Blue light programme assistant jobs

Job Role: Assistant Retail Manager

Salary: £14,871 per year (full time equivalent £24,785)

Hours: 22.5 hours per week

Contract type: Permanent

Location: Bath, Shaftesbury Road

Additional information:

• Availability to work flexibly, including weekend

About Alongside:

Alongside is the new name for Julian House. We work with people experiencing social exclusion across the South and West of England, providing outreach, accommodation and support. Our clients may be sleeping rough, fleeing abuse, rebuilding after trauma, leaving prison, recovering from addiction, or trying to settle safely in a new community. Whatever their starting point, we work alongside people to help build safety, stability and independence.

If you’d like a real sense of job satisfaction, great career prospects and a competitive benefits package, you could be who we’re looking for!

About the Role:

As an Assistant Manager, you’ll play a key role in the success of our charity shops, ensuring everything runs smoothly day to day. From leading and motivating our fantastic team of volunteers to managing stock and creating a warm, welcoming shopping experience, you’ll be right at the heart of our mission.

If you’re passionate about retail, enjoy working with people, and want to make a real difference by helping us raise vital funds for a great cause, we’d love to hear from you!

Responsibilities include:

• Collaborating with the Shop Manager to meet and exceed income and profit targets by optimising sales, minimising operational costs, and continually seeking innovative ways to enhance to shop.
• Manage donations, including the sorting, pricing and preparation of items for sale and effectively disposing of unwanted items.
• Assisting in the recruitment, training and development of the volunteer team and ensuring the shop has a built-up volunteer base.
• Support the Shop Manager in administrative tasks, including cash handling and banking.

Please note: Job descriptions are not exhaustive, and the successful candidate may occasionally be asked to take on other duties that align with the key responsibilities outlined.

You can view the full job description by clicking here.

Qualifications / Requirements:

• Experience working within a retail setting.
• A proactive, customer-focused approach to work.

There are many great reasons to join our team!

• Access to our Rewards Platform, which includes an Employee Assistance Programme and Health Cash Plan
• 27 days annual leave, including an extra day off for your birthday, plus bank holidays - increasing up to 30 days after 4 years of continuous employment (pro rata for part-time staff)
• 30% staff discount at our charity shops
• A generous and competitive pension scheme
• A supportive culture where staff feedback is highly valued and regular supervisions with line managers are conducted
• Great opportunities for career development and free monthly training sessions from experienced facilitators
• For all the fantastic and valuable work, you’ll be doing, you’ll be eligible for the Blue Light Card which offers amazing discounts on thousands of brands

Our Ethos

As an Equal Opportunities employer, we have an Equality and Diversity Action plan in place showing our commitment in ensuring continuous improvement in creating an inclusive culture. We also have a committed group of Inclusion & Diversity champions who meet monthly to ensure progress is being made. We invite applications from people from all backgrounds and cultures, especially minority groups that are underrepresented in the workplace. We also welcome applications from those with lived experience. We embrace flexibility and are proud to be a Disability Confident and Mindful employer, as well as an Armed Forces Covenant Supporter.

If you have any special access requirements or other support needs throughout the application process (including interview), please contact us so that we can let you know how we can support you. We accept CVs and applications in all formats.

DBS Checks

We welcome applications from people with lived experience. All applicants working with our clients will be expected to undertake an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check. A criminal conviction will not necessarily prevent you from becoming an employee, the decision will depend on the type of offence and its relevance to the role. If you would like to discuss any convictions you may have, please contact the person named in the advert. All information will be dealt with according to our Data Protection Policy.

Job Title: Assistant Shop Manager (Maternity Cover)

Salary: £15,736 per annum (pro-rata of full time equivalent £26,227)

Team: Knaphill

Hours: Part Time, 22.5 hours per week

Contract Type: Fixed Term

Location: Knaphill Shop,2PP GU21

About the role

Your key purpose will be to support, and in the absence of the Shop Manager, lead a team of volunteers to maximise sales and deliver excellent customer service. You will also ensure the shop premises and assets are maintained to a high standard, in line with legal requirements and Shooting Star Children’s Hospices (SSCH) policies and procedures.

About you

You will be a proactive and organised team player, confident in supporting, and in the absence of the Shop Manager, leading a team of volunteers. With a strong focus on customer service, you will be comfortable dealing with enquiries and resolving issues professionally, while creating a welcoming and positive environment for both customers and volunteers. You will have the ability to plan and prioritise tasks effectively, including coordinating rotas, delegating responsibilities, and ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of the shop.

You will bring a keen eye for detail and a commercial mindset, with experience or an interest in merchandising, stock management, and sales performance. You will be confident making decisions on pricing, product suitability, and display to maximise income. Working collaboratively with a wide range of internal teams and stakeholders, you will communicate effectively and contribute to achieving shared goals. Enthusiastic and adaptable, you will take pride in maintaining high standards across all areas of the shop, ensuring compliance with policies, procedures, and legal requirements.

Please see the attached job description for more information about this opportunity at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.

What we offer

In return you will receive a competitive salary along with a range of benefits, which include:

Pension scheme

• NHS Pension Scheme (for eligible employees) or our stakeholder pension scheme, with up to 7% employer contributions

Annual leave

• 27 days plus Bank Holidays rising with length of service
• 2 weeks paid sabbatical leave after 5, 10 and 15 years’ service

Contractual benefits

• Generous sick pay scheme
• Enhanced maternity, adoption, and paternity leave pay
• Flexible working arrangements
• Death in service benefits
• Reimbursed professional membership fees
• Eye care
• Employee referral scheme
• Blue Light discount card

Health and wellbeing

• Employee Assistance Programme
• Occupational Health
• Mindfulness sessions
• Mental Health First Aiders

Safeguarding

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all our staff to share this commitment. Also, we are committed to equal opportunities and consider all applicants to be in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Employment is subject to receipt of satisfactory references and a DBS check.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices is committed to inclusion and diversity in everything we do. We know that getting things right is critical for us to live our organisation’s values: Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diversity and Excellence.

We are always trying to improve our way of working to be more inclusive and equal. Our vision is for Shooting Star Children’s Hospices to be a place where people of all backgrounds, groups and communities feel welcomed to work and volunteer.

Anticipated closing Date: 03/07/2026

Please note that vacancies may close at any time once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We therefore recommend submitting your application as early as possible.

We have an exciting new opportunity to join our fantastic team in Pickering, North Yorkshire.

Age UK is recruiting for a motivated person with a passion for providing a high-quality customer service, looking to utilise their skills and experience to help raise funds toward our charity, which provides signposting and support to older people across the UK.

Working as a Shop Supervisor, you will sort, price and present stock, keep our store tidy and well presented, help to create a welcome environment for customers and potential donors, support shop volunteers with daily tasks, provide excellent customer service while striving to maximise store profits. As Shop Supervisor you will also deputise for the Shop Manager and Assistant Manager in their absence.

No day is the same, and you will be joining a friendly and supportive team of colleagues and volunteers. If you want to help us to help others, this might be the job for you!

The successful applicant will be required to work 13 hours per week including every Sunday. Each Sunday you will be responsible for managing the store, ensuring it showcases our wonderful donations and taking pride in maintaining a tidy and accessible space for all.

You will support with sales, stock rotation, organising displays, store tidying and much more, whilst representing Age UK in a professional manner and reflecting our core values.

Due to the nature of this role, you will be required to handle/lift bags of stock (up to 10kgs.)

Please note this opportunity will require the successful candidate to work 13 hours across a 7-day working week, including Saturdays and Sundays on a rota basis.

To ensure the smooth running of our stores, we will be conducting interviews throughout the advertising process. Early applications are advised.

You will have:

• Experience in working in a customer facing role
• Experience of cash handling
• Ability to lift and carry bags of stock up to 10kg's
• The ability to work as part of an effective team.
• Be able to lone work when needed
• Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to cultural differences and gender issues, as well as commitment to equal opportunities
• A flexible approach to work with requirement to work additional days to cover holidays and sickness or participate in trading outside of normal shop hours e.g. shop events

What we offer in return:

• Competitive salary, 25 days annual leave (pro rata for our part-time colleagues) + bank holidays + annual leave purchase scheme
• Wellbeing days - 2 paid days per year (pro rata for our part-time colleagues)
• Excellent pension scheme, life assurance, Bupa health cashback plan and EAP
• Car Benefit scheme, Cycle to Work scheme
• Home & Tech - apply to buy any Home & Tech items from 'Currys' & 'IKEA', up to £1000, and spread the cost over 12 months, interest free.
• Blue Light Card scheme
• You Did It Awards - recognition awards from £100-250.

Additional Information

To comply with UK legislation, we cannot accept applications from candidates under the age of 18 as the successful candidate will be required to work on their own in the shop without the aid of other staff.

Supporting statements and anonymisation

Please submit a Word version of your CV as it will be anonymised by our recruitment system when you apply for a role. Our system is unable to anonymise supporting statements and heavily formatted CVs. Please could you remove any personal information including your name before you upload to support our inclusive recruitment process. All equalities monitoring information is also anonymised and not shared with the hiring panel. Your name and address will only be known to us if invited for interview.

Equal opportunities & Disability Confident Scheme

Age UK is an Equal Opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates, regardless of age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital/civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity. We guarantee an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria under the Disability Confident Scheme. Please note that on occasion, due to high numbers of applications, Age UK reserves the right to limit the overall number of interviews offered, and therefore, it may not always be practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people that meet the minimum criteria for the job.

Is this the job for you? We know that men, of all backgrounds, and men and women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds are currently under-represented in our workforce, and we want to change this! So, we are particularly keen to hear from applicants from these groups.

Reasonable adjustments

Disabled job seekers can access reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process. All requests for reasonable adjustments are considered on a case-by-case basis, in collaboration with the disabled job seeker to best meet their needs, by contacting the Recruitment Team. Disability disclosures will be kept confidential and only shared on a need-to-know basis to support the implementation of adjustments. Disclosures will not be used to inform hiring decisions.

Age UK is committed to safeguarding adults at risk, and children, from abuse and neglect. We expect everyone who works with us to share this commitment.

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert at any time.