Community Advice Jobs

About the role

This role is all about developing a welcoming and supportive support group community for kinship carers wherever they live. Building belonging, resilience and empowerment for support group leaders and kinship carers.

Funded by the Department for Education, our national Peer Support Service is creating a sustainable and life-changing legacy for kinship carers across England.

This is a game-changing service for kinship carers and builds on Kinship’s 10 years’ experience of developing peer support groups, and two years delivering a national service which has set up 145 new groups. 

As a Peer Support Officer, you’ll make sure we deliver an exceptional and consistent peer support service for kinship carers.  

You’ll set-up and develop new in-person groups in areas of high need, as well as supporting existing groups to thrive, developing a resilient and powerful peer support community.

Purpose of the role

Taking responsibility for the North West of England, you will reach out and work directly in local communities to develop sustainable kinship peer support groups.

You’ll need to think strategically – mapping areas and utilising resources to be effective and efficient in managing your time and building local connections.

Using community engagement techniques like coffee mornings, community events and linking with our training and support service, you’ll build local connections and relationships.

As you develop a group and recruit support group leaders, you’ll provide standardised training and help the group to navigate forming and storming – providing reassurance and support to empower the group.

Once the group is stable, you’ll transition the support group leader/s over to the ‘Hub’ team to build confidence and knowledge to run their group independently.  You’ll also support online groups and special interest groups to transition to independence. 

You’ll ensure targets are met and that kinship carers receive a good experience.

Key responsibilities include:

• In person (face-to-face) strategic outreach into local and regional communities including setting up and attending local engagement events.

• Set up and develop at least six new sustainable in person peer support groups annually, attending up to six sessions in person (if needed) before transition to self-sufficiency.

• Recruit and retain support group leaders to develop their peer support groups.

• Deliver standardised training to support group leaders (group roles and responsibilities, safeguarding, setting up, running and promoting a group).

Essential requirements include:

• Proven experience in reaching and establishing strong relationships with hidden or underserved communities in person.

• Significant experience developing peer support communities.

• Proven experience of recruiting, managing, training and supporting volunteers in community settings with an emphasis on understanding and working with vulnerable volunteers. 

• Proven experience of ensuring outcomes and impacts of services are evidenced through high quality data collection.

Key Dates:

• Deadline: 5pm, Monday 10 June 2024 

• Interviews: Tuesday 18 June 2024 (in-person, Greater Manchester)

How to apply:

We will ask you for your CV and to respond to the following four questions via the Applied platform. Please note that all answers will be viewed anonymously by reviewers and CVs will not be viewed until after this sift has happened. This is the first opportunity to demonstrate your experience and to stand out in the recruitment process. Reviewers will not see all your answers together and will be marking on the strength of the response to each question. Once this is complete, both will be reviewed together. You will have 250 words per answer.

Questions for application (along with CV):

1. Outline why you want to work at Kinship in this role, and how your values align to the Kinship ones? Please include a bit about your experience in this section related to the job description.
2. This role needs to develop sustainable peer support groups, whereby sustainable means that the group is able to run by itself and has a strong peer support group leader (who is a kinship carer). Tell us how you would approach this.
3. Give one example of a project, service or programme where you have delivered successful community outreach. How did you manage it, what were the targets and what did you achieve?
4. When developing peer support groups with people with lived experience, what are the things you need to consider?

Department: Business Development

Location: Blended between office and home (England and Wales). Time in office negotiable

Citizens Advice offers confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. Through our national network of charities, we give people the knowledge and confidence they need to find their way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem.

Do you want to work for an organisation that makes a difference, every single day, to people from all walks of life? The people that turn to Citizens Advice need help overcoming an obstacle in their lives – from debt to evictions to trouble at work – and you can play an important role in making sure they get the support they need in the quickest, easiest, and most effective way.

Are you passionate about fundraising and using your skills to raise money that drives positive change? Citizens Advice is seeking an Individual Giving Lead to join our growing individual giving team. This pivotal role will focus on developing and leading our individual giving function and activities, with the ultimate aim of generating unrestricted income to help secure the long-term sustainability of Citizens Advice, so we can continue to shape a society where people face far fewer problems.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a passionate and dedicated team committed to making a meaningful difference in people's lives. As the Individual Giving Lead, you will play a crucial role in shaping the future of our organisation and driving sustainable growth.

To apply for this position, please submit your CV and a cover letter outlining how you meet the essential criteria below and your relevant experience and motivation for joining Citizens Advice.

• Demonstrable experience of working in an individual giving, community, events or major donor fundraising role within the charity sector 
• Experience of implementing stewardship journeys within any income stream. 
• Experience of supporting campaigns within an individual giving, community, events or major donor fundraising role within the charity sector. 
• Proven ability to manage a wide range of fundraising projects and campaigns involving multiple internal and external stakeholders, and to ensure activities are delivered within budget and to deadline.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write compelling copy for fundraising campaigns and an understanding of the power of storytelling.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is of strategic importance within the organisation and recognised as integral to all we do as a service. 

Central to pursuing our EDI mission is building diverse and inclusive teams in which everyone has a sense of belonging. We believe inclusion is a social justice issue - a principle that underpins our all EDI work. To that end, we particularly welcome applications from people we would like to see better represented in our organisation and sector - people of colour, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people. If you are disabled and meet our minimum criteria you will be guaranteed an interview for this role and we will provide reasonable adjustments as needed. We follow the social model of disability.

We’re a flexible employer, so this role may suit anyone who’d prefer a flexible arrangement to help their work/life balance, many of our colleagues spend most of their time working remotely. Whilst we prefer a blended approach between a local office, if one is near you, and home we’re open to being flexible on location, occasionally a role may require you to be based in a certain location if that's the case it will be detailed in the advert or job description. This can be discussed in more detail during your interview.

The National Citizens Advice Operates from offices in England and Wales, with 4 regional offices based in Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Leeds, therefore all successful applicants must be based within England or Wales. 

Our commitment to colleague wellbeing is reflected in us being awarded Gold in the Health & Wellbeing category, as well as Overall Winners, at the Employee Experience Awards 2022.

Citizens Advice seeks to redeploy internal staff who are at risk or under notice of redundancy and will prioritise them in the recruitment process where necessary. If you have been confirmed as at risk or under notice of redundancy please ensure you indicate this in the at-risk box in your application. 

In the event of a high number of applications, we reserve the right to close the application early. 

This vacancy closes at 23.59 on the closing date. 

Join a team with a bold mission – at Swindon & Gloucestershire Mind, we are dedicated to reshaping the landscape of mental health and emotional wellbeing in our community. We are growing our counselling service, and we will be offering more generalised counselling as well as our Self Harmony service which specialises in self-harm and self-injury reduction. 
 
What You'll Do: 

• Collaborative Leadership: Lead, inspire, and effectively manage a team of professionals to deliver exceptional mental health support and interventions. 

• Innovation and Empowerment: Channel your passion into providing evidence-based interventions, elevating the mental health and emotional well-being of the people we serve, while opening doors to life's possibilities. 

• Effective Partnerships:  Ensure effective and appropriate communication with all individuals, staff, community agencies and partner organisations.  

Salary: £28,216.60 per annum

Location: Flexible, including home working

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time (37.5/week)

Closing date: 28th May 2024 at 11:30pm

Are you a positive and open-minded individual who has great time management and organisational skills, enjoys communicating with a variety of people and is keen to learn and develop a career in fundraising? Then join Shelter as a Community & Events Assistant and you could soon be part of our welcoming and supportive Supporter Experience team.

About Shelter

A home is a fundamental human need, as essential as education or healthcare. Yet millions of people across Britain struggle on a daily basis with homelessness, bad housing conditions, soaring rents, discrimination and the threat of eviction. So, we are striving for change, with individuals, in communities, across society, and leading the way to a safe home. We need ambitious, best-in-class individuals who are passionate about our cause to join us at this exciting time. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.

At Shelter we are united by our purpose to defend the right to a safe home. Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. We believe that to win that fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement for change. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, fair, equitable and transparent.

We have committed to combat racism both within and outside Shelter and welcome you on our journey to becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.

About the team

The Supporter Experience team at Shelter exists to provide expert stewardship to build deep long-term relationships, enhancing the supporter experience to drive income now and increase lifetime values. We ensure supporters feel valued and appreciated by Shelter and understand the impact of their support. We’re part of a wider Community & Events team that sits within an Income Generation directorate. Together, we look after a wide variety of fundraising activities to help fund our mission to ensure a safe home for all. Your team are welcoming and supportive, we work hard but try to have a lot of fun as well. Your line manager will be there to support you and encourage your personal development and you’ll have the opportunity to progress within the Community & Events team and beyond.

About the role

The main objectives of this role will be to provide excellent supporter care to Shelter’s fundraisers, which will involve building relationships and giving fundraising and event support and advice, and providing efficient administrative support to the department. We want to give you scope to grow into a confident and successful fundraiser, so you will receive training and provide supporter care and admin support across a variety of community & events activities, events and products across all three teams.

About you

Communicating with a variety of people: you will enjoy communicating with people in a variety of different ways, over the phone, face to face, by email, letter and over social media channels.

Time management & organisation: there’s a lot to do, particularly when we have fundraising products live and during the busy winter fundraising period, so it’s important to be able to manage your time well. The team has a really positive collective attitude to helping you do this, and they will suggest different tools and methods to stay on top of your work. But your being organised from the get-go is important.

Attention to detail: in all tasks, you will need to have a good eye for detail to make sure work is completed with a high level of accuracy.

Proactive: there are many activities to get involved with at Shelter, so being proactive ensures you get as much from your role as possible. Within your role you need to take initiative in setting up meetings, asking questions and suggesting/trying new ideas. Beyond this, taking advantage of volunteering in our shops or at events, and visiting local Shelter Hubs, is a great way to understand the cause and sector.

Willingness to be busy: everyone in the team has lots to do and has a range of responsibilities across different areas. To be successful in this role, you need to be willing to be busy during the working day and enjoy the variety this brings.

Flexibility: as this role will support work across the wider Community & Events team throughout the year, it is vital that the successful candidate is adaptable and willing to get stuck into different activities when needed. There will be occasional evening and weekend work to support events, for which time off in lieu will be given.

Positive attitude to learning: one of the most important aspects of the job is being positive and willing to learn. Being open-minded and keen to find solutions to problems is essential.

How to apply

Please submit your CV along with a supporting statement. In the supporting statement, please give relevant examples in line with the role responsibilities of how you meet the criteria in the 'About you' section of the job description, following the STAR format. Please also demonstrate how you address these two behaviours below in your answers.

• We work together to achieve our shared purpose
• We enable decision making

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.

Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that, one day, no one will have to turn to us for help. We’re here so no one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own.

To find out more about the role and the benefits of working for Shelter please visit our website. Apply to be part of our team and be the change you want to see in society.

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.

Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.

Role purpose

Compass is a service designed to support adults (18 years and over) in H&F and Hounslow. The service provides support with welfare benefits, debt, housing and well-being/peer support groups/workshops.

The role of the Information and Advice Worker will be to provide advice, guidance and customer representation to H&F and Hounslow residents living with mental health problems. Advice issues may include, housing, benefits, council tax, debt, signposting etc.

The successful candidate will deliver support to enquirers and manage a caseload of individuals as agreed with the project manager. In addition to advice casework, the Advice Worker will also be expected to assist onboarding referrals to the service when needed.

The successful candidate will be required to work alongside other caseworkers and volunteers supporting on the project and report to the project manager.

The Advice Worker will be required to work within the Advice Quality Standard framework (AQS), and adhere to Mind’s policies and procedures.

Due to the nature of the work, if successful, you will need to have an up-to-date DBS check completed prior to undertaking unsupervised client work.  

Place of work

The Advice Worker will be required to work both from home and the Ealing, H&F and Hounslow office when necessary, alongside work in the community.

Key Responsibilities
See attached job description for full list of responsibilities

• Deliver support to enquirers and manage a caseload of individuals as agreed with the project manager.
• Deliver monthly wellbeing peer support groups/workshops.
• Provide advice and information relating to all welfare benefits, including assisting clients with form filling and contacting agencies such as the Department for Work & Pensions on their behalf.
• Provide housing advice
• Provide general money and debt management advice
• Provide information on employment opportunities and training support for clients.
• Signpost to other relevant services in the boroughs, or further afield.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Experience

• Substantial experience of delivering advice in a similar position, preferably to individuals with mental health needs
• Knowledge and understanding of mental health problems, and mental health services
• Experience of delivering advice, information and customer representation
• Experience of managing complex cases
• Experience of working with multiple agencies
• Experience of delivering desired outcomes in a timely manner
• Up to date knowledge and experience of safeguarding adults
• Understanding of the importance of monitoring and evaluation, and the ability to keep records
  
  
  

Skills and Abilities

See attached job description for full list of skills & abilities

• Relevant and up to date knowledge of welfare benefits, housing and social care.
• Facilitate and deliver peer support groups for longer term improved wellbeing.
• Ability to communicate effectively in person on a one-to-one basis and with groups, as well as over the telephone and in writing
• Excellent listening skills

About Us

The Harbour Project has supported people seeking asylum and people with Refugee status for more than 20 years, giving us a huge depth of knowledge and insight to draw upon. We are the only organisation in Swindon and Wiltshire providing face-to-face support specifically for this community. By providing advice, support, activities, and friendship, our mission is to be a family for every individual who seeks asylum or is granted Refugee status in Swindon, and to help them rebuild their lives. We particularly welcome and encourage applications from those with Lived Experience of the UK asylum system.

Job Purpose

The Advice Centre at The Harbour Project is the heart of the charity. Seeing 30 to 40 people a day, our team of Advisors provide key help and support to Harbour Visitors (our beneficiaries), responding to a variety of questions and issues. For those seeking asylum, this includes: health-related matters, access to education, accessing asylum support, contacting immigration solicitors, Migrant Help, and the Home Office. For those with Refugee status, questions often revolve around: applying for mainstream benefits, accessing housing, and finding employment opportunities. 

This is a new position, following restructuring of other roles within the team. The role gives an opportunity to assist some of the most vulnerable people in our society, providing important and necessary support to those who might otherwise be excluded.

Please find the Specific Responsibilities, Essential and Desirable Criteria listed on the Job Description.

Hours: Full time, Mon to Fri, (37.5 hours per week)

Contract: Permanent

Location: Based at CAML offices in Mitcham and Morden and outreach locations. The post-holder may be required to work anywhere in South London

Salary: £29,930 - £33,256 dependent on experience

Annual Leave: 25 days, Charity Day, plus public holidays

Pension: The charity operates a pension scheme

The charity offers an employee assistance programme

Deadline: 6pm, Sunday 2nd June 2024

Citizens Advice Merton and Lambeth (CAML) is the leading advice charity supporting individuals and families primarily across the London boroughs of Lambeth and Merton but also wider London.  We provide a range of information, support and advice services.  We also work to raise awareness and understanding of the challenging issues affecting our clients and communities.

We are looking for an experienced Adviser/Caseworker or Supervisor to join our team in this new role.  If you are passionate about supporting individuals and families in need, relish supporting valued team members to reach their potential, have minimum of one year Citizens Advice Adviser (post certification) experience, are a natural team leader, enjoy delivering training and are interested in joining a dedicated professional team we would love to hear from you.

This role will support people with mental health difficulties referred by South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust (SWLSTG) as part of their Community Transformation Programme. The service will support adults aged 18 years and over living in Merton who are experiencing mental health challenges and the carers of those individuals.

You will deliver a service providing advice for people that are referred from the Trust’s Single Point of Access (SPA) and other teams. You will manage an active caseload of people, providing a comprehensive advice and casework service to people experiencing mental health issues on issues such as benefits, income maximisation, debt and housing.

The service will also support people to access a range of opportunities in their community including services that support their social and emotional well-being, employment and volunteering opportunities and money and debt advice if needed.

The role will work in partnership with a team of health professionals and peer support workers, part of the role will be in supporting these professionals to identify where referrals are appropriate through feedback. Initial training will also be provided to all professionals on what outcomes we can achieve for service users.

Principal Responsibilities

Advice and casework

• Offer one off advice and casework (as applicable) to all clients referred via face to face appointments, online or telephone

• Ensure all clients are aware of the purpose and where to attend their appointment

• Ensure that all casework conforms to the Citizens Advice quality standards.

• Maintain case records for the purpose of continuity of casework, information retrieval, statistical monitoring and report preparation.

• Ensure that all work conforms to our systems and procedures.

• Interview clients using sensitive listening and questioning skills in order to allow clients to explain their problem(s) and empower them to set their own priorities.

• Being sensitive to clients’ needs and limitations to access support.

• Ensure income maximisation through the appropriate take up of income and application for discounts, including those relating to utilities, benefits, tax and housing.

• Provide full budgeting advice and where necessary refer for specialist debt advice and casework

• Research and explore options and implications so that clients can make informed decisions. Act for the client where necessary using appropriate communication skills and channels.

• Assist clients with other related problems where they are an integral part of their case and refer to other adviser/s (for example DRO intermediary) or specialist agencies as appropriate.

• Ensure that all work conforms to Financial Conduct Authority standards, the Advice Quality Standard and the requirements of the funder.

Project Management, co-ordination and partnerships

• Attend health management meetings (e.g. the Daily Integrated Allocations Meeting (DIAM) for referral discussions)

• Establish and manage an effective referral process from the SPA team and other SWLSTG teams/roles (e.g. Older Peoples Mental Health Team OPMH

• Keep in touch with local issues, developments and changes in procedures of other agencies including SWLSTG, other health service and the local authority. 

• Build relationships with peer support workers on the project

• Work to achievable targets in line with the criteria set by the funder.

• Refer clients to other advice services CAML offers and/or other local services for other associated issues e.g immigration advice

• Gather statistics and feedback in order to monitor and evaluate the service, ensuring that appropriate monitoring and data collection mechanisms are in place to demonstrate impact, outputs and outcomes and providing reports as required to the steering group, funders, and partners.

• Work with Head of Advice Services to produce reports and monitoring information about the service for the funder.

• Ensure that work reflects and supports the Citizens Advice service's equality and diversity strategy.

Capacity Building and Training

• Deliver information sessions for peer support workers and NHS mental health teams to share knowledge about mental health and advice

Research & Campaigns

• Have responsibility for tracking and reporting on research and campaign issues. Assist with policy work by providing information about clients' circumstances.

• Gather and provide as necessary information about clients circumstances, case studies and statistical information on the number of clients and nature of cases where is an issue.

• Monitor service provision to ensure that it reaches the widest possible client group.

Professional Development

• Keep up to date with legislation, case law, policies and procedures and undertake appropriate training

Other duties and responsibilities

• Carry out any other tasks that may be within the scope of the post to ensure the effective delivery and development of the service.

• Ensure wider Citizens Advice Merton & Lambeth colleagues/partners aware of this service.

• Demonstrate commitment to the aims and principles of the Citizens Advice service.

• Abide by health and safety guidelines and share responsibility for own safety and that of colleagues.

Person Specification

Essential

1. Experience of supporting people with mental health issues and the ability to empathise, and to deliver advice in a kind and compassionate way.

2. A minimum of a year’s post certificate experience in delivering advice at a local Citizens Advice or similar.

3. Understanding of the link between mental health and other protected characteristics particularly in the context of Merton demographics

4. Ability to act on clients behalf and negotiate with external services where necessary in writing and on the telephone

5. Knowledge, experience of, and demonstrable ability to provide good quality advice and casework and write ups that meet Advice Quality Standards (AQS)

6. Ability to prioritise own work, meet deadlines and manage caseload.

7. Good interpersonal and communication skills, verbally and in writing.

8. Proven ability to build relationships with partners. 

Desirable

1. Experience working in partnership with the Health Sector

2. Ability to deliver training

This job description and personal specification does not form part of any contract.

Professional Development

The successful applicant will receive comprehensive induction to the charity and our work.  We support team members in their professional development to ensure we’re up to date with legislation, case law, policies and procedures relating to benefits and debt and undertake appropriate training as agreed with your line manager. 

If you’re interested in the role and joining us, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please follow the link to our website for more information and to find out how to apply. The deadline for applications is 6pm, Sunday 2nd June 2024.  If you do not hear from us, we are afraid your application was unsuccessful.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office and will process your personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018. Please refer to our online Privacy Policy for more information on how your personal data will be processed and stored.

Primary site based in Belle Vale but operating from various locations around Liverpool

Term: Permanent

Closing date: 24 May 2024 at 09:00:00

Salary: £29,214

Hours: 35 Hours Per Week

About the Role

The aim of Advice Service Supervisor is to maintain a consistent quality of advice and help for clients by providing support, guidance and feedback on a day to day basis. There are 4 main areas:

• ensuring quality - actively supporting the quality of advice by guiding the team to information sources, checking that all aspects of a client's situation have been considered, checking that follow up work is progressed, and that research and campaigns issues are identified

• providing support - actively supporting each team member to develop their skills and competences, by explaining, guiding, demonstrating, encouraging, suggesting, coaching, giving constructive feedback 

• challenging appropriately - adapting the level of support to individual competence and need, and taking account of the team as a whole

• managing the practicalities - overseeing and managing all practical issues relating to the session - allocating the team to face-to-face work or other communication methods, checking waiting times or interview lengths, and if necessary, dealing with client or Citizens Advice emergencies

Requirements

1. A minimum of 12 months experience of advice work in a Citizens Advice setting or similar quality assured environment.
2. Ability to effectively manage and support people to meet individual and team objectives.
3. Ability to monitor and maintain Quality of Advice standards including checking accuracy of advice and benefit calculations.
4. Good understanding of safeguarding principles and willingness to adhere to them
5. Experience of using ICT systems and packages, and electronic resources in the provision of advice, record keeping and document production.
6. Ability to work on own initiative and be flexible to business need.
7. Demonstrable understanding of the issues affecting society and their implications for Citizens Advice clients and service provision. 
8. Ability to create a positive working environment in which equality, diversity and inclusion are well managed, dignity at work is upheld and staff are empowered and motivated to do their best.
9. The ability to commit to and work within the aims, principles and policies of the Citizens Advice service and the vision of Citizens Advice Liverpool

How to Apply

Please click on the Apply button to find out more.

About us

Citizens Advice Liverpool is a charity that provides free, confidential and impartial advice to people who live and work in the city. We depend on a workforce of paid staff and over 120 trained volunteers. We give people the knowledge and the confidence they need to find their way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem. We are the leading provider of advice and advocacy services in Liverpool and have helped clients with over 106,000 issues in 2022/2023.

CAL have achieved accreditation with the Workplace Wellbeing Charter, showing we are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our workforce. We've also gained an award for outstanding contribution by an employer to workplace health and wellbeing 2022 by Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust.

We've gained awards from Citizens Advice National recognising our Advising Margainalised Communities Team for championing equity, diversity and inclusion in both 2021 and 2021. We were also named volunteer team of the year in 2022.

As well as a competitive salary CAL also provides access to:

• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

• Hybrid Working Scheme

• Interest free travel loans

• Employee Assistance Programme

• Pension Scheme

• Cycle to Work Scheme

• Lifestyles Gym Membership (20% corporate discount)

• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave pay

We are recruiting a full-time Funding Officer working across Birmingham & Solihull on a fixed term contract up until December 2024. 

You’ll be part of a team of 6, led by two Funding Managers and working alongside 3 other full time Funding Officers, as part of The Birmingham & Solihull patch which works within a larger Midlands team.

Ideally you will live in or near to Birmingham and have an excellent knowledge of the city. This role is classed as mobile working which means you will be expected to work from and visit several locations across the area, including your home. The ability to drive and have access to a vehicle is therefore beneficial, although not essential.

• You will assess applications for funding and manage grants using local knowledge, best practice, thematic expertise and the experience of customers and stakeholders to improve our grant making and inform our decision making.
• You will have a strong understanding of our vision, our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and our funding products.
• You will also need to support our stakeholders, helping them to make connections that will help them achieve their goals.
• Being responsible for a pipeline of projects you will need to understand and respond to the diverse needs of our customers by providing advice and considered feedback and be willing to have challenging but constructive conversations.
• You will manage your own caseload, liaise with grant recipients, undertake project visits, identify and manage risk, support organisations to deliver their projects and measure their impact.

You will also need to work within the Fund’s policies and procedures and the necessary legislation, in a way that is in line with our vision and principles.

You will represent the Fund within your local area, including at funding fairs and external meetings, creating opportunities for people to come together. You will share learning from your role with other colleagues so that we can maximise our impact.

Interview Date: Week commencing 3rd June 2024

Location: Hybrid working with regular travel to locations across Birmingham & Solihull

Essential criteria

• Relational skills: Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with colleagues, community organisations and other stakeholders at various levels, with a strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
• Analytical skills: Ability to absorb a wide range of information and to make judgement-based decisions with confidence, to challenge when appropriate and manage risk.
• Organisational skills: Ability to use your initiative and manage your own workload with minimal supervision, dealing with competing priorities and deadlines and demonstrating strong self-organisation and prioritisation skills.
• Communication skills: Strong listening, written and verbal communication with an emphasis on report writing for assessment purposes.
• Values driven and passionate about the Fund’s purpose.

Desirable criteria

• Lived experience or working knowledge of the needs and priorities of communities across Birmingham and Solihull and the local third sector.
• Sound IT skills and the ability to learn detailed processes.
• Understanding of financial planning, ability to analyse accounts and numerical data and to identify and manage risk.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion  

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed.  

We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment. (This can be related to a physical and mental health condition.) 

At Independent Age, we believe that no older person should face financial hardship. That’s why, by 2027, our goal is to have improved the lives of one million older people. Our impact across policy, campaigning, information and advice, grant-making and partnerships improves lives by increasing the financial well-being of older people in financial hardship, enabling greater choice and independence in wider areas of life. We want to find talented individuals from diverse backgrounds to join us on this journey.

You will support with the design and delivery of training to external clients (e.g. social prescribers, housing providers, community workers, advice workers, corporate partners) on financial rights-based information for older people in England, Scotland, and Wales, so that they can support older people to maximise their income and reduce their costs.  You will also support with internal training where required.

 You will be experienced in designing inclusive and accessible training and resources, and in delivering training virtually and in-person, including to corporates. With comprehensive knowledge of pensionable age welfare benefits, you should have a good understanding of issues affecting older people including social care, health services, housing, and scams. With excellent relationship and partnership building skills as well as great organisation and time management skills, you will have the ability to travel and undertake overnight stays to deliver in-person training and attend meetings. 

For full details on the role and requirements, please review the job description and person specification.  If your experience doesn’t align perfectly with all of the criteria in the person specification but you do meet most of them and are excited about the role, we encourage you to apply anyway. 

This is a full-time role, 35 hours per week, which you can choose to work over five days or a 9-day fortnight. 

What it’s like to work at Independent Age:

We celebrate diversity at Independent Age and champion the differences that make each of us unique. We actively support and encourage people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and skill sets to join us and help shape what we do. We aim to attract and retain a wide range of talent and create an environment where everyone can feel safe, protected, welcome and included.

We offer great benefits including 28 days annual leave plus public holidays, a generous pension scheme with life assurance, and fantastic learning and development opportunities. We also offer a number of enhanced leave provisions and benefits.

We know that a good work life balance helps us perform at our best and supports wellbeing. Flexible working hours and hybrid working is standard for all (those contracted to work in the office usually attend 1 day per week). But if you need a different form of flexibility, we are always happy to talk flexible working. 

You can find out more about what it’s like to work at Independent Age by visiting our website.

Application Process:

To apply, please visit our website to submit a CV and a Supporting Statement, detailing how your skills and experience meet the criteria within the Job Description and Person Specification (please do not hesitate to contact us if you have specific requirements and need support to apply in an alternative format).

To support our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion our hiring managers use anonymous shortlisting. Therefore, please do not include your name, photo, or information to indicate your gender or age in your CV and supporting statement. Please do not omit dates of employment. Please ensure the title of any uploads does not contain your name. 

Independent Age is committed to safeguarding and follows Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding those we work with. We therefore ask that you supply your full work history with explanations for any gaps in the application documents you submit and, if offered the post, we will require two employment references including your current or most recent employer. A Basic DBS (Certificate will be required for this role. 

Closing Date: Midnight on Wednesday 22nd May 2024

Interview Dates: 

Stage one - Tuesday 4th June 2024

Stage two – Tuesday 11th June 2024

Be part of something amazing

We are looking for an organised and creative individual to join our service supporting Unpaid Carers in Lewisham to improve their health and wellbeing, and access support that meets their needs.

The team works with unpaid Adult Carers, Young Adult Carers and Young Carers and you will carry out home visits and community meetings, complete assessments, co-produce support plans, and develop effective relationships with Unpaid Carers, families, and professionals. You’ll build on your local knowledge to signpost and facilitate access to support services, including financial and benefit advice, housing, health and safety home systems, and leisure and social activities.

To facilitate group work, you will plan and deliver a programme of events, groups, activities, training and workshops. You’ll need to research and book trainers, venues, activities and resources, negotiate value for money, promote the calendar of events and manage bookings. The sessions will offer opportunities for Unpaid Carers to meet with peers, develop confidence, learn new skills, reduce social isolation, and improve their own wellbeing.

Applicants should have relevant personal or professional experience of working with Unpaid Carers and/or vulnerable adults or children in a social care, health, education or voluntary and community sector, as well as experience of planning and delivering a programme of group work.

You’ll need a practical understanding of barriers faced by Unpaid Carers, and an awareness of cultural differences and access to services. You should be an excellent communicator and able to motivate and empower others.

This is a full-time role. Driver and own car essential.

You can make a difference.

We offer our employees:

· Inclusive values-based environment

· Competitive remuneration package

· Workplace pension scheme

· Generous 31 days annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays

· Opportunities for hybrid working

· Benenden Health Care

· Death in Service Benefit

· Cycle to Work Scheme

· Employee Supported Volunteering scheme

· Development opportunities

· and more

Imago is committed to Safer Recruitment practices, and the post is subject to references and an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check.

Please either submit your CV with a short covering note or visit our website  for full details.

Imago recognises that many people in our society experience discrimination or lack of opportunity for reasons that are not fair. We aim to create a culture that respects and values each other’s differences, and see these differences as an asset, as they improve our ability to meet the needs of the organisations and people we work with. We proactively seek to increase opportunities for inclusion, and celebrate diversity across our organisation and within communities.

Imago recognises its duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children, young people and adults at risk who access its services or with whom it comes into contact.

There is a permanent, part time Funding Officer opportunity to come and join our North East and Cumbria Regional team.  The role is for 25.5 hours per week covering the area of Cumbria. 

The role of a Funding Officer is both challenging and rewarding with no two days the same. You will be expected to spend time developing your knowledge of and relationships in the communities that you are responsible for to try to understand the challenges they face and how our funding can make a real difference to help communities to thrive.

You will be responsible for assessing and presenting funding applications to our Reaching Communities programme, supporting community groups, making connections with important stakeholders e.g. CEO’s of LA’s, MP’s, Mayors and representing the fund at a wide variety of events including funding fairs and networking events.

You will often be the first point of call for potential applicants and will need to be resilient, diplomatic, supportive and assertive in equal degrees. As the outward facing representation of the fund you will need to have good people skills, good communication skills and be professional in a wide variety of different situations. You will have to assess applications and present these to the rest of the regional team at various panels. You will certainly have to be strong enough to say “no” as we always have more applications than funding available.

We are looking for people who have good knowledge and understanding of the third sector and the challenges it faces. You will need capable IT skills, the ability to learn new processes and procedures (including bespoke software). You may have to travel throughout the region and, on occasions, have to stay away overnight and work unsociable hours.

Ideally you will live in Cumbria. The use of car is desirable.

Interview Date: 11 June 2024, 1 hour and Face to Face.

Location: Mobile/hybrid working - North East and Cumbria Regional Team, can use the Newcastle office.

Essential criteria

• Live in or have easy access to Newcastle and have knowledge of the region
• Relationships: Ability to build and maintain excellent relationships at several different levels with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion.
• Written and communication skills: Strong listening skills and ability to assess a high volume of applications and manage a caseload, write reports, challenge when appropriate and manage risk.
• Analytical skills: Ability to absorb a wide range of information and to make judgement-based decisions with confidence; analyse accounts and numerical data and to identify and manage risk.

Desirable criteria

• Sound IT skills and the ability to learn detailed processes.
• Knowledge of the needs and priorities of communities across Newcastle
• An ability to use your initiative and manage your own workload working comfortably with competing priorities and deadlines with a can-do attitude.
• Ability to work as a member of a team and to contribute and support others within the team.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion  

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed.  

We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment. (This can be related to a physical and mental health condition.) 

We are looking for a reliable and committed person to be part of our team of advisors providing information, advice and emotional support to carers, working collaboratively with colleagues and other organisations to achieve this.  Experience of providing such support is essential and prior working with carers desirable.

The work is primarily telephone based, but there are times when face to face support is required.The role may also include undertaking talks and presentations to both promote and raise awareness of the service and our organisation.

The Role

The purpose of this role is to ensure that unpaid carers have access to the information and advice they need when they need it and to help them carry on caring for how long as they wish to do so whilst looking after their own health.

Main duties

(i) To be the first point of contact for all unpaid carer wishing to access a service provided by Carers in Hertfordshire

(ii) To identify carers’ needs and provide information, advice and support to unpaid carers, primarily by telephone and email

(iii) To support unpaid carers with advice through case work and to manage own caseload, prioritising cases as appropriate.

(iv) To contribute to capturing unpaid carers’ experiences through careful record-keeping using organisational systems.

(v) To source, collate and maintain organisational knowledge of local and national service provision appropriate to unpaid carers’ needs.

(vi) To attend some meetings and events for unpaid carers.

(vii) To support the early identification of unpaid carers through the maintenance of collaborative relationships with other service providers and the provision of information on unpaid carers’ issues to Carers in Hertfordshire’s provider networks. 

(viii) To ensure unpaid carers are aware of all Carers in Hertfordshire services and can use them, according to their wishes.

Closing Date: Monday 13th May 2024 9am

Interview Date: Thursday 23rd May 2024

We are looking for an Events Fundraising Officer for an incredible mental health charity to play a pivotal role in the Community and Events Fundraising teams strategic objectives.

This is a hybrid role with 2 days a week in the either the London or Cardiff office. There is a permanant role available and there may be a 12 month contract with the team also.

The Charity
A passionate charity providing advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health struggles, campaigning to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.

You will be joining a highly respected organisation known for its supportive and inclusive working culture, offering fantastic benefits such as 25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays and 5 paid wellbeing days a year, a competitive pension scheme and flexible working, including flexitime and compressed hours, as well as much more!

The Role
Project Management: Deliver fundraising activity and supporter journeys from beginning to end, from writing briefs, working with creative agencies/freelancers, to collating results.

Data Analysis: Use data and insight to inform your work, to evaluate your projects and inform future activity, producing high quality analysis reports for activities.

Budget Management: Manage timely payment of invoices, including raising/requesting POs accurately and tracking expenditure to ensure activities are within budget.

Relationship Management: Attend supporter led and third-party events to help enhance supporter experience and deepen relationships.

The Candidate
Volunteer Managment: Experience and a proven track record of managing volunteers to undertake a fundraising activity and exceed their targets.

Data and Insight: Ability to interpret and analyse data and use insight to improve performance and help inform future strategies.

Project Management: Excellent project management skills, including managing multiple projects simultaneously.

Communication skills: An ability to deal with people at all levels and in all walks of life, on the telephone, face-to-face and in written communication.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Our aim is to respond to all successful applications within 5 days. If you havent been contacted within 5 days your application has been unsuccessful not be held further but we positively encourage you to apply for any other positions that you may see in the future.

We apologise that we cannot contact everybody in person but thank you in advance for your interest.

Third Solutions encourages applications from individuals of all ages & backgrounds. Appointment will be made on merit alone but candidates must be able to demonstrate their ability to work in the UK. Third Solutions acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment & an employment business for temporary recruitment as defined by the Conduct of Employment Agencies & Employment Business Regulations 2003.