Early years volunteer roles

Trustee

The charity Citizens Advice Lewisham (CAL) is a member of the national Citizens Advice (CitA) organisation. We deliver free, impartial and confidential advice to those who live, work or study in the London borough of Lewisham.

We are a highly engaged board who are passionate about ensuring our charity makes a big difference to Lewisham residents, especially to the most vulnerable people. We work in a collegiate way, respecting the diverse viewpoints board members bring to the table and hold ourselves to high professional standards.

Role focus for this appointment

This role is aimed at candidates with senior leadership experience within a charity. We are particularly interested in individuals who can bring strategic insight into fundraising, risk, governance and impact to ensure the organisation continues to deliver its charitable purpose.

What will you do?

• complete an induction for your role
• maintain an awareness of how the local Citizens Advice is operating
• read papers for board meetings and attend 5 meetings per year
• depending on your skills and experience, work on specific projects with other trustees or staff within the local Citizens Advice and the Citizens advice network to further strategic objectives
• Provide thought leadership in areas agreed with the Chair (for example Governance, Fundraising, Finance, Technology).
• Act as a senior charity voice on the Board, offering strategic challenge and support on governance, risk, safeguarding and organisational effectiveness.
• Take an active part in discussions during board meetings and work with other trustees to:
  • set policy and strategy direction, set targets and evaluate the performance of the local Citizens Advice within the quality assurance frameworks set by the network
  • monitor the financial position of the local Citizens Advice ensuring that it operates within its means and objectives
  • ensure that all the finances and supporting financial control systems of the local Citizens Advice are in order including that full financial records are kept for all transactions, that money is only spent for the purpose given, and that proper financial controls are in place to safeguard the organisation’s resources
  • monitor the financial position of the local Citizens Advice ensuring that it operates within its means and objectives, ensuring that there are clear lines of accountability for day to day financial management
  • seek the views of all sections of the community and monitor how well the service meets the needs of the local community
  • ensure that the service plans for the recruitment and turnover of staff and volunteers
  • review its own work and how effectively it operates including action for improvement

What’s in it for you?

• use your experience to make a positive impact for people in your local area by ensuring the local Citizens Advice is sustainable and meeting the needs of the community
• meet people and build relationships with trustees, staff and other volunteers
• build on your governance, leadership and strategy knowledge and skills 
• increase your employability

And we’ll reimburse expenses too.

What do you need to have?

You don’t need specific qualifications but you’ll need to:

• understand and accept the responsibilities and liabilities as trustees
• be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own
• have good listening, verbal and written communication skills 
• be able to exercise good independent judgement
• have good numeracy skills to understand accounts with the support of the treasurer
• Senior leadership experience within a charity (for example Chief Executive or Executive Director, Director, Head of Service, or equivalent senior role)
• a strong grasp of charity governance, risk management and strategic planning
• confidence reading management information and contributing to financial decision-making at Board level
• be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection
• be willing to undertake annual mandatory training in your role

How much time do you need to give?

Trustee boards usually meet in the evenings to accommodate the needs of trustees,  and you’ll likely need to give a few hours a month to read papers and support the board.  You may need to attend other meetings if you’re involved in specific projects, or meet with volunteers and staff occasionally within the local Citizens Advice. We can be flexible about the time spent, so come and talk to us.

Valuing inclusion

Our volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and we particularly welcome applications from disabled people, people with physical or mental health conditions, LGBT+ and non-binary people, and people from ethnic minority communities.

If you are interested in becoming a trustee and would like to discuss flexibility around location, time, ‘what you will do’ and how we can support you please contact us. 

Closing date: 26 October 2025. We do reserve the right to close this advertisement early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.