Advocate jobs in Birmingham, west midlands

AAFDA was founded by Frank Mullane in memory of his sister Julia Pemberton and her son Will who were both killed by her ex-partner in 2003.

Each year, around 150 families lose a loved one to domestic homicide. The actual number of suicides as a result of domestic abuse remains unknown. Most of these families suffer significant problems including relationship breakdown, job difficulties/loss and mental and physical health issues. We help these families in many ways, our prime function being to provide families in England, Wales and Northern Ireland with specialist peer support and expert and specialist advocacy for the range of statutory reviews that will take place after domestic homicide.

AAFDA (Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse) is a growing Charity and to meet the demands we are looking for a specialist Advocate for Scotland. Although home based, some travel will be required - frequency will be commensurate to the role. We welcome applications from candidates with experience of domestic abuse. We are also committed to diversity and strongly encourage applications from those with Black and/or Minoritised backgrounds.

Scotland is expected to introduce Domestic Homicide and Suicide Reviews commencing in April 2026. We are looking for a candidate with a good understanding of the Scottish legislative system and good understanding around domestic abuse to join our growing charity

Our Specialist Advocates support families impacted by fatal domestic abuse through provision of lay advocacy, for and on behalf of, families with a range of statutory service providers (e.g. those conducting reviews and inquiries, social services, police, housing) and work to build good relations between all parties. To ensure that families get the support they need, you will use AAFDA’s Home Office endorsed seven-step approach to working with individuals and families, to ensure that they receive the best possible support and advocacy to restore dignity and relief for families and to help them cope and recover. Through trauma-informed approaches, you will:

· Listen to families and advocate for them in a complex system that too often treats them as passive participants and overlooks the value of their insight.

· Provide information, support, guidance, advice and advocacy on Domestic Homicide & Suicide Reviews (DHSR’s) and other reviews where relevant and appropriate.

· Manage families’ expectations of the legal and procedural processes facing them by supporting families in meetings with agencies such as health, police and local authorities.

· Give families practical help on a wide range of issues - including help with letter writing or advocating with employers and local authorities on the families’ behalf.

· Support AAFDA in our bringing families together in AAFDA’s peer support events, such as the Hear Our Voice weekend and the on-line peer support Zoom sessions, where families can speak with others to share their experiences and stories. This will involve occasional evening work.

In return for joining us, we will offer you:

· 25 days annual leave per annum, plus bank holidays

· Excellent development and training opportunities

· Pension Scheme

· Healthcare Scheme

· Employee Assist Scheme

Application Instructions

To apply for this role, please submit a supporting statement along with your CV. Closing date:

Applicants will be shortlisted according to how well they meet the criteria in the person specification. Please highlight and explain how you meet these in your supporting statement. If you have been shortlisted for interview, you will be informed by email. Regrettably, we are normally unable to acknowledge unsuccessful applicants.

Please note that we will not progress applications where the supporting statement does not address the criteria for the role being applied for.

.You will be required to visit families and clients across Scotland. 

Support and Advocacy Practitioner

Kairos Women Working Together is looking for a Support and Advocacy Practitioner to join our specialist women’s organisation in Coventry.

Since 1999, Kairos has walked alongside women facing multiple intersecting disadvantage and therefore subject to, or at risk of, sexual exploitation. Through support, advocacy and community, we work with women to increase options and opportunities, strengthen voice and agency, and empower them to create the futures they want for themselves.

This is an exciting time to join Kairos. We are growing our work through our Women’s Hub, strengthening our specialist support offer, and developing our role as a place of safety, advocacy, community and change for women in Coventry.

About the role

This is a frontline practitioner role providing women-centred, trauma-informed, holistic support.

You will manage a caseload, provide one-to-one support and advocacy, contribute to safeguarding and risk work, support drop-ins and outreach, facilitate group activity, and work closely with partner agencies.

The work is meaningful, challenging and deeply relational. The women we walk alongside are often facing significant trauma, risk, exclusion, crisis and harm. This means the role can be tough. Sometimes very tough. It requires emotional resilience, good boundaries, reflective capacity and the ability to stay grounded when things are complex or uncertain.

But this work is also full of purpose, hope and possibility. At Kairos, you will see the difference that trusted relationships, practical advocacy, women-only spaces and long-term support can make.

Kairos is rooted in feminist values and an analysis of power, inequality and men’s violence against women and girls. Our work is practical and frontline, but it is also activist in nature. We support individual women, and we also seek to challenge the systems, attitudes and injustices that create and sustain harm.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for someone who shares our values of Hope, Compassion, Empowerment, Solidarity, Voice and Justice.

We are not only interested in formal qualifications or traditional career routes. Relevant experience may come from paid work, volunteering, community work, activism, study, caring responsibilities, personal learning or lived experience.

What matters most is your ability to build trust, listen without judgement, hold strong boundaries, manage complexity, advocate clearly, reflect on your practice and work in a way that is rooted in Kairos’ values.

We do not expect anyone to arrive knowing everything. Kairos is a learning organisation, and staff are supported through regular line management, reflective supervision, external clinical supervision and access to relevant training and development.

Diversity, accessibility and lived experience

The voices of women with lived experience are centred in everything that we do. We encourage lived experience across the whole organisation, including volunteers, staff, senior leadership and our board of trustees.

We want Kairos to reflect the diversity of the women we support. We actively encourage applications from Black, minoritised and migrant women; women with disabilities; lesbian and bisexual women; and working-class women.

You will be welcomed, supported and respected in a culture that values authenticity, honesty and sisterhood.

We are committed to making our recruitment process as accessible as possible. If you need information in a different format, reasonable adjustments, or support to take part in the recruitment process, please contact us.

Role details

Job title: Support and Advocacy Practitioner
Salary: £29,779 per annum
Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Location: Kairos Women’s Hub, The Old Grammar School, 31 Silver Street, Coventry, CV1 1HP
Reporting to: Support and Services Lead
Working pattern: Hub and community based, with occasional hybrid working. The role includes some evening work, currently Wednesdays, as part of our outreach and drop-in rota. Very occasional weekend work may be required for events or fundraising activity.
Annual leave: 25 days, rising by one day for each year of service up to 30 days, plus bank holidays.
Wellbeing offer: One paid wellbeing hour each week, paid wellbeing break between Christmas and New Year, access to Employee Assistance Programme, external clinical supervision, team wellbeing activities and optional Blue Light Card scheme.

This post is open to female applicants only as an occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010. This is due to the nature of the role and Kairos’ work as a specialist women-only organisation supporting women subject to, or at risk of, men’s violence, abuse and sexual exploitation.

An enhanced DBS check will be required. The role also requires a full driving licence and access to a vehicle with business insurance, as practitioners may need to travel across Coventry and transport women as part of their support. Mileage is reimbursed.

How to apply

Please apply by submitting your CV and a covering letter.

Your covering letter should explain why you are interested in the role and how your experience, knowledge, skills, values and aptitude meet the person specification in the recruitment pack.

Please give clear examples from your paid work, volunteering, community work, activism, study, caring responsibilities, personal learning or lived experience where relevant.

We do not expect you to meet every desirable criterion. If you connect with Kairos’ mission and can show that you have the values, insight and potential needed for this work, we would welcome your application.

Closing date: 26 July 2026 at 11:55pm
Interview dates: 20 and 21 August 2026

Please read the full recruitment pack before applying.