Advice Session Supervisor Jobs in Greater London

You will provide support to our Cost-of-Living Crisis Clinic Consultant to co-ordinate the efficient service delivery of our busy Cost-of-Living Crisis Clinics, used by clients who need assistance to make successful applications for: welfare benefits; social housing; lower utility and broadband tariffs; and crisis and general grants.   You will work with a wide range of people internally and externally, providing support and supervision to volunteer advisers and helping clients.

You will be a confident communicator who will have the right blend and balance of strong administration skills with excellent interpersonal and customer-facing skills and legal knowledge, working for a charity supporting and enhancing the lives of people in the local community.

This role is central to Westway Trust’s commitment to deliver activities and events to the benefit of the North Kensington community. You will also work from and help to co-ordinate the delivery of our Cost-of-Living Crisis Clinic at our outreach site, St Luke’s Community Centre, EC1V.

Key responsibilities of the role include but not limited to:

General Duties

• Being the initial point of contact; receiving calls and emails from clients and referring agencies, , and booking client appointments in an efficient and timely manner
• Setting up and clearing away after Cost-of-Living Crisis Clinic sessions, (currently, Tuesdays, at St Luke’s Community Centre, 90 Central Street, Islington, EC1, and Wednesdays at Westway Trust, 1 Thorpe Close, Ladbroke Grove, W10).  Sessions start at 9.00am and finish around 1.00pm
• Meeting, greeting and orienting (showing where the facilities are and H&S guidance) clients and volunteers
• Triaging clients on to our database and referring clients who are out of scope to other relevant organisations
• Assisting clients to complete online and paper forms both face-to-face and remotely
• Liaising in a positive manner with our stakeholders, eg. clients, other teams within Westway Trust, our funder, a City Law firm, and our hosts, Westway Trust and St Luke’s Community Centre
• Responsibility for monitoring our work, completing simple reports, writing case studies, making sure volunteers complete their data entry after advising clients, and running case management statistics using AdvicePro, our case management system) (training on AdvicePro will be provided)
• Recruiting, inducting, training and supervising volunteers both corporate (from the City) and lay (students and local residents)
• Casework; writing up case notes about clients helped
• Attending relevant meetings and training and keeping resources up-to-date
• General administration including: photocopying, scanning and record keeping, and coordinating the general day-to-day activities of the Cost-of-Living Crisis Clinics
• Effectively contributing to make our Cost-of-Living Crisis Clinics high performing in line with the values of Westway Trust

Appeals & Representation Duties

Responsibility for our legal appeals representation service, including:

• Triaging clients, including reading appellant’s hearing bundles to assess the merits of their case
• Case management of appellants’' appeal cases, (ie, smooth management of appellants' cases from inception to post-hearing)
• Attending hearings
• Guiding and case managing lawyers/law students on applications for leave to appeal/set aside to the Upper Tribunal/Judiciary, (from the Lower Tribunal).  Full training will be given

Qualifications: You will have or be working towards a law degree or equivalent. 

Knowledge and Experience:

• A good understanding of the law in any jurisdiction
• Experience of providing an efficient, customer focused service, with a personable and collaborative approach and ability to provide, develop and maintaining friendly positive relationships with customers, staff, volunteers and other stakeholders
• Good time management and organisational skills
• Excellent administrative skills
• High level of IT skills. Experience of using Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and database software (we use AdvicePro)

Personal Skills:

• Good people management/awareness skills
• Good communication and presentation skills, orally and in writing.
• Ability to work independently and on own initiative with minimum supervision
• Ability to work as part of a team in a multi-cultural and diverse environment
• An inquisitive mind and good problem solver
• Interest in civil law
• Good memory and research skills
• Demonstrable understanding and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

Connections to/understanding of North Kensington or the surrounding area is highly desirable

Job Purpose: To develop and manage, to a high standard, Age UK Bromley & Greenwich’s Information and Advice Service. To be responsible for the effective delivery of the I&A Service which will be delivered through a range of channels, including face to face, telephone, email, digital, and other means, across the Bromley and Greenwich boroughs.

Key Responsibilities:

Line management and supervision

• Provide line management and supervision to advisers and support staff.
• Supervising team advice sessions and casework
• Manage the practicalities of the advice session and ensure adequate staffing and resources.
• Undertake monthly supervision with individual team members and annual appraisal.
• Ensure referrals are actioned and clients are supported in a timely manner.
• Develop team competence in key advice areas. (Benefits, Housing,  Social care)
• Provide technical support to advisers and identify areas of further development for individuals and the team.

Support learning and development

• Support the team to embrace continuous learning and development and provide timely feedback on cases reviewed.
• Make recommendations for staff training and development areas of need.

Staff recruitment and development

• Create a positive working environment in which equality and diversity are well-managed, dignity at work is upheld and everyone can do their best.
• Participate in recruitment and selection activities as delegated.
• Undertake new  staff induction.
• Ensure the team receive appropriate support, supervision and appraisal and have opportunities for continuous learning and development.

Quality assurance and reporting

• Undertake Independent File Reviews ( IFR) and monitor the quality  to meet quality standards and service level agreements
• Maintain and develop  QAS/ AQS standards incl. renewal process.
• Ensure remedial and developmental issues are identified and acted on to develop individuals, improve the quality of advice, and ensure clients do not suffer detriment due to poor or inadequate advice.
• Keep technical knowledge up to date and provide technical support to advisers.
• Maintain a case load as demonstration of ongoing personal development and learning.
• Undertake advice work as required e.g. during staff absences.
• Provide statistical reports on outputs and outcomes as required by funders and management
• Review and implement outcome measures for the work of the I&A team, including an annual survey of clients.

Partnership working and development

• To manage networking/ liaison with other local key stakeholders and organisations and feed into wider local engagement and community development work.
• Develop effective partner relationships with referral agencies across  both boroughs, and to refer/ signpost cases to external agencies as appropriate.
• Represent the organisation at outreach and community events as required, continuing to raise the organisational profile and develop wider awareness of our services.
• Work with colleagues to develop marketing materials, give talks and presentations, identify outreach opportunities .
• Identify opportunities to develop and grow the wider information and advice service

ABOUT ASYLUM AID

For over thirty years, Asylum Aid has been providing legal representation to some of the most vulnerable people seeking asylum. We have built an expert service, delivering vital and life-saving services in some of the most complex legal cases, with a particular speciality working with unaccompanied children, Survivors of trafficking, torture or other forms of human cruelty,  and stateless people. Our vision is that all those in need of protection from persecution and other forms of human cruelty in the UK can obtain it, and are treated fairly and with dignity.

ABOUT THE ROLE

As Children and Young People’s Solicitor and Senior Caseworker at Asylum Aid, you will primarily work with unaccompanied asylum-seeking child (UASC) and young people (under 25), providing end to end representation on their asylum, human rights and trafficking claims. You may also undertake age dispute challenges and other judicial review work on behalf of your clients. You will combine this work, which will account for approximately 70% of your time, with conducting other immigration matters, including adult asylum claims, family reunion applications and statelessness applications. You will also have the opportunity to contribute to the wider work of the Asylum Aid team, delivering high quality legal services on the full range of protection and trafficking issues that affect migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. You will conduct asylum casework under legal aid funding, with a specialist focus on representing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people, and contribute to policy and strategic legal work to promote the rights of children and young people in the asylum system. 

 You will be a qualified solicitor or Immigration caseworker with IAAS Level 2/Senior Caseworker accreditation and have significant experience in publicly funded immigration work under a Legal Aid Agency Contract. You should have, or be able to obtain, Level 2 Children Safeguarding. 

As is the nature of this sector, the role will be exposed to a high volume of traumatic and distressing material and, whilst they will be supported by the Asylum Aid Director, supervisors and the surrounding team, they should also be able to demonstrate knowledge of good self-care principles in an intense work environment.

Equal Opportunities

The Foundation and Asylum Aid is an equal opportunities and Living Wage employer. We are committed to attracting and recruiting diverse candidates as we are keen to make sure that our staff, trustees, volunteers and ambassadors reflect the communities we serve and the wider community we work in at every level within the organisation.  We particularly welcome applications from those with BAME backgrounds and with lived experience of the UK immigration system.

Please note you must have the right to work in the UK as we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

Please note that the successful candidate will be offered the job subject to suitable references and an enhanced DBS check.

If appointed you will be required to give your consent to Asylum Aid to receive regular updates on your criminal records status throughout your employment. 

Please submit an up to date CV and covering letter by 9am on 25 April 2024. Your application should outline your relevant skills and experience, as well as how your previous experience matches the listed responsibilities and person specification. Please state in your covering letter when you would be available to start the role. In setting the salary regard has been had to the NCJ payscales.

Interviews are scheduled to be held during the week commencing 6 May 2024 at our offices in central London. For any queries, please contact Monika Nollet, Director of Legal Casework at Asylum Aid. 

We regret that we can only respond to applicants who make it to the interview stage. No agencies.

Why Access Social Care Exists 

Every day millions of older and disabled people are denied the social care they need. Most local authorities can’t meet the growing demand for care, and none are confident they can meet their legal duties in the future. This affects all of us - we will all need social care at some point in our lives.

We all have a right to hold public bodies to account, but most of us cannot afford lawyers so rely on legal aid. The 92% drop in legal aid cases since 2010 means that we have nowhere to turn. Without access to justice, our rights do not exist. The rule of law is broken.   

What we do 

Access Social Care provides free legal advice and information for people with social care needs, helping achieve a better quality of life. We work with communities to increase knowledge of the law and our rights. We highlight the gap left by cuts to Legal Aid and provide advice for those who can’t afford it.

With a 98% success rate, our network of lawyers provide access to justice when things go wrong. We collaborate with social services whilst ensuring legal obligations are met. We are working towards a future where social care is adequately funded and we all get the support we need.   

We provide rights awareness training to front line managers, and legal advice and support to families and individuals. As well as providing access to justice, our aim is to drive system level change through evidence-led influencing and strategic casework. We operate our casework service mainly under a membership model where organisations involved in the social care sector contract with Access Social Care to provide legal assistance to their clients.

This is an exciting time to join ASC. We have a new strategy and are growing quickly. We have more than doubled in size and income since we started operating in April 2020 and we anticipate that this strong growth will continue for the duration of our next strategic period. We are dedicated to the people who need our help, but we also care deeply about our team, and we think that work should be an exciting and satisfying place to be.

About the role

As we move into 2024, Access Social Care is launching a new workstream aimed at training more experts in community care law. To achieve our aims, we will be developing learning and development programmes for internal and external use. We are looking for an experienced learning and development professional to lead this programme of work.

 We want you to:

• Oversee the development and delivery online and in person training on the Care Act 2014 and associated legislation, regulations, guidance and caselaw.  We already have some training materials in-house, but you will need to expand and develop these for different audiences (carers, social care providers, advocates, advisers and caseworkers).
• Work with external stakeholders at academic institutions to develop degree/diploma level learning modules.
• Work closely with others at ASC and play a key role in developing the skills and knowledge of our trainee caseworkers and other new staff.
• Work alongside the Head of Business Development to develop a learning and development income stream.

Responsibilities

1. Project management of the Access Social Care learning and development offer: Working with internal and external stakeholders and using project management tools and software you will drive the project forwards ensuring milestones and deadlines are met, delivering reports 

2. Content and resources development: Work closely with our Head of Digital Content, Product Manager and legal team members to develop training materials for use online and in person on the Care Act which enable people with different starting points to understand the rights of social care users, to enforce those rights, and to understand the responsibilities of social care providers and local authorities.

3. External training strategy development. Work with the Head of Business development to develop an income stream from learning and development.

4. Training delivery: Deliver training internally and externally, online and in person, using a variety of training techniques, and tailored materials to engage different audiences with different immediate purposes.

5. Intelligence gathering: Contribute to our understanding of systemic problems in the social care and community care law systems, feeding back to legal colleagues' issues that are brought up in training session.

6. General tasks: Undertake such other tasks as may reasonably be required or asked of you in order to respond to organisational needs and specifically needs within the legal team.

This list of tasks is not exhaustive and will be reviewed from time to time in discussion with the post holder.

For full details on this role please see attached job discription.

How to apply 

We hope that having read this far; you still want to apply!

Please ensure that your CV and supporting statement do not include your name – use initials only. This will ensure that we avoid unconscious bias in our shortlisting process. To apply, please provide the following documents:

• An up-to-date CV
• A completed diversity monitoring form - linked in the full job discription attached.
• A supporting statement of no more than two pages, addressing why you meet the essential requirements of the person specification

If you want support applying, contact us.

Timeline for the recruitment process

Closing date:  23.59pm on Tuesday 23rd April 2024

Interviews: will be held virtually on MS Teams on Thursday 2nd May and Friday 3rd May 2024

Please ensure you keep these dates free.

At Access Social care, we aren’t interested in tokenism. We know that if we are to make the biggest difference for the people that need us the most, we need to get Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and anti-racism right. Part of this is recruiting greater diversity in all our teams. 

With this in mind, we particularly welcome applications from candidates with experience of the communities we serve, including people with direct experience of the social care system, and from marginalised groups, particularly Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, older and disabled people, and trans and non-binary people.

To note we are only able to accept applicants with the right to work in the UK.

Hackney Foodbank is looking for a Volunteer Manager to join their team 2 days per week (14 hours).

Purpose and Key Responsibilities:

The Volunteer Manager role is responsible for recruiting, engaging and deploying volunteers into a wide variety of roles across the charity.

• Work with the Warehouse Manager and Food Distribution teams to support the recruitment journey and retention of volunteers. Encourage people to volunteer through a variety of marketing and promotion approaches, including social media and working with our Communications and Fundraising team to develop a strategy for volunteers. Develop, coordinate, and engage a network of around 150 active volunteers. Book and signpost volunteers to relevant and engaging volunteer training sessions. Work with the Warehouse Manager and Head of Food Distribution and Volunteering to resolve any volunteering related issues or complaints. Proactively liaise with the staff team to determine volunteer requirements, select volunteers for the right roles and match them to the right people, considering preferences and restrictions on both sides. Provide advice and guidance to volunteers about their matched relationship (with support from the wider team) and highlight safeguarding concerns as appropriate. Work effectively to ensure volunteers feel part of Hackney Foodbank. Support the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of our services.
• Gathering volunteer feedback and take appropriate steps for improvement.
• Manage the Assemble platform and implement the annual Peakon volunteer survey, and implement the recommendations resulting from the survey.
• Ensure the wellbeing of the volunteers, including good communication and arranging a minimum of two volunteer events a year.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• A minimum of three years’ experience of coordinating, managing or supervising a team of volunteers, to deliver a range of service delivery tasks.
• Experience working within the voluntary community and/or charity sector.
• Experience or aptitude to manage and deliver induction and training courses.
• Committed to building an inclusive culture in which all volunteers are valued.
• Ability to work under own initiative with minimal supervision, accuracy and attention to detail and to prioritise workload to meet all agreed deadlines.
• Reliable and adaptable, able to respond to changing priorities
• Ability to deal with information in a confidential manner, respond with sensitivity to the opinions of others and address any issues raised in a fair and consistent manner
• Good standard of written and spoken English, including the ability to write materials without errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation
• Strong organisational skills; ability to identify all key steps and resources needed to complete a task and to manage a wide range of tasks concurrently
• Ability to work effectively as a member of a small team and maintain communications where members of that team are working different flexible days and hours
• A proactive approach to work with a ‘can do’ attitude
• Calm, professional, pragmatic, reliable and resilient personal attributes
• Computer literacy including ability to use online tools and learn new software with minimal ongoing support, create/edit documents in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, maintain records and produce clear written and oral reports.
• Commitment to the ethos and values of Hackney Foodbank including the extensive provision of services to high professional standards by volunteers, minimising the food bank’s impact on the environment, and the unfailing delivery of advertised services to all visitors equitably, with dignity and compassion.
• Flexibility in terms of working hours according to volunteers’ and Hackney Foodbank’s needs.
• A keen attention to detail and a commitment to achieving high standards in every aspect of Hackney Foodbank’s work.

Desirable:

• Relevant professional qualification
• Experience of using a CRM or equivalent database

St Joseph's Hospice was founded in 1905 by the Religious Sisters of Charity and as such it has a rich, Catholic heritage which informs our work today: to support and welcome those in need, from all different cultures, religions and backgrounds.

We provide high quality specialist palliative care for patients with cancer and other life-threatening conditions across East and North London. We have a large team of clinical staff who work across community, in-patient and out-patient services delivering individualised, responsive and holistic support to patients and their families/carers.

We’re looking for motivated, enthusiastic and forward thinking registered staff nurses to work within our two In-patient wards that have 17 beds each for patients. You’ll have experience of working in end-of-life care within an acute or palliative care setting. We will also consider newly qualified nurses who want to develop a career in palliative care. The successful candidates will be keen team players with good interpersonal and communication skills who enjoy working in a challenging environment whilst displaying a caring attitude at all times.

You will need:

• To be a Registered General Nurse and hold a Intra Venous administration Accreditation
• The ability to plan, implement and evaluate care
• Experience of working in end of life care within an acute or Palliative Care setting.

Continuation of NHS Pension Scheme is available.

We offer 27 days holiday plus public holidays and excellent pension scheme.

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.

Our shift patterns are:

• Late: 12.30 - 20:30
• Night: 20:00 - 08:00
• Long Shift: 07:30 - 20.30

For further information and to apply, please visit our website via the ‘Apply’ button.

Closing date: 6th May 2024

Applicants are subject to enhanced DBS (previously CRB).