Project Manager - Lived Experience Health Programmes

This is an exciting new leadership role within User Voice’s London team, responsible for delivering two major programmes at the intersection of Health Justice and forensic mental health services.

The Project Manager will lead the planning, delivery, and evaluation of these initiatives, ensuring they meet strategic objectives and deliver meaningful impact for participants and stakeholders.

This role is ideal for someone with lived experience of the criminal justice system who is already leading complex projects and managing teams and partnerships.

This is a leadership role within User Voice’s London team, responsible for delivering two major programmes at the intersection of Health Justice and forensic mental health services. 

The Project Manager will lead:

The NHS England (London) Health & Justice PPV Service

Supporting Patient & Public Voice (PPV) Representatives across London prisons, IRCs, courts, Liaison & Diversion services, and wider H&J commissioning activity, ensuring safe, independent, impactful lived experience involvement.

The NLFC Lived Experience Co-Production Programme

Supporting and expanding the lived experience workforce across secure inpatient forensic mental health services and community forensic pathways through training provided alongside our external training provider, supervision, facilitation of the Patient Council, and coproduction initiatives.
 

This role will suit someone with personal lived experience of the criminal justice system, combined with substantial project management experience and experience in working in mental health settings, ideally secure or forensic services. 

It requires excellent leadership and project management skills, deep understanding of trauma aware practice, and the ability to operate confidently within prisons, secure hospitals, and NHS commissioning environments.

Key Responsibilities

Health & Justice PPV (Patient & Public Voice) Leadership
 

• Lead the delivery of activity across London prisons, IRCs, police custody, and courts, ensuring safe, high quality engagement.
• Recruit, train, and support volunteers with lived experience of health & justice services.
• Ensure activity is independent, trauma awareness , and adheres to safeguarding, vetting, governance, and NHS information governance requirements.
• Facilitate patient engagement, focus groups, surveys, rapid insight gathering, and feedback loops
• Produce impact reports, summary reports, and support commissioners with s13Q duties.
• Maintain relationships with prisons, NHS providers, HMPPS, IRCs, and partner organisations.
 

NLFC Co Production & Lived Experience Workforce Development

• Facilitate weekly NLFC Patient Council meetings and induction for new members.
• Provide monthly group supervision to Peer Engagement Workers, ensuring reflective practice, emotional support, and skills development.
• Deliver a comprehensive training programme for all lived experience roles
• Support the expansion of lived experience roles to include people with a learning disability and autistic people.
• Co-design and deliver annual programme work plans aligned to commissioning priorities.
• Lead involvement projects with LDA experts by experience, including training, reasonable adjustments, and supporting them to gather and analyse feedback.
• Produce accessible, co-produced reports and support the presentation of findings to the Commissioning Hub.
 

Governance, Quality & Contract Management

• Ensure the service is compliant with NHS safeguarding, security clearance, data protection, and safer recruitment procedures.
• Manage project budgets, staff supervision, risk assessments, and operational policies.
• Monitor performance against KPIs across both programmes, providing quarterly reports and action plans where required.
• Lead continuous improvement of service models, including local Target Operating Models.
 

Person Specification
 

Essential

• Personal lived experience of the criminal justice system.
• Experience working in mental health services, ideally including secure, forensic, inpatient, or specialist community forensic settings.
• Strong experience managing complex projects, partnerships, and multi-agency work.
• Experience facilitating engagement with marginalised people, including vulnerable or high risk groups.
• Experience supporting or managing volunteers, peer workers, or lived experience staff.
• Strong communication and relationship building skills across NHS, prison, and community partners.
• Ability to analyse qualitative and quantitative data and produce high quality insight/impact reports.
• Strong understanding of safeguarding, risk management, information governance, and trauma awareness approaches.
• Ability to manage competing priorities across multiple systems (NHS, prisons, community services).
 

Desirable

• Experience working within the Health & Justice system (prisons, courts, IRCs, Liaison & Diversion).
• Experience supporting people with learning disabilities and autistic people.
• Knowledge of commissioning cycles, co-production methods, and lived experience workforce development.
• Knowledge of NHS governance, s13Q duties, PPV frameworks, and quality assurance processes.
• Experience of delivering training, group supervision, or reflective practice sessions.
 

Terms & Conditions

• Full-time
• Permanent 
• Up to £40K dependant on experience
• Bank holidays plus 25 days holiday pro-rata.
• Probationary period: Six months
• You must be off community order / prison license