Family reunion project officer jobs
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Job Title: Legal Project Officer
Organisation: Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA)
Duration: Four years
Location: Hybrid / London (our anchor day is in London on a Tuesday, and there are often evening meetings in London, with occasional other travel within the UK)
Reports to: Senior Legal Officer and Senior Legal Projects Manager
Annual leave: 25 days per annum, plus bank holidays and the week between Christmas and New Year off.
Salary: £30,000 to £32,000 per annum starting salary, depending on skills and experience, NB. pension is 5% of salary
Working Hours: 35 hours per week, plus 1 hour lunch break (NB. evening working is required to attend any scheduled evening meetings, which ordinarily finish no later than 7pm).
Start date: 12 January 2026
Application deadline: 11:59pm on Monday, 24 November 2025
Interviews are anticipated to be held on 15 and 16 December 2025. Shortlisted candidates will be notified by Friday, 5 December 2025..
Applications from individuals only – no agencies. Please do not use artificial intelligence in completing your application form.
Please submit a completed ILPA application form and equalities monitoring form as a Word document or in another editable format. If an application is not submitted in this format, it will not be considered.
About the Role
The Legal Project Officer coordinates two projects which sit at the heart of ILPA’s legal policy and strategic legal coordination work.
The Legal Project Officer will work closely with the Legal Team (Legal Director and Senior Legal Officer) to run ILPA’s Working Groups and with the Senior Legal Projects Manager in a key role to coordinate strategic legal advice and litigation. The Legal Project Officer also works closely with the rest of the ILPA Secretariat, including the Chief Executive, Content and Digital Channels Manager, Training Manager, and with Trustees, ILPA and SLAC members, the SLAC Steering Committee and convenors of ILPA’s Working Groups.
You will support the organisation and running of ILPA’s thematic Working Groups, which provide a valuable forum for ILPA members to share best practice and discuss issues of current importance, assisting with agenda-setting, presenting updates, following-up on action points, answering queries, and preparing meeting summaries. The overall aim of these activities is to improve immigration, asylum and nationality law, policy and practice.
You will work with the Senior Legal Projects Manager to develop partnerships with NGOs and legal professionals around the UK and to coordinate all Strategic Legal Advice Committee (SLAC) meetings. These meetings will be held online, across the UK. Each SLAC group will hold four meetings per year as well as emergency meetings where necessary. You will be responsible for the minute taking of all SLAC meetings. You will work with the Senior Legal Projects Manager to set member-led meeting agendas, identify member training needs, facilitate training, update the SLAC website, and feed in to monitoring and evaluation of the project. You will be responsible for coordinating SLAC Steering Committee meetings.
About you
The position would suit a self-motivated individual who is passionate about the sector and is looking to further their career in the immigration world, through coordinating and organising these two projects at ILPA.
You may be keen to be working at the heart of the systemic changes following Brexit, recent significant legislation, including the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, Illegal Migration Act 2023, Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024, attempts to remove people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda, government initiatives to “reduce net migration” such as the increased Minimum Income Requirement for family visas, the suspension of the refugee family reunion route, and the recently introduced Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
You will have an interest in strategic litigation and how it can be used to protect and promote the rights of those discriminated against on the basis of their migration status. You will be passionate about being involved in the coordination of a unique and exciting project that brings the third and legal sectors together in developing strategic litigation.
Given the complexity of immigration, asylum and nationality law, we do not expect applicants to have expertise in every area, but an understanding of the law and excellent critical analysis skills are key. Any successful applicant will be able to attend ILPA training to further their knowledge.
Main responsibilities
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To liaise, work with, and gather evidence from ILPA and SLAC members to support advocacy and knowledge-sharing in the sector;
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To coordinate and contribute to internal and external meetings;
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To coordinate ILPA’s thematic working groups and SLAC meetings, including by attending evening meetings, agenda-setting, participating, drafting minutes/meeting summaries, and working with the Secretariat, ILPA’s thematic Working Group co-convenors, and SLAC’s Steering Committees to take forward agreed actions;
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To handle queries relevant to ILPA’s thematic Working Groups and SLAC sent by members and others where appropriate, such as by forwarding these on to relevant individuals and drafting responses;
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To manage SLAC’s Steering Committees;
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To monitor, organise, and disseminate information, communications, and updates, which will often relate to law, policy, and litigation relevant to SLAC and ILPA’s thematic Working Groups
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To assist with facilitating SLAC training events, and feed into the monitoring and evaluation.
Person Specification
Essential knowledge, experience, skills, and qualities:
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A law degree, postgraduate qualification in law, or other relevant qualification in law;
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Experience of working in or with immigration, asylum and nationality law in the UK, such as in a caseworker or paralegal role;
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Experience of building and managing effective professional relationships with a range of people, with demonstrable ability to communicate effectively in challenging situations;
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Relevant legal knowledge, skills and judgment, including:
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an ability to navigate and understand the Immigration Rules and Government guidance,
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a general understanding of UKVI processes, and
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an ability to clearly communicate legal and technical information orally and in writing;
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Excellent attention to detail;
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Excellent planning, coordination, organisational, time management, strategic problem-solving and independent working skills, including:
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an ability to take a proactive approach to independent working,
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managing workstreams effectively,
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confidently taking responsibility for tasks and decisions,
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meeting tight deadlines, and
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taking a calm and diligent approach to problem solving;
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Commitment to the principles of a non-racist, non-sexist, just, and equitable system of immigration, asylum and nationality law;
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Commitment to the principles of equality, diversity, and inclusion, and taking a proactive approach to espousing these principles; and
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Commitment to be a champion of ILPA by positively encouraging your team, identifying and encouraging opportunities for growth, and celebrating success.
About the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association
The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) is a charity and a professional association the majority of whose members are barristers, solicitors, advocates and IAA (previously OISC) regulated advisers practising in all aspects of immigration, asylum and nationality law. Academics, non-governmental organisations and individuals with a substantial interest in the law are also members.
Founded in 1984 by leading practitioners in the field, ILPA exists to promote and improve advice and representation in immigration, asylum and nationality law, through an extensive programme of training and disseminating information and by providing research and opinion that draw on the experiences of members. ILPA is represented on numerous government, official and non-governmental advisory groups and regularly provides evidence to parliamentary and official inquiries.
The Secretariat does not give advice to members of the public on individual cases but works closely with members to ensure that they are enabled to do their best for their clients. It runs ILPA’s busy training programme and produces a wide range of information for members and non-members.
The objectives of ILPA are:
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To promote the advising and representation of immigrants;
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To provide information to members and others on domestic and European immigration, asylum and nationality law; and
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To secure a non-racist, non-sexist, just and equitable system of immigration, asylum and nationality law practice.
ILPA is an equal opportunities employer. We acknowledge that the legal and charitable sector can be less accessible to people from minoritised or racialised communities and people from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds. We are committed to unsettling the status quo. In this role you will wear many hats and we recognise that the successful candidate may not have all the skills and experience listed in the personal specification. We welcome an application from you if you can see yourself in this role and have an appetite to gain new skills, knowledge, and experience. We encourage applications from individuals who have lived experience of the UK immigration or asylum system or of the hostile environment.
We also encourage applications from people who have previously unsuccessfully applied for roles at ILPA. We will consider each application afresh. We appreciate that individuals are always learning, growing, and adding to their knowledge and experience.
About the ILPA Team
You would be joining a small team, of around 10 team members. Under our current hybrid work policy, we have one anchor day (currently a Tuesday), in which you will be expected to work from an office setting in London, together with team members living in England and Scotland. On average, once a month, there will be a Working Group meeting in the evening that you will need to run in London. The rest of the time you will ordinarily work remotely or wherever conferences, training events, or meetings might take place.
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Registered Charity 
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The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
OVERVIEW OF THE ROLE
The Office Manager will be a key member of the Helen Bamber Foundation Group. This is a broad role working with a wide range of staff and contacts within and outside the group. The postholder will be responsible for coordinating and ensuring that our office space and facilities are maintained in a safe, clean, and secure environment. They will have overall ownership of the office with regards to the day to day running and ensuring health and safety compliance, and with the support of their team. They will ensure our staff and clients are able to enjoy a safe and comfortable environment. They will be the main point of contact for I.T, Facilities and clients services across the group.
They will act as Site Safety Officer for the premises ensuring compliance with Health and Safety Procedures, as directed by the CEO.
The Office Manager will manage the Client Services Team including volunteers. This role will also oversee freelance interpreters working with Helen Bamber Foundation Group.
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Facility Management:
· Act as site manager ensuring that the office is in a state of operational readiness. This will include procuring and organising premises maintenance , cleaning services, communication systems and other support services as required to meet local needs.
· Responsible for local premises security and liaison with fire and police services and local alarm providers
· Managing local contractors, landlords, suppliers, and other agencies as necessary; identifying improvements and ensuring best value in procurement.
· Working effectively with the landlord’s facilities team in relation to building related issues and for any building repair and maintenance issues.
· Ensure that office equipment is operating effectively and efficiently and maintain a sufficient level of office furniture, resources, supplies and stationery
· Oversee and manage the documentation of minor repairs, renovations and decorations.
· Ensure core facilities like water and heating are maintained.
· Manage, monitor, and maintain the room bookings system for all users at the office.
Office Management and IT:
· Supervise and approve contracts and providers for services such as consumables, minor office renovations and cleaning.
· Lead in the procurement and ordering of office equipment and stationery, office and IT equipment and consumables in the most cost-effective manner.
· Track staff issues and requests about the building, office facilities, fixtures, and fittings, and ensure they are responded to in a timely manner.
· Act as a main point of contact for our outsourced IT support services supplier, providing onsite support for IT upgrades and installation of hardware and software
· Assist staff and volunteers across the group with local IT needs including set up for meetings and local diagnostics of minor IT issues
· Manage local IT assets and ensure the allocation or devices for new starters across the group and partnerships
· Conduct annual review in liaison with IT Support Service provider of the health of devices and carry out any necessary action as a result.
· Create, develop and maintain appropriate office administrative and business support systems, in conjunction with other teams to ensure consistency of systems and procedures across the service
· Financial Management:
· . Oversee the processes of petty cash payments, staff and client expense claims, invoices and other project related expenses
· Working with Finance to ensure accurate financial records are kept and compliance is achieved
· Work with the Finance team to ensure that invoices related to office and facility management are processed.
· Managing the group’s budgets for items such as stationery, refreshments, equipment, cleaning, and maintenance
· Managing monthly collation and processing of timesheets and associated paperwork for all freelance interpreters used by the Helen Bamber Foundation team, including interpreters’ timesheets and agencies invoices
· With the Finance team, organise weekly trips to the bank to get cash for client expenses for the Group, on occasion collecting the cash from the bank personally.
Health and Safety & Security:
· Ensure compliance with Health and Safety procedures, in liaison with the Director of People and the CEO
· Act as Site Safety Officer (SSO) for the group, ensuring the office complies with all relevant health and safety and fire safety regulations and standards.
· Oversee the health and safety responsibilities within the office premises, staying updated on changes in health and safety legislation.
· Review and maintain documentation of risk assessments, health and safety checks and fire evacuation plans.
· Ensure the office has on site first aid provision, designated trained first aiders and fire warden/s
· Organise the delivery of relevant H&S training such as first aid and fire marshal training
· Undertake weekly, monthly and annual checks and tests of office facilities including fire alarm sounder and panic alarm checks.
· Ensure staff across the group receive sufficient H&S inductions including the completion of relevant forms and documentations
· Ensuring all equipment and furniture is compliant with Health and Safety regulations at the office
· Ensure all employees are aware of all relevant health and safety office procedures.
· Ensure the office is kept clean, tidy, and free from hazards and maintain safe working conditions for all employees and clients.
· Manage Eyecare Vouchers Procedure in line with the DSE regulations
· Manage the group’s annual Winter Flu Vaccination Programme
· Act as one of several office KeyHolders by being responsible for locking up the office two (no less than two times a week) when the office closes at 6pm.
· With the CEO, act as an emergency contact for any emergency security / building related issues out of hours.
Line Management and other:
• Have line management responsibility for a Client Services Team.
• Support the delivery of events in the building as and when necessary.
• Oversee the access and booking of our Group meeting room by others in the sector.
• Support the wider team in ensuring staff working in our partnership programmes have sufficient resources and that their sites are safe and secure for them to work.
• Carry out any other duties as required, consistent with the post and level.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential
- Understanding of, and commitment to, the values and mission of the Helen Bamber Foundation Group.
- Understanding of the key issues facing asylum seekers and refugees in the UK
· Good interpersonal communication skills and the ability to create a welcoming and hospitable office environment for clients and staff.
· Premises management and office maintenance, to be able to identify problems and troubleshoot as required
- Excellent administration skills, detail orientated and systematic, with the ability to prioritise competing demands
· Demonstrate ability to exercise initiative and judgement to take decisions without supervision
· Understanding of Health and Safety policy and procedures and other relevant Health and Safety issues including an understanding of the Equality Act and its relevance for facilities and premises management
- Ability to problem solve and work well with others
- Experience of handling and managing confidential data
· Excellent IT skills, including word processing, spreadsheets, and database packages
· Liaising, developing, and maintaining relationships with a wide range of people and stakeholders
· Financial management, including monitoring and managing budgets, reporting and petty cash controls
· Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment
· Commitment to and understanding of equal opportunities and its application in practice
Desirable
· Experience of working in a setting which provides a service to vulnerable individuals
· Understanding of safeguarding in a vulnerable client group
· Experience in line managing staff
· Experience with procurement processes
· Knowledge of a range of project management tools
APPLICATION PROCESS
The first stage is to complete on our online application form on our website by 10am on Thursday 4th December 2025.
The website form will ask you to:
1. Upload a short covering letter. Please tell us why the position appeals to you, and how your
relevant skills and experience, including any voluntary experience and lived experience, matches the listed responsibilities and person specification. Please also state in your covering letter when you would be available to start the role.
2. Upload your current CV
3. Complete an online Equal Opportunities monitoring form – completion of this form will help us ensure that our recruitment procedures operate in such a way as to provide genuine equality of opportunity. The questions are entirely optional and this information will not be available to members of the selection panel.
SELECTION PROCESS
We will invite candidates to an initial 15-minute online screening meeting on either Wednesday 10th December or Thursday 11th December 2025 followed by shortlisted candidates attending in-person interview on Tuesday 16th December. We will also ask you to complete a short exercise on the day.
At Helen Bamber Foundation Group we want to be transparent about what kind of qualities we are looking for and build trust from the very beginning of your journey with us. The first step is your interview, and we mean ‘your’ interview so we will provide you with your interview questions ahead of the interview. This will allow you time to prepare, and ensure you have your best examples in mind.
ELIGIBILITY
Please note that the successful candidate must have the right to work in the UK (as a small charity we do not have the capacity to sponsor work visas).
Successful candidates will also be subject to a DBS check. If appointed, you will also be required to give your consent to the charity to receive regular updates on your criminal records status throughout your employment and to disclose any relevant convictions incurred during your time with us.
ADJUSTMENTS
We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process and we’ll always endeavour to be as accommodating as possible. If you require a different format of the application form, such as large print or Word format, or if you would like to discuss any specific requirements, please get in touch with us.
EXPERTS BY EXPERIENCE SUPPORT
We are also proud to be a member of the Experts by Experience Employment Network,which aims to increase representation of people with lived experience in the charitable sector.
If you are an expert by experience, you can ask for an independent and confidential support for your job application from the Experts by Experience Employment Network.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.