We are looking for an enthusiastic Volunteer Officer to plan and deliver our new Volunteer Strategy. This role involves leading and coordinating our voluntary role holders across different roles and integrating with the wider work of the team.
We want someone who is passionate about volunteers and who will rise to the challenge set by our Chief Officer for all our work to have a clear fingerprint of volunteers demonstrated. The post holder will have latitude to develop a modern, exciting, and vibrant volunteer base and will work across the team to embed new roles which enable us to spread our reach further into the District.
We work closely with the local health and social care system to use our volunteer’s skills and lived experience to support Patient Safety Walkabouts and Patient Led Assessments of Care Environments (PLACE). We also have the power and responsibility to deliver Enter and View visits as a Local Healthwatch organisation. The Volunteer Officer will coordinate and oversee these activities to continue our successful partnership approach.
We are committed to providing social value to the local population, we do this through our opportunities which include volunteering, collaborating, work experience, and placements.
Purpose
To have responsibility for the Healthwatch Wakefield Volunteer Strategy. To lead on recruitment, co-ordination, and support of a diverse range of volunteers for Healthwatch Wakefield; including a ‘buddy’ system to help overcome barriers to involvement. To facilitate and maintain an activity and training record, and report on volunteer contributions on a regular basis. To remain up to date with relevant legislation and good practice in volunteering. To review and develop the roles available for volunteers in Healthwatch, working collaboratively with volunteers, contributors and the team.
Main duties and responsibilities
- Promote and deliver volunteering opportunities
- Recruit, induct, support and develop volunteers
- Lead Enter and View visit planning and coordinate patient safety activities
- Provide leadership for the volunteer programme
Person specification
Essential Criteria:
- Experience of supporting and supervising volunteers, including recruitment and induction.
- Experience of producing systems and procedures for volunteers.
- Experience of delivering and co-ordinating training.
- Experience of working with a diverse range of communities.
- Experience of working in partnership and with external stakeholders.
- Experience of report writing.
- Communication, facilitating, and liaison skills.
- Ability to confidently build and maintain professional relationships.
- Ability to work as part of a team and to collaborate with others.
- Good planning and organisational skills, including ability to prioritise workload.
- Able to work effectively under pressure and to deadlines.
- Able to produce succinct, articulate and well-formatted documents and reports.
- Ability to understand, interpret and analyse basic financial information
- Competence in IT skills and internet use.
Desirable Criteria:
- Experience of developing a volunteer policy.
- Experience of working with volunteers within a health or social care setting.
- Experience of managing a project budget.
- Knowledge of the third sector in Wakefield District and the environment within which it works.
- Knowledge of health and social care structures.
Registered Charity
6 - 10
Your local health and social care champion
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Submit your application as normal and our system will anonymise it for you. Your personal information will be hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
The role: This is a rewarding role where every day brings the opportunity to make a positive difference to people's lives. We regularly receive testimonials from service users describing the life-changing impact of receiving support from our caseworkers in the National Road Victim Service.
Working location: mostly remote work with some travel required. Based in Surrey or Hampshire you will deliver a face-to-face service to clients in their own home or safe meeting place across the Surrey and Hampshire area as well as providing support by Teams, phone, email or other means to suit the service user. We take a person-centred approach so the amount of travel will vary depending on your caseload at the time. You’re in control of your own diary.
Why this role is important: Every 20 minutes, someone is killed or seriously injured on UK roads. For families affected, the emotional and practical challenges are immense. As a Caseworker, you will provide trauma-informed care to individuals and families suffering from the sudden bereavement or life-altering injury of a loved one. Working mostly remotely, with some home visits to service users, you’ll offer vital emotional and practical support—including helping them access therapeutic resources, financial assistance, and guidance through the complexities of medical and legal processes.
About Brake: Brake is a renowned and respected road safety charity with a 30-year history dedicated to supporting people affected by road crashes and advocating for safer streets.
You'll join a closely knit team of fellow caseworkers, each using their individual experience and skills to provide person-centred support to victims. This provides a ready-made peer group who share best practice and knowledge and support each other so, in turn, they can best support road victims. There's no sugar coating it, this isn't an easy role, it requires a special type of person with strong resilience, but the reward is a strong sense of purpose, every day. You can’t pour from an empty cup, so we have strong support systems in place to support our caseworker's wellbeing, including clinical supervision.
What we offer:
· A generous 35 days of annual leave (including bank holidays and 3-day end of year shutdown)
· Birthday day off
· Flexible working (choose a working pattern to suit you between the hours of 8am-6pm Mon-Fri)
· Enhanced sick pay and compassionate leave
· Death in service benefit
· Pension
· Employee Assistance Programme
· Clinical supervision and excellent support
· A rewarding role with purpose
· Be part of a skilled, friendly team with an engaged Board of Trustees
· Opportunity to attend prestigious events such as the Brake annual reception and awards (if you want to)
Who we're looking for
Full training will be provided under the guidance of our dedicated Training Officer. Our induction program has been developed to equip caseworkers with the skills they need to provide high quality support to road victims and covers topics such as being trauma-informed, safeguarding and risk management. We're open to candidates from all sorts of backgrounds, as long as you're a compassionate, self-starter with a background in providing high-quality emotional support and advocacy. Your experience in roles within the NHS, any health and social care, road safety, counselling, lived experience or any type of casework could make you an ideal candidate.
Essential Requirements:
- A full, clean UK driving licence and access to your own vehicle (travel expenses are reimbursed)
- Resident in the Surrey or Hapshire area.
- Experience delivering frontline support, preferably involving sudden bereavement or heightened vulnerabilities.
· Strong advocacy and research skills to liaise with multiple organisations on behalf of service users.
- Competency in I.T skills to work remotely.
Desirable Experience:
Comprehensive understanding of the processes involved in the criminal justice system and coronial process
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion: Brake is passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that values diversity. We’re committed to supporting employees to achieve a good work/life balance and flexible around caring commitments. We welcome your application whatever your background or situation. We particularly welcome applications from those who are part of the global majority, the LGBTQIA+ community or disabled. We are proud to be a disability confident employer. We don’t want you to ‘fit’ our culture, we want you to enrich it. So, if you have a passion for making a difference and share in our vision for a world where no one is killed on our roads, we would love to hear from you.
Apply now: If you're up for a new challenge and have the skills, apply now by sending your CV and cover letter. We'd like to get to know the real you through your application, not an AI version. If you do use AI to write your cover letter, please check it and make sure it reflects who you are. We encourage cover letters in alternative formats such as videos or presentations.
Not for traffic offenders: Due to the nature of our work we can't accept applications from traffic offenders. Candidates will be asked to disclose whether they have any unspent points on their licence at screening/interview.
An enhanced DBS check is required due to the sensitive nature of our service.
Questions? If you would like to discuss the role further, please get in touch, we'd love to chat.
If writing a cover letter isn't your thing, why not send us a short video telling us why you'd be a great fit for our charity?
Registered Charity
51 - 100
We work to stop road deaths and injuries, support people affected by road crashes and campaign for safe and healthy mobility for all.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Reading Specialist - HMP New Hall
Location: HMP New Hall
Department: Prison delivery
Salary: £16,964 per annum
Hours: 21 hours (3 days a week)
Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract
Do you want to join an organisation committed to addressing illiteracy amongst people in prison?
Shannon Trust are delighted to be working with His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) and G4S to provide peer-led literacy and numeracy programmes across a number of prisons. We now have the opportunity to provide a service at HMP New Hall. Working closely with the prison and their staff, people in prison, Shannon Trust Team Members, this is an exciting role leading on the delivery and development of creative and exciting literacy initiatives and an ambitious Reading Strategy at HMP New Hall, maximising opportunities for people in prison to learn to read.
Ideally you will have some experience of prison settings underpinned by the ability to build relationships and personal qualities that include resilience, determination and a problem-solving approach.
This role will be prison-based. Employee benefits include a company contribution to pension scheme of up to 5%, 30 days holiday (when full time) plus bank holidays, life insurance, paid volunteering days, discounts via Reward Gateway and an Employee Assistance Programme. The biggest benefit though is our culture – our people really want to work for the organisation.
We welcome job applications from people with lived experience of the criminal justice system and do not routinely ask for details of any criminal convictions. These roles do require prison security clearance, so we will need to ask for details of any relevant criminal convictions before an offer of employment is finalised.
This is a fixed term contract until 5th June 2026
Interviews are to be held on a rolling schedule.
Please note the vacancy may close early if we find a suitable applicant.
Benefits: Standard Shannon Trust: Employee benefits include a company contribution to pension scheme of up to 5%, 30 days holiday plus bank holidays, life insurance, paid volunteering days, discounts via Reward Gateway and an Employee Assistance Programme.
REF-225 026
