair, powered if needed. "You have given me back my legs", "I can be normal", "Now I can play with my friends" are typical of the reaction from children when they get their new customised wheelchair from Whizz-Kidz. You can also imagine the impact on the child's family. It is why, outside of the NHS, Whizz-Kidz is the largest supplier of paediatric mobility equipment in the UK. And our offering does not stop there - we offer clubs both in real time and online to give kids a chance to spend time with

their peers, we offer help to get into work, and to transition to an independent life. Whatever the young wheelchair users tell us they need, we try to provide.

Although I first became involved with Whizz-Kidz about 30 years ago where it was founded, I only became Chairman last year. I have been incredibly impressed by the enthusiasm, commitment and talent of everyone who works here. I can't think of an organisation I have worked with that shows such dedication and commitment to their cause. The fact we have only had two CEOs in 30 years says something. Whizz-Kidz is a truly special organisation to be involved in. The management team you would lead are focused, happy and utterly committed to the charity and especially to the young wheelchair users we exist to help. You will see that throughout the organisation.

Whizz-Kidz has performed extremely well through the COVID crisis - and not all charities can say that. We have looked after more clients than ever, we have expanded our range of services, our funders have been loyal and finances are strong. We have launched a new website offering a huge range of activities and skills aimed at young wheelchair users and information for their families. We have also amazed many by

From our Chair

Welcome

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delivering a £1 million prototype wheelchair for the 21st Century truly pushing at the boundaries of design and functionality... the first truly new wheelchair for over 30 years. We have even moved into a funky new office by Borough Market.

We have real ambitions to build on these strong foundations and that is exactly what we are looking to the new CEO to do: to take Whizz-Kidz to a new level, to provide our unique services to an increasing number of children in need, to take advantage of the opportunities digital technology offers, to expand our range of services, to increase our funding levels, to develop a closer partnership with the NHS, to bring the

'dream' wheelchair to market, and to be the national ambassador to the whole sector. And most importantly, to inspire the wonderful people who work for Whizz-Kidz and to show the same commitment as them to providing a better life for our young clients.

If this rings bells with you, and you believe you have the ambition, ability and experience to deliver on our mission, we would love to hear from you.

Sir Crispin Davis

Chair of the Board of Trustees, Whizz-Kidz

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Since we were founded in 1990, we’ve worked hard to transform the lives of disabled children across the UK through our dynamic approach, supporting them to become confident and independent young adults. We are focused on raising awareness of the importance of mobility for disabled children and we want to work more widely with the NHS to extend our model for wheelchair provision in order to reach more disabled people, quickly and with equipment that suits their needs. As an organisation we aim to:

• Increase mobility equipment provision across the UK; • Reach more young wheelchair users, with the right services and activities at the right

time, in the right place; • Enhance and upgrade our digital offering to facilitate our ambitions; • More strategic use of external communications platforms; • Creating a fundraising strategy that embodies long term, sustainable income growth; • Campaign to increase public knowledge and awareness; and • Influence the NHS to increase and adopt a minimum standard for national wheelchair

provision. You can read more about the difference we’ve made in our impact report here.

About us

Since 1990 we’ve transformed the

lives of more than

18,000 Disabled children and young people

http://whizz-kidz-archive.s3-website.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/whizzkidz/www.whizz-kidz.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-research.html

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We are experts in paediatric mobility.

Our Mobility Therapists (experienced physiotherapists and occupational therapists) use their expert knowledge to assess and provide children with high quality wheelchairs tailored to their everyday lives, hobbies and home. Whizz-Kidz also believes that a clinician is not the only expert when it comes to a disabled child’s wheelchair assessment. Young people and families should be fully involved in the decisions around healthcare provision which affects their lives, mobility and independence.

We secure value for money.

Whizz-Kidz has developed an effective procurement strategy. We have worked with both Tesco and Accenture on a pro bono basis to improve our supply chain to provide delivery of equipment at the time of

assessment. We work closely with wheelchair manufacturers to find value for money where NHS framework agreements sometimes cannot. This approach helps our NHS partners to reduce the cost of standard wheelchairs, or help them obtain more sophisticated equipment at a similar budget.

We are people focused and have a holistic approach.

Whizz-Kidz considers the ‘whole person’. While clinical needs always come first, we also base decisions on disabled people’s social, environmental and lifestyle needs. We provide essential mobility equipment that allows young people to be independent and to participate in everyday activities. We would like to see the NHS and other providers replicate this approach, as it significantly improves a child’s quality of life and brings about significant societal and economic benefits in the long term.

What makes

Whizz-Kidz special?

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We are innovative.

Whizz-Kidz is well known for innovative ways of working. Our unwavering focus on our customers drives us to implement pioneering approaches to create a better experience for the children, young people and adults and enables us to supply equipment at the earliest opportunity. Our innovations, particularly ‘Child in a Chair in a Day’ have been lauded by leaders in the health service.

We are focused on excellent clinical outcomes.

The clinical problems caused by incorrect or ill-fitting wheelchairs range from minor injuries and pressure sores, to hospitalisation and even surgery. We provide disabled people with appropriate mobility equipment at the right time. Whizz-Kidz is committed to working with the NHS to reach greater numbers of disabled young people to achieve excellent clinical outcomes and avoid the potential problems

caused by having equipment that doesn’t adequately meet their needs, clinically or holistically.

We offer choice.

Whizz-Kidz fully involves disabled children, young people, adults and their families in the assessment process and we offer as much choice as possible. We determine the best outcome for each person and their family in direct consultation with them. We also offer a wide range of equipment, colours and adaptations to suit each individual.

We give clinical staff more time to do clinical work.

We have implemented lean processes so that information is recorded in a better and quicker way, which frees up time for clinical work. We have also invested in training for non-clinical staff . to carry out administrative ‘behind the scenes’ work. This lean way of working means that we are able to deliver

wheelchair services better, faster and more efficiently.

We believe in the benefits of early mobility.

For a disabled young person, the right wheelchair means freedom. The right mobility equipment enables disabled children to have a fun and active childhood and perhaps most fundamentally, the chance to develop their full potential. Pro bono support from economic experts, Frontier Economics, has also highlighted the benefits of early mobility to wider society. They found that for every £1 spent on the right mobility equipment for disabled children, benefits of between £10 and £65 were delivered for parents, carers, schools NHS and local and central Government.

We have a proven track record.

Whizz-Kidz has been transforming the lives of wheelchair users since 1990 and research shows that the impact of Whizz-Kidz’s wheelchair services are significant and wide ranging. Our unique and successful

approach to wheelchair provision is also held up as a beacon of best practice by leaders in the health service. We believe that every wheelchair user should have the choice to be referred to providers like Whizz-Kidz. We are confident that Choice and Competition offers a real opportunity to use our proven track record and extend the improvements to wheelchair provision that Whizz-Kidz has developed with existing NHS partners, to the rest of the country.

We think that the wheelchair is just the start!

Whizz-Kidz believes that giving a disabled child a wheelchair is just the start of their journey. Our Mobility Therapists make sure that each wheelchair user is able to operate their equipment safely and we also encourage children and young people to attend Whizz-Kidz Wheelchair Skills Training. In addition, we deliver a range of other added value services which give young disabled people the chance to meet, have fun and gain new skills, setting them on the path to an independent and active future.

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The charity entered 2020 in a stronger position than for a number of years – both in terms of financial reserves and through a strong, settled Senior Management Team. Our Board have seen the charity through the challenges of exiting a major funding initiative and re-focusing the organisation for the future. Despite, or possible because of, the situation around Covid-19, our 30th Anniversary year gave us the opportunity to engage, and re-engage, a wide range of audiences. Through the Covid-19 period we have brought in £400,000 in additional funding. While we entered the year in a strong financial and organisational position, the organisation has had to adapt and change to meet the challenges posed by Covid-19 both in terms of our fundraising, how staff function and in what, and how we offer services.

innovation, Funding,

and the future

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Looking ahead, we want to drive new income especially from expanding our range of activities, allowing us to serve more young wheelchair users and their families, broadening our offering and allowing us to reduce our bottom line. We are focussing on creating new income streams for 2021 and beyond, to oversee a step change in income. We believe we have developed a model which is attractive to funders and affords us the opportunity to expand our digital offering as a result, reaching more young people, developing ongoing content for the website and making a reduction to the bottom line. Throughout 2021 we will be testing this against a range of funders particularly trusts, foundations and statutory sources. We have also been working on an exciting opportunity to develop a ground-breaking offering with a major Scottish authority. If this is successful it may well supply us with an offering for local authorities and statutory bodies. Our new prototype chair funded by the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery has the chance to become an income earner for the organisation. It has been launched privately to PPL and will be unveiled in early 2021 to the public. As mentioned above, funding has been secured to undertake a feasibility and marketing study which will be completed in late 2021. The advent of Covid forced the charity to completely change its models of delivery, moving much more online. The organisation had planned to explore different ways of working but the pandemic has forced our pace and around four years of learning was done in as many months.

The prototype of our new ‘dream’ chair, developed with thanks to the Players of the People’s Postcode Lottery

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Since then we have been seeking to embed that into its way of working and at the same time revitilise our offering. This culminated with the launch of our brand new website with over 50 videos and 20 articles commissioned to create content appealing to young wheelchair users and their families. This was launched through a mailout including a 30th Anniversary magazine to over 6,000 households and with a five week digital campaign. This is the first major digital campaign we have undertaken and while only in the early stages the results are very encouraging. It is the first of a number planned for 2021 with the intention to massively increase our digital reach. A blueprint for a Development Board has been drawn up by our Trustees and will be enacted in 2021. Early stage plans have been laid for an appeal to FTSE 250 companies which may form part of the Development Board’s work. The charity has a major fundraising and communications opportunity in early 2021 with the online auction of c.200 designer items of clothing by Chiswick Auctions. The collection, donated by a businesswoman supportive of the charity, has been augmented with items donated by celebrities and public figures such as Theresa May, Kylie Minogue and Boy George. This is a major publicity opportunity as well as an income generator.

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In our 2019 staff engagement survey,

95% of our staff said they

enjoy working at Whizz-Kidz

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The Chief Executive will lead our 78 paid staff and 96 volunteers, and oversee an annual income of about £7m (of which 85% is raised through voluntary income and 15% through restricted institutional funding). The Chief Executive will:

• Provide visible and confident leadership.

• Take full daily operational responsibility for all aspects of the charity and ensure the Board can fully discharge its statutory and governance (including safeguarding) obligations.

• Provide clear strategic vision, direction and leadership, proposing to the Board long term strategies, business plans and annual budgets and, once agreed, executing and delivering them.

• Be a figure head, voice and champion for what we do internally with our service users, staff and volunteers and within the sector and the NHS.

• Deliver safe, high quality, innovative and cost‐effective services to children in a complex, continually changing environment.

• Engage, support and give funders, stakeholders and partners the comfort and confidence they need to invest in us.

• Champion transparency and co design with our service users and stakeholders .

• Be strategically astute so we can retain our edge on voice and influence with policy-makers, in wider business and civil society.

• Represent Whizz-Kidz in the media.

• Embody and demonstrate the charity’s values to the whole organisation, leading and promoting a culture of continuous improvement and ongoing development that demonstrates the positive difference the organisation makes in the lives of everyone it supports.

• Build and develop the Senior Management Team (SMT) to deliver the requirements of the organisation, and encourage and support the team members to develop and utilise their full potential to achieve the organisation’s aims and their own personal objectives.

• Support the SMT members to deliver on their respective and collective work plans, and Whizz-Kidz secures new work, wins contracts and delivers against income budgets.

• Develop appropriate income streams – including operational, commercial and fundraising – and a cost effective service delivery capability and overhead structure, which enables the organisation to deliver its objectives and ensure its long term financial sustainability and viability.

• Support the Chair of Trustees and the Board to ensure the highest level of governance is in place at all times, with regular reviews to ensure its continuous effectiveness.

The role of

Chief Executive

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The characteristics and attributes of the person that we are looking for include:

• Substantive CEO or senior executive experience at an organisation of relevant scale and complexity to Whizz-Kidz.

• An interest in, and passion for, transforming the lives of disabled children and young people in the UK.

• Evidence of strong strategic thinking skills combined with experience of financial management and commercial acumen.

• An excellent ambassador for the charity with a strong network of connections.

• A proven track record of leading an executive team in setting and delivering a strategy.

• Strong experience of working effectively with a Board and delivering upon their expectation.

• Ability to engage positively with key stakeholders, with particular regard to children and young people and their families, the NHS, Central and Local Government and the media.

• Personal integrity, transparency and openness, excellent interpersonal and communication skills (both written and oral) with the ability to inspire.

• Experience of engaging with and maximising supporter or business stakeholder relationships.

• An inspirational leader, self-motivated with time, energy and commitment.

• Leadership without ego, collaborative and non-hierarchical; comfortable with delegation and empowerment of direct reports

• People skills in abundance; emotional intelligence, pragmatism, culturally sensitive and respectful.

• A bold, brave and proud ambassador of the organisation; sensitive communication and influencing skills, with the flexibility and credibility to engage a range of internal and external stakeholders.

Person

Specification

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Remuneration for the role will be a market competitive salary and benefits package.

Our head office is located by Borough Market, and we operate a highly flexible work from home policy.

This role will involve some travel around the UK.

We particularly welcome applications from women, Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities. Please let us know if you would like us to accommodate for any reasonable adjustments for interviews.

Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to Whizz-Kidz on this appointment.

Candidates should apply for this role through our website at www.saxbam.com/appointments using code UANABA. We can also provide alternative formats for applications.

Click on the ‘apply’ button and follow the instructions to upload a CV and cover letter outlining why you want to be the next Chief Executive of Whizz-Kidz.

The closing date for applications is noon on 11th January 2020.

Initial interviews with Saxton Bampfylde will take place in the week of 25th January. Interviews with Whizz-Kidz are scheduled to take place in early February.

For more information about how to apply, please contact Tessa.Catt@saxbam.com

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Terms of Appointment

How to apply

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LONDON 9 Savoy Street London WC2E 7EG EDINBURGH 46 Melville Street Edinburgh EH3 7HF saxbam.com Partners in Panorama - Search around the world panoramasearch.com

We are experts in paediatric mobility.We secure value for money.We are people focused and have a holistic approach.We are focused on excellent clinical outcomes.We offer choice.We give clinical staff more time to do clinical work.We believe in the benefits of early mobility.We have a proven track record.We think that the wheelchair is just the start!