Location: Blackburn, covering our Lancashire service – This can be a hybrid role based on service demands
Salary: Grade 5 - £37,739 or Grade 6 - £43,338 per annum depending on experience
Hours: Full time - 35 per week
Contract: Permanent
Closing date: Wednesday 15th April 2026 at 11.30 pm
Join Shelter as a Housing Solicitor, in our mission to drive systemic change and fight for Justice.
If you are a dedicated Solicitor with a strong commitment to addressing the housing crisis we welcome you to apply for this role.
At a time when the housing emergency continues to deepen, your experience could help transform lives and challenge the systems that perpetuate injustice. Come and play a central role in our mission as a Solicitor to defend the right to a safe, and secure home.
Working with Shelter means being part of a passionate team that believes a safe home is a fundamental right. Here, your legal skills don’t just change lives—they shape a fairer housing system.
About the role
You will ensure you deliver high quality legal services through casework and ensuring Legal aid contract requirements and performance targets are met.
You will be able to identify test case opportunities to address systemic bad practice and so achieve change for a greater number of people and will work closely with the Managing Solicitor and the Hub.
About You
In this role, you will:
- Be a qualified Solicitor - we are open to newly qualified candidates with a demonstrable interest in social justice, as well as those who have 3+ years PQE and a strong track record in housing law and Legal Aid work
- Deliver high-quality legal advice and representation under our work as part of the Housing Loss Prevention Service, which provides free legal advice and court representation to anyone at risk of losing their home.
- Challenge unfair housing practices and systemic causes of homelessness through strategic casework and litigation
- Work closely with our London team to strengthen housing rights awareness across London
- Support Trainee Solicitors and Legal Advisers, ensuring high professional standards and compliance.
Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.
About The Team
Our legal Teams (Managing Solicitors, Solicitors, Legal Advisors and Trainees) are based throughout the England hubs, we are currently based in London, Plymouth, Bristol, Norwich, Birmingham, Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire, Sheffield and Newcastle.
Our teams are enthusiastic, driven and champions for fighting the housing injustice. Our teams whilst generating an income also address the housing crisis.
The Lancashire Hub has 25 staff and you will be a key member of the team defending the right to a safe home. Each of Shelter’s hubs has its own local priorities based on the issues our clients have. For Lancashire these are Homelessness and temporary accommodation, the private rented sector and social housing and people living in poverty.
About Shelter
Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet everyday millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.
We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.
We need ambitious, passionate people to join us. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.
Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. To win this fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, equitable and transparent. We are committed to combating racism both within and outside Shelter. We welcome you on our journey to becoming truly anti-racist.
How to Apply
Please submit your CV with a supporting statement with responses to the 'About You' points 1-7 outlined in the job description of no more than 1000 words. Please provide specific examples following the STAR format and ensure you demonstrate how you address the behaviour below throughout your responses:
- We prioritise diversity and have an inclusive and open mindset
Safeguarding Statement
Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.
Recruitment Agencies
Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Location: Bournemouth – Dorset Hub
Salary: £32,585 per annum
Hours: Full time – 35 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Closing date: Thursday 16th April 2026 at 11:30pm
Are you compassionate, proactive and collaborative with experience in housing and homelessness advice and advocacy? If you are looking for an exciting new career opportunity, then join Shelter as a Housing Rights Worker and you could soon be making a real difference to people affected by the housing emergency.
About the role
Your role will be delivering high quality housing advice and advocacy in line with the hub’s local community priorities and work alongside people who are experiencing housing problems to identify issues specific to Dorset. You will plan and deliver casework to individuals and communities to help find resolutions and engage with community groups, local organisations and individuals to understand local housing issues and raise awareness of people’s rights.
Working within local community settings and alongside community groups to deliver advice and rights awareness workshops, you will ensure that people with lived experience of homelessness have opportunities to share their stories and views, participating in the design and delivery of Shelter services. Offering day to day support to volunteers, providing learning, shadowing and mentoring and being a consistent role model for our values are also key aspects of the role.
About you
You will be able to work with individuals and communities including people with lived experience of homelessness. You will have experience and knowledge of housing and homelessness advice and advocacy as well as the ability to carry out casework related interviews, maintain detailed case records, advise and support your clients to make informed decisions. You have a strong track record of delivering group workshops and presentations and collaborate with others to get the job done.
Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.
About the team
Our team in Dorset has been providing housing advice and support services within the area for over 20 years. We have office bases in Bournemouth and Weymouth as well as working in community venues and partner organisation sites. We deliver a wide range of housing rights, legal services, community and support work and advocate for change to fix the broken housing system.
About Shelter
Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet every day millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.
We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.
We need ambitious, passionate people to join us. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.
Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. To win this fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, equitable and transparent. We are committed to combating racism both within and outside Shelter. We welcome you on our journey to becoming truly anti-racist.
Safeguarding Statement
Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing, and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.
How to apply
Please click ‘Apply for Job’ on the advert. You are required to submit a CV and a supporting statement with responses to the following points in the ‘About you’ section of the job description of no more than 350 words each. Please provide specific examples following the STAR format:
- Knowledge and experience of housing and homelessness advice and advocacy and the ability to progress to specialist level knowledge
- Ability to listen to, engage and work with individuals and communities
- Experience of delivering and/or ability to deliver group workshops and presentations
CVs without a supporting statement will not be considered.
Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
We are currently looking for a Project Worker 2 to join our Early Help - Yardley and Hodge Hill Localities.
Initial Location of Post
Fox Hollies Children's Centre, 419 Fox Hollies Road, Birmingham, B27 7QA.
Objectives of the Early Help Service
Yardley and Hodge Hill Early Help are two of ten Early Help Localities across the city of Birmingham lead by Voluntary and Community Sector organisations (VCS) alongside Birmingham Children's Trust (BCT). The aim of the provision is to build capacity within local communities to ensure that children, young people and families have access to the right support at the right time before issues and concerns escalate.
Outcomes
Our Early Help Advisors provide “light touch work” with families. This can be one off interactions and on-going support/intervention for a suggested maximum of four to six weeks. The role can involve; some introductory and exit scaling work with parents (outcomes wheel), referral completion, signposting to families, building trusting relationships with families, children and young people – using mixture of remote (by phone and email) contact and direct work and home visits. Relationships are built through empathy, listening, sound knowledge and understanding of local and national resources and responses to be able to respond to need. You should be confident in meeting with families in community spaces, schools and their homes when needed.
You will respond effectively and in a timely manner to needs as identified in Family Connect Forms referred into the service and tasks set by team manager as well as those needs that arise directly from families. Where applicable you will assist with identifying and speaking with the most appropriate person (such as a school) to undertake Early Help Assessments and Our Family Plans, so you will need to build rapport with families and professionals working with them. You will record and report and concerns and explore any barriers with colleagues and manager. You will be able to make clear and meaningful case recordings.
You will work well remotely and independently as you do alongside Early Help colleagues in shared office space, and be able to manage your time well, whilst being motivated to make a difference to the families and children you support.
Initial Specific Responsibilities
- To assist parents and carers to engage with and utilise personal, professional and local community networks to develop solutions to meet their personal aspirations and needs.
- Offer meaningful contact (communication) with families whether by phone, email, or in person.
- Write high quality and timely case notes and assessments using ECINS and other recording systems – to evidence work completed and the story of families through Early Help.
- To be able to develop rapport and understanding with families using excellent phone manner and verbal communication.
- Speak to schools and other professionals supporting a family as part of a multi-agency approach, including, collaborating with schools to encourage them to complete an Early Help Assessment and to offer to contribute to this via your support of families.
- Make referrals to third party organisations to support a family's needs e.g. to Shelter, DWP or Early Help services such as Early Help Mentoring.
- Develop an informed understanding of the key issues within the local area for Children Young People and Families
- Ability to work independently on a day-to-day basis and use own initiative whether working from home or offices (role will involve a combination).
- Able to work closely with other Early Help Advisors.
- Work with an understanding of the importance of consent in Early Help and an awareness of safeguarding issues and procedures, following them as required.
- To support other professionals across the locality to find solutions and support for families.
- To cover the duty role and phone line to ensure that enquiries into the locality are responded to in a timely manner.
- To provide advice, information and guidance to families to enable them to access relevant support to meet their needs.
- Provide support to the Team Manager and other Early Help colleagues to promote the work of the Early Help partnership and share good practice.
- To attend if/as requested allocations meetings and provide relevant information to progress support to families.
- Attend relevant Early Help meetings and training courses in the course of the work.
- Keep up to date on support and funds available for families to be able to offer robust support and advice.
- Liaise with Early Help Locality Lead to identify priorities funding applications.
- Support the production of promotional and publicity materials as required.
- Support the evaluation strategy and identification of case studies which contribute to the monitoring of the Early Help Offer
- Have an understanding of the lived experience of individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
- To support induction/training of new staff
- To support staff supervisions
- To support with case screening for TAFN (Team Around Family Network) meetings
- To support with note taking at TAFN (Team Around Family Network) meetings
Education/Knowledge (additional to the Person Specification)
- Relevant Professional Qualification in relation to working with children, young people and families e.g. Social Care, Youth or Community Work
- In addition to experience with Microsoft packages, prior experience with some or all of the following is considered highly desirable: OpenText – Content Server, ECINS, RMM, RIO, etc.
- An in-depth knowledge and understanding of issues and challenges affecting families, financial difficulties, non-school attendance, worklessness, offending, emotional well-being and mental health, domestic abuse, impact of trauma etc. and suitable responses to these.
- Good working knowledge of services, resources and support available for Children and Families in Yardley, Hodge Hill and Birmingham would be highly
- Driver with car and/or ability to travel around Yardley / Hodge Hill as well as wider Birmingham effectively would be important.
Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.
Pay & Reward Framework
We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values. We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people.
For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay.
Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours. More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application.
Benefits
Workplace Offer: What it means for you
Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.
- Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
- Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
- The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our Buy Your Leave scheme
- A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
- Service related sick pay from day 1
- Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
- Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
- Cycle2work scheme
- Interest free season ticket loans
- Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
- 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
- Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
- Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
- Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer
*T&C's apply based on contract
About Barnardo's
We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.
Our basis and values
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.