Advocacy Jobs
35 hours - possible job-share
Location: Based in Sefton, Merseyside.
The cost-of-living crisis is biting hard for many people in Sefton and demand for our advice services is rising, and people seeking training or work or with poor health need encouragement to ask for help in navigating the benefits system, or deal with money worries. We are looking for an adviser to work in South Sefton Foodbanks to provide face to face advice, primarily with benefit issues. You will work from foodbanks the majority of the time and also have weekly day/s based with our Welfare Benefits team in our Bootle office.
This is a genuine opportunity to join a passionate and dedicated high-performing team of advisers, caseworkers and money advisors to help people in Sefton with the problems they face, particularly with Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, better off calculations and other welfare benefits and debt. 92% of our clients agree or strongly agree they would recommend our advice service to other people.
You will have a thorough understanding of the issues involved in interviewing and working with clients, and in particular vulnerable people, with excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage confidently with clients and our partners.
As well as a competitive salary Citizens Advice Sefton also provides access to:
- Generous annual leave of 28 days (pro rata if part time) plus bank holidays
- 7% employer contribution pension
- Cycle to Work Scheme
- Free VDU eye care test
- Professional and advice sector recognised training
For a job pack that contains more information about the role and our organisation and the online application please go to our website via the apply button.
Closing date for applications: 3rd May 2024 5pm
Interviews in-person or online: Wednesday 8th May 2024
Role Profile
This is an opportunity for you to join an established charity that has an excellent reputation locally as a trusted partner and as a great place to work. You’ll be a part of a small, but committed team with big ambitions that works cohesively and effectively together to get things done. You will provide generalist level advice and casework focused on welfare benefits, housing and energy as well as offering non-monetary debt advice about priority debts and budgeting.
You’ll help people to understand their rights and responsibilities by exploring their problems in depth. You'll proactively encourage clients to take responsibility for completing actions to resolve problems themselves. Taking responsibility for cases and advocating on behalf of clients where appropriate.
You’ll work closely with our key partners across North Lincolnshire within the statutory and voluntary and community sectors and ensure clients receive a good quality and holistic service that supports individuals to remove the financial and psychological barriers to achieving positive outcomes and build resilience for the future.
This role is offered both on a trainee and a qualified basis. For the trainee position we’re not necessarily looking for someone who has previous experience working within the advice sector, as long as you’re empathetic and able to provide person-centred support in a non-judgemental way we can provide full training.
You’ll really be able to make the role your own. You’ll be a part of a small, but committed team with big ambitions that works cohesively and effectively together to get things done. You'll be an important and valued member of the team and, with the support of Citizens Advice North Lincolnshire, will be responsible for ensuring people focused outcomes are met in a pressurised environment.
What we offer our staff
We provide an employee assistance scheme managed by LifeWorks. Benefits include:
- 24/7 - 365 telephone helpline
- LifeWorks online support website
- LifeWorks app
- 6 sessions of face to face counselling per issue – unlimited issues per annum
- Employee legal helpline
- Consulting services – financial, debt advice, housing, relocation, parenting, eldercare, work performance, health and wellness advice and much more
- Childcare and eldercare matching service
- Savings on everyday purchases and life events
- Access for family members and dependants – excluding counselling and legal advice
Annual leave: Annual leave is 25 days from 1st January to 31st December, plus 8 bank holidays. We offer additional long service leave of 5 days after 4 years of employment
Purpose of role:
To excel against targets in the provision of an effective supported Money Advice debt casework service that is compliant against quality standards including the MaPS quality of advice framework; ensuring that clients receive their full entitlement to all benefits, receive appropriate financial capability support and experience a positive customer experience from Citizens Advice Liverpool.
To be successful in this role, you will need to be confident, motivated and willing to try new things, have excellent communication skills with an ability to work under pressure to achieve targets and outcomes with minimum supervision.
To be appointed as a Money Advice Caseworker, you will need to have knowledge and experience of complex debt casework, covering priority and non-priority debt advice, options and insolvency solutions.
About us
The first Citizens Advice opened in Liverpool on 4th September 1939, established in the aftermath of the first world war and provided, amongst other initiatives, a casework service for families in need.
Since then, we have continued to grow as a frontline service, finding innovative solutions to the advice needs of our community through free, confidential and independent advice and information services.
Citizens Advice Liverpool is a charity, dependent on a workforce of paid staff and over 120 trained volunteers. We operate over four permanent sites (Belle Vale, Garston, Walton & Wavertree) and over 30 outreach locations in the city, which we are continually reviewing to ensure we are reaching the people most in need of our services. We have also developed a mobile phone app which acts as a single point of access for Citizens Advice in Liverpool, showing where to find advice in real time, access to self-help information, and telephone, WhatsApp, email & webchat advice.
We are a member of "National Citizens Advice", which provides the extensive information system we use to advise clients and sets standards for advice, training, equal opportunities and accessibility in our offices.
We receive funding from Liverpool City Council; which helps support our generalist advice service which gives advice on a wide range of subjects such as; benefits, work, debt & money, consumer, family, housing, law & courts, immigration and health. We also receive funding from other major contributors which helps run our specialist advice projects.
Citizens Advice Wirral is a local charity that supports Wirral residents by providing advice, information, casework and social prescribing services. We assist clients with a range of issues including benefits, debt, employment, housing and life challenges that affect their health and wellbeing. Citizens Advice Wirral also actively works for change in the policies and practices of organisations that impact our clients - we are passionate about the difference our Research and Campaigns work can make to people’s lives.
Our values shape how we as an organisation operate and how we work with each other across all roles: Open and Honest, Professional, Empowering, Non-judgmental and Approachable. They apply to all areas of our advice-giving, our research and campaigns work and how we challenge discrimination and champion equality.
We are recruiting for a Help To Claim adviser to provide support to people making a new Universal Credit claim and work with them up until they receive their first correct payment. This role will involve working across a variety of channels including telephone, web-chat and video conferencing.
Working for Citizens Advice Wirral has a range of benefits including:
- A generous holiday allowance of 25 days (rising to 30 days) plus bank
- holidays (pro-rata)
- Agile working, including up to 5 additional days of flexi leave each year
- (pro-rata) and both home and office-based days (role dependent)
- A contributory pension scheme
- Employee Assistance Programme
To find out more and start your application please go to our website via the apply button.
Closing date: 5pm 28th April 2024
About Citizens Advice Camden
We are a well-respected local charity with more than 80 years’ experience of delivering free, independent and impartial information, advice and casework services which meet the changing needs of local residents. Our aims are to provide the independent, impartial, confidential and free advice people need for the problems they face and to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives.
We target our services at the most vulnerable in our community. Our client profile closely matches local indices of deprivation with most of our clients coming from the most deprived wards in the borough. We identify trends to ensure our services remain agile and able to respond to changing and emerging advice needs.
About the Role
This is an exciting opportunity to work on a new initiative, providing generalist advice to service users of Mind in Camden. This new project will develop to meet the needs of service users and so you will need to be flexible in your approach.
You will be an experienced Generalist Adviser able to work in partnership with staff at Mind in Camden to support their service users. Clients will either self-refer or be referred from the core team at Mind in Camden.
Advice will be delivered both face-to-face and remotely according to individual needs. Face-to-face advice will be delivered at Mind in Camden offices and those of Citizens Advice Camden. This role is not suitable for remote working only.
You will need to be experienced in delivering generalist advice on issues such as welfare benefits including Universal Credit, housing, money advice and cost of living issues. You will also be available to support Mind in Camden staff in identifying suitable referral routes to support their service users so that overall needs are met. This role is not available as a trainee position.
Closing date for applications: 9.00am Monday 29 April 2024
Interview date(s): 8-10 May
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as the applications come in. Don’t miss your opportunity, apply now!
Hours: 37.5 Full Time (part time may be considered)
Location: Various locations in the London Borough of Hounslow
Closing date: On an on-going basis until filled – we reserve the right to withdraw this job opportunity early if this vacancy is filled
Interview date: To be arranged directly with shortlisted candidates.
Citizens Advice Hounslow is a well-established charity operating in the London Borough of Hounslow, supporting over 10,000 clients a year. We want to expand our capacity for face to face and telephone advice; hence we are looking for an experienced generalist Adviser with the ability to provide advice in person as well as on the phone through our dedicated helplines.
In particular, the role requires you to:
- conduct a thorough holistic exploration of the problem(s) to gain an accurate picture of the client’s situation
- do a benefit calculation as standard for clients
- give full advice and support to clients to resolve their issues
- where necessary, make a referral or signpost clients
- write up case notes to Citizens Advice national standards
For more information about the role and the criteria to apply for the post, please download the Job Description and Person Specification.
We might consider strong trainee advisers who have completed the adviser training and have been exposed to sufficient practical generalist work (about to achieve the adviser certificate or an equivalent qualification).
Please note: We can only respond to successful applicants. If you do not hear from us within three weeks from receipt of your application, please assume that it has been unsuccessful.
We offer a range of employee benefits, including generous annual leave, pension contribution, and training and opportunities to continue your professional development.
We consider applications from all applicants who meet the person specification irrespective of sex, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, age, or disability.
LGBTQ+ Heritage Project Worker
Responsible to: Communications and Engagement Manager
Hours: Full time 37 hours (job-share considered)
Salary: £23,100
Based: Remote, with direct work in Milton Keynes
Contract: Fixed term for 1 year
Closing Date: Friday 17th May
Q:alliance provides support, information and representation for the LGBTQ+ people who live, work and play in Milton Keynes and Bedford. We have detailed knowledge of the issues and challenges that organisations and individuals face locally. It’s our goal to create more safe spaces and resources to ensure the LGBTQ+ community is well represented and supported.
This exciting new role will help deliver the directives of a history and heritage project funded by the Heritage Lottery. The project will support the erudition of LGBTQ+ heritage in Milton Keynes, advancing local communities’ understanding of Milton Keynes’ LGBTQ+ history and inspiring a commitment to encapsulating, celebrating, and feeling connected through shared heritage. This post will be key to extending our reach into seldom asked communities, as well as securing relationships with founding community members. This role will support our Communications and Engagement Manager to develop safer spaces for LGBTQ+ local communities through collaboration with partner agencies and delivery of LGBTQ+ cultural competency training to a range of stakeholders involved in the wider project.
You will work cross-departmentally and participate in effective monitoring systems to ensure robust reporting.
Main Responsibilities
• Project Development - Develop and implement the directives of the funded project, supporting key partners in their collaboration with Q:alliance. Communicate project aims with communities and stakeholders and establish meaningful engagement in the concept of encapsulating heritage and celebrating differing LGBTQ+ identities in Milton Keynes. Support the gathering of audio histories and the collection and succession of community artefacts through the archive. Evaluate and analyse impact.
• E-book creation – Support the Communications and Engagement Manager on the development of an E-book to capture the outputs of the project, including key heritage findings and personal stories.
• Event coordination – Plan, organise and support the delivery of history clubs in line with the project plan, ensuring accessibility for a wide range of invested community members. Support the curation of associated exhibition events.
• Stakeholder and community engagement – Work with the Communications and Engagement Manager to plan engagement and outreach activities in line with the directives of the funded project. Forge and support enduring relationships with key partners, strengthening our commitment to building an alliance of cross-sector compassionate advocates for the LGBTQ+ community in its diverse forms.
• Training – Support the development and delivery of LGBTQ+ cultural competency training to a range of stakeholders involved in the project.
• Data capture and intelligence - Support Q:alliance’s commitment to sustaining a contemporary data and monitoring mechanism, guaranteeing we can deliver thorough evaluations of our services and competent feedback to our funders and stakeholders on the efficacy of our work.
Skills and Experience Expertise
• Experience of project management and/or community engagement
• Experience of training and/or education delivery
• Excellent planning, organisation and administrative skills
• Experience of the voluntary sector Communication
• A flair for adapting communication techniques dependent on context and audience
• Ability to use negotiating and persuasion skills to resolve issues and spotlight community needs
• Aptitude for inspiring others to engage in community needs-led project directives Behaviours
• Skills in forming constructive working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders at all levels
• A demonstrable track record in effective public engagement
• Passionate about equality and the rights of LGBTQ+ people
• An ability to listen with empathy to the views of communities and team members
• Competence to work on own initiative and demonstrate forward thinking
• Model conduct essential for successful teams, such as reliability, honesty and courage
Desirable
• Event planning experience
• Experience in arts and/or exhibition curation
• LGBTQ+ lived experience
What you’ll bring to the team
You will serve as a prominent point of contact for the LGBTQ+ Heritage Project and encourage long-term advocates of our organisation and the community’s engagement in history, heritage and legacy work. You will elevate the team’s commitment to the funded project, providing concentrated time and resources to ensure its success. You will improve the ways in which our team communicates and responds to the needs of seldom heard members of the LGBTQ+ local community, inspiring innovation in our engagement with heritage concepts.
The Project Assistant will have responsibility for the following documents.
• Heritage Lottery Grantee Monitoring documents and final report
• Monthly reports to the Communications and Engagement Manager
Closing Date: Friday 17th May 2024
Interview Date(s): Thursday 23rd & Friday 24th May
To create and nurture a safe and thriving LGBTQ+ community in and around Milton Keynes, where everyone is empowered to be their true selves.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
You will be working with children and families to provide trauma informed support with the aim of reducing trauma symptoms and rebuild relationships.
You will receive support and training and a competitive starting salary of £20,000 for a 28 hour week. Reduced hours may be possible by agreement. This is a two-year fixed term post with the possibility of becoming permanent after two years.
We are looking for someone who will work with professionalism, empathy and kindness, have knowledge of working with children and families who have experienced trauma due to abuse and have a trauma informed, child focused approach. Experience of working with complex family situations where there are safeguarding concerns with the ability to assess risk is required.
You will be based at our office in Redhill and you must be able to reliably commute to the office.
For further information (including a full Job Description and Person Specification) please read the Candidate Pack.
We follow NSPCC safer recruitment guidelines and we do not accept CVs, please complete the application form within the candidate pack
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.