This is an exciting opportunity to join the friendly, dynamic, multi-disciplinary team at the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) as our new Deputy Director, Research and Evaluation. This is a key leadership role within the CSA Centre, central to our ambition to raise awareness of the true scale and nature of sexual abuse and to drive evidence-informed improvements in policy and practice.
About the role:
The CSA Centre aims to inform and improve policy and practice at local and national levels by identifying, generating and sharing high quality evidence on the current scale and nature of child sexual abuse and what works to prevent and tackle it, and our extensive research, evaluation and monitoring activity is central to that mission.
Leading our highly skilled and experienced research and evaluation team, you will play a key role in developing and overseeing the CSA Centre's research and evaluation plans over the immediate and longer term, helping us to ensure that our publications, practice resources and policy and communications activity are robust, evidence-informed and accessible to a wide audience, driving real change in the response to child sexual abuse across England and Wales.
As a member of the CSA Centre's Senior Management Team, you will have a leadership role across our multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team, enabling you to draw on expertise from a wide range of different professional backgrounds. You will lead our strategic engagement with research and evaluation leads from across Government departments and key stakeholder groups, and contribute to our wider influencing activity with senior leaders at local, regional and national level.
We are looking for an experienced manager and leader with strong skills and significant experience of designing, planning and overseeing research projects and programmes of monitoring and evaluation on child sexual abuse, or closely related issues, using a wide range of methodologies. You will have demonstrable expertise in qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation, an in-depth knowledge of the current research landscape in relation to child sexual abuse, and experience of translating organisational objectives into a strategic and cohesive research and evaluation plan.
As Deputy Director, Research and Evaluation, you will play a role tackling child sexual abuse alongside the work of our colleagues across practice, policy, communications and training. This is important work - the CSA Centre conservatively estimates that one in ten children will experience some form of child sexual abuse before age of 16, and our ambitious programme seeks to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of professionals (social workers, teachers, social workers, nurses etc.) in identifying and responding to child sexual abuse. We have already made great progress, but there is much more to be done – and your leadership is essential to help us do it!
CSA Centre roles are currently funded until 31 March 2027, in line with our current grant funding arrangements. This will be reviewed in late 2026, as future funding for the CSA Centre from 2027/28 onwards is confirmed.
About us
We are the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre). Our aim is to reduce the impact of child sexual abuse through improved prevention and better response. To tackle child sexual abuse we must better understand its causes, scope, scale and impact.
Established since 2017, we are a multi-disciplinary team that is funded by the Home Office, hosted by Barnardo's and we work closely with key partners from academic institutions, local authorities, health, education, police and the voluntary sector. We're proudly independent and our team will challenge any barriers, assumptions, taboos and ways of working that prevent us from increasing our understanding and improving our approach to child sexual abuse.
We bring about change by:
- Collating and analysing existing research, policy, practice and the real experiences of those affected, and filling the gaps we identify with new research, insights and analysis;
- Using that evidence and insight to challenge and improve existing policy and practice, develop new approaches and increase everyone's knowledge and confidence to more effectively tackle the issue.
This role is home based with regular travel required, usually to London.
The CSA Centre acknowledges that tackling child sexual abuse can feel challenging but is incredibly rewarding and positive when actively making change. Our open working environment ensures that there is support for all employees, across the team and with access to a therapist, if needed. Please do get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of this further.
We believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore are open to offering flexible working arrangements.
The CSA Centre is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce. We actively encourage applications from disabled candidates and candidates from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, as they are currently under-represented at the CSA Centre.
When completing your application please refer to your skills, knowledge and experience in relation to the Person Specification and Job Description.
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.
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.
At Barnardo's we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment. Our safer recruitment processes mean that the safety and welfare of the child is paramount at every stage of the process and therefore, we adopt rigorous scrutiny in our pre-employment checking. This post is subject to a range of pre-employment checks including a Criminal Records Enhanced Disclosure for the successful candidate.
About Barnardo's
At Barnardo's we believe in children – no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through. Please read about our basis and values following the link below. You will be asked questions relating to them as part of the recruitment process for this role.
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is reflected in our values and our practice, and we have invested in this area of our work to ensure that we can deliver on our commitments to be an inclusive employer. EDI is a key enabler of our purpose as a charity and we want to ensure that the diversity of our teams is reflective of the communities we serve and that we continue to learn and develop our work with a focus on inclusion. We particularly encourage applications from candidates from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic Communities, candidates who are LGBT+ and Disabled candidates.
Our basis and values
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
37.5 hours per week / permanent / working onsite on a seven-day rolling rota, including evenings, weekends and bank holidays on a four-on-four off shift pattern.
At YMCA DownsLink Group,is to help children and young people have a fair chance to be who they want to be. We do this by providing a safe home, building life skills and self-confidence, and supporting emotional wellbeing and mental health.
Our values - we do what’s right, we work with heart, and we build real connections - guide and shape how we show up for children and young people we support and for each other.
We are looking for a Housing Night Worker to join our team across both Lansworth House and Gareth Stacey House. In this role, you will help ensure the safety, security, and wellbeing of our residents, providing a friendly welcome, offering light support, managing challenging situations calmly, and keeping essential administration and housekeeping running smoothly.
Oursupport 35 young people at risk of homelessness, operating 24/7 across these two sites. With a mix of high and medium support levels, our services give young people aged 16–25 a safe, encouraging environment where they can grow in confidence, develop life skills, and take steps toward independence.
This is more than a night shift role - it’s an opportunity to make a real difference, working as part of a dedicated team committed to helping young people thrive.
We adopt a trauma informed and psychologically informed approach to supporting our residents to help them build essential life skills, identify their goals and work towards aspirations so that they can move on to enjoy fully independent futures. We have a dedicated team of Support Workers, Night Workers and additional Bank Workers who provide support, guidance, and signposting around areas such as housing, budgeting, living skills, jobs and relationship building. Situated in the centre of Hove, the service has strong links with and contributes to the local community.
Main areas of responsibilities are:
Safety and security
- Provide a friendly and professional front-of-house welcome to residents, visitors and staff, and ensure the building is safe, secure quiet and welcoming
- Maximise the wellbeing of residents and visitors by ensuring adherence to health and safety protocols and house rules, all within the terms of tenancy agreements
- Assess and monitor the risks presented by residents to ensure they can keep themselves safe and, where possible, continue their development
- Record all incidents and accidents and share appropriately with the wider team, your manager and, if necessary, the central safeguarding team
Engagement with residents
- Welcome residents home and provide informal and responsive support so they can articulate their aspirations and ambitions and acquire the skills they need to live independent and fulfilling lives
- Ensure resident’s views, aspirations, concerns, and ideas are sought so they can play an active role in influencing the services they receive
- Proactively promote the services on offer and ensure residents are encouraged to engage with those services
- Contribute to, or support, evening groupwork activities so that residents can access tailored solutions that meet their needs, wishes and aspirations
Administration and housekeeping
- Undertake tasks as directed, including but not limited to: inputting data, assessments, reviews, case notes onto our client database and entering new residents details/closing ex-resident records
- Completing health and safety/compliance checks, and recording estate inspectors and room checks
- Adding maintenance requests to our property services system
General
- Work as part of a team, on a rota four on four off shift pattern, alongside another Housing Night Worker, ensuring young people at the service have non-judgemental, objective at night, along with taking responsibility for personal safety during periods of lone working
- Contribute to a great working environment, with a calm, yet assertive manner, being able to handle potentially difficult situations
- Participate in relevant continuing professional development and utilise Reflective Practice Supervision as part of leading psychologically informed practice
There will be times when lone working will be a requirement for this role, but you will get to know the team and service, along with an induction and training prior to starting on a rota. Please download the job profile for full role details.
About You – If you are enthusiastic about this opportunity but don’t meet every single requirement, we still encourage you to apply. Your skills and experiences may be more transferable than you think, and you could be exactly the person we’re looking for.
This is a dynamic and varied role; you will be passionate about being involved in the support and growth of young people.
Experience and knowledge
- Experience of working in a customer facing environment, remaining calm and solution-focused when dealing with challenging behaviour
- Basic understanding of the support needs of young people and/or adults at risks
- Understanding of the impact of trauma on others, and the ability to work with a strengths-based approach with people who may be in distress
- Demonstrated confidence and competence in recording notes/actions in service log, incident forms and Health and Safety check lists
- Basic knowledge of good safeguarding procedures in relation to young people and/or vulnerable adults, and the ability to maintain professional boundaries (training provided)
Skills and abilities
- Ability to communicate clearly both verbally and in writing for appropriate record keeping (vital for handover to colleagues working day shifts)
- Good interpersonal skills and ability to build and maintain strong relationships
- Ability to work lone work, work autonomously, and use own initiative, as well as being part of a team
- IT skills, including proficiency in MS Office 365 package, as well as healthy and safety and client management systems (training on YMCA DLG systems provided)
- Ability to de-escalate volatile situations and manage challenging behaviour appropriately
CLOSING DATE: Sunday 7 December 2025 at midnight.
TO APPLY: Please scroll down the page to the application form. Please download the job profile (below), which includes the full role description and person specification.
We are not able to support a work permit or offer a visa sponsorship for this role. Candidates must already have the right to live and work in the UK independently.
An inclusive workplace We are committed to policies and practices of equity, diversity, and inclusion and to supporting our people to make sure our culture is consistent with this commitment.
Accessibility If you require assistance or have questions regarding the application process, please do contact us.
YMCA DLG requires all staff and volunteers to be committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and to respond proactively to safeguarding concerns. Successful applicants are required to undertake an Enhanced DBS (including the Children’s and Adults’ barred lists) check, along with a reference and background check carried out by a third-party service provider.
Our mission is to help children and young people have a fair chance to be who they want to be.

Head of Strategy and Planning
The Elders
London/Hybrid with regular attendance in the office around two days per week (Green Park/W1K 1BJ)
Permanent
Full-time preferred, 40 hours per week, including one hour for lunch (flexibility for 4 days/week possible)
Salary £64,000 per annum (pro rata for part time)
Excellent benefits including 28 days annual leave (pro rata for part time), plus bank holidays, private pension scheme with 10% employer contributions, enhanced parental leave and optional private medical and dental insurance
Charity People are proud to be partnering with The Elders, an independent group of global leaders working for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet, to recruit a Head of Strategy and Planning.
Founded in 2007 by Nelson Mandela, The Elders operate through private diplomacy and public advocacy; they use their experience, influence and access to heads of state and government to engage politically, and their connections to civil society to stand in solidarity with the most vulnerable people and communities.
There are currently 11 active Elders from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. They work on existential threats to humanity that require a collective response: the climate crisis, pandemics, nuclear weapons, and conflict. Chaired since 2024 by Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Laureate, previous chairs were Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, and Mary Robinson. Supporting the Elders' work is a Secretariat of around 25 staff.
The Head of Strategy and Planning coordinates Secretariat support for implementing the current strategy and works with the Director of Programmes (Deputy CEO) to promote efficient cross-team collaboration. The role involves working closely with the Senior Management Team (CEO and three Directors) on operational planning and strategy elements not assigned to specific teams. Developing a new strategy from 2028 will be a major focus from 2027. The post-holder reports to the Director of Programmes, with a dotted line to the CEO for some functions.
Key responsibilities:
* Strategy & Governance: Monitor and report on progress of 2023-2027 strategy and Board decisions, assess external risks and ensure mitigation plans, lead impact assessment and mid-term strategy reviews, and contribute towards shaping future strategy reviews.
* Planning & Operations: Develop and manage annual operational plans and cross-organisational calendars, manage content of Board meeting agendas and decision-making processes, drive lesson-learning and Secretariat-wide initiatives, and work with the CEO on identifying possible new Elders and supporting their induction.
* Programme Support: Assist Director of Programmes with planning, impact reporting, and lesson learning across a team of 11.
* External Relations: Oversee stakeholder engagement and partnership commitments, and support CEO and Directors to build and maintain priority relationships.
The Head of Strategy and Planning will require the following to be successful in the role:
* 8-12 years' background in fields relevant to The Elders' work (e.g. diplomacy, international development, civil society advocacy etc), ideally including at least one of the Elders' programmes or cross-cutting commitments
* Experience working in (or at least on) more than one country (including ideally in the global South)
* Experience contributing to (and ideally coordinating) corporate strategy and operational/business planning in a complex international organisation
* Strong analytical skills, including working with data
* Excellent written English, including experience editing multi-author documents
* A strong personal commitment to the mission and values of The Elders
* A flexible style and willingness to work in a small, collaborative team
The Elders operate a hybrid working policy. On average, you will be in the office a minimum of about two days a week, including for key meetings, including weekly team meetings and monthly all-staff in-days. Flexibility is required and you may at times need to be in the office at short notice. This role may involve limited international travel, the timing of which is usually decided by Elders' commitments. You may be required to attend staff or Elders events in the UK from time to time. Travel costs from home to the office are not covered by The Elders. The office is based close to Green Park tube station in London.
How to apply:
The application process is CV and Supporting Statement which focuses on three areas. For more information, and for the full job pack, please share your CV via the link below. The closing date is 9am on Friday 12 December. Candidates shortlisted to interview will be notified w/c 22 December. First stage interviews will take place w/c 8 January, with a second stage interview held in person w/c 12 January.
Charity People is a forward thinking, inclusive organisation that actively and deliberately promotes equity, diversity and inclusion. We know organisations thrive when inclusion is at the forefront. We evidence our commitment by matching charity needs with the skills and experience of candidates irrespective of background e.g. age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We do this because we believe that greater diversity leads to greater results for the charities we work with.