Victim Support is recruiting for an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) to be co-located within Central Bedfordshire Council. This is a full time role on a fixed term contract until 31st March 2027, subject to year on year funding. Hybrid working would be available for this role.
Do you want to make a difference every day? Do you want to contribute to change & improvement for those who need it?
Do you have resilience & adaptability? Can you work effectively with a focus on customer service and care?
If yes, then we'd love to hear from you…..
What we offer:
At Victim Support we believe in attracting & retaining the best people and offer a competitive rewards & benefits package including:
- Flexible working options including hybrid working
- 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays, rising to 33 days plus Bank Holidays
- An extra day off for your birthday & options to buy or sell annual leave
- Pension with 5% employer contribution
- Enhanced sick pay allowances, maternity & paternity payments
- High Street, retail, holiday, gym, entertainment & leisure discounts
- Access to our financial wellbeing hub & salary deducted finance
- Employee assistance programme & wellbeing support
- Access to EDI networks and colleague cafes
- Cycle to work scheme & season ticket loans
- Ongoing training & support with opportunities for career development & progression
About the role:
We are looking for an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA). This is a full time role on fixed term contract. Hybrid working would be available for this role. The aim of this role is to support victims of domestic abuse who live in Central Bedfordshire. This role will be part of our other wider specialist services covering Bedfordshire.
As an IDVA you will be:
- Providing a high quality support and advocacy service to victims of domestic abuse.
- Managing a caseload; identifying and assessing risks and needs, providing a tailored crisis intervention service trough individual safety planning, advocacy, emotional and practical support.
- Working with other agencies and advocating on behalf of service users in order to help them access services to keep them safe.
- Working within a multi-agency framework consisting of partners as well as MARAC and other local partnerships to offer a coordinated response to domestic abuse.
- Promoting the service and raise awareness of domestic abuse through the delivery of training
- Supporting the Daily Domestic Abuse meeting in the IFD (Integrated Front Door), which discusses all medium/standard risk referrals that have come in over the previous 24 hours and agrees on the most appropriate source of advice and support for the family.
- Attending the BRiF meetings weekly where community partners bring concerns about family's they are working with including concerns about standard/medium domestic abuse.
- Professional point of contact for the IFD and Adult Safeguarding teams (also based at Priory House).
- Point of contact for any concerns staff have about their own relationships and dynamics of domestic abuse they need support with
You will need:
- Experience of working in support and advocacy with victims of domestic abuse is advantageous
- To be able to prioritise work and deal with competing or conflicting demands/needs and interests and promote organisation interests and values.
- To ideally hold a SafeLives IDVA accreditation, relevant degree, vocational qualification or relevant experience of delivering a service and working with domestic abuse victim's/service users in a statutory, voluntary or community work setting.
Please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for further details.
About Us:
Victim Support (VS) is an independent charity providing a range of specialist services to people who have been affected by crime across England and Wales. We work towards a world where there are fewer victims but who have stronger rights, better support and a real influence in the Criminal Justice System. Everyone at VS is driven by our Vision Ambitions and Values to play their part in making a difference for those who experience crime and traumatic events. Working for VS gives you the opportunity to play a key role in a national charity providing high quality services to victims and witnesses and being a vital force for change.
Victim Support are committed to recruiting with care and to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Background checks and Disclosed Barring Service checks may be required.
Victim Support strives to represent the diverse communities we serve and are passionate about creating an environment where all staff and volunteers feel respected and heard. Being a diverse organisation with an inclusive culture is integral to us being able to meet our aim of ensuring that anyone who is a victim of crime gets the support they need.
As part of our commitment to the Race at Work Charter we particularly welcome applicants from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. VS is also a Disability Confident Employer and we provide a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for candidates that are disabled and meet all essential criteria for a role.
If you have a disability, a learning difficulty such as dyslexia or a medical condition which you believe may affect your performance during any aspect of our selection process, we'll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to perform at your best.
How to apply:
To apply for this role please follow the link below to the Jobs page on our website, and complete the application form demonstrating how you meet the essential shortlisting criteria.
We looking forward to hearing from you.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early, if we receive enough suitable applications to take forward to interview prior to the published closing date. If you have already registered & started an application, then we will contact you to advise of the amended closing date wherever possible.
Registered Charity 
More than 1000
Thank you!
Job Title: Online Engagement and Inclusion Lead (Young People’s Services)
Organisation: Kids
Location: Remote work with occasional travel to London for in-person meeting
Hours: 36 hours per week
Contract: Fixed term for 2 years
Salary- £31,000 - £33,000
Purpose
This role leads the coordination of Kids’ online engagement and digital inclusion work for young people with SEND, including information provision, participation, and wellbeing support. You will deliver a two-year Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme, including identifying and engaging digitally excluded young people to help them access vital digital tools and services. The role also drives collaboration across the Digital Services Consortium (a collaboration of 12 children’s charities), embedding shared learning, outcome measurement, and inclusive digital practices across Kids, and will create new capacity to work with young people to scope and deploy online campaigning activity.
Responsibilities
- To lead and coordinate Kids’ online engagement and inclusion work for young people with SEND. This includes Kids’ online information provision; voice/ participation and wellbeing work.
- To develop and deliver Kids’ two-year digital inclusion programme, Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme* to ensure reach and impact is maximised.
- To work with the Digital Services Consortium Driving Digital Inclusion members on shared digital project outcome measures and community of practice, ensuring learnings and online engagement and digital inclusion principles are captured, shared and built into the organisation.
- To identify and recruit (working closely with colleagues from services across Kids) digitally excluded young people to the digital inclusion programme so they can become digitally included and access much needed support and guidance.
- To establish a holistic and joined up approach to Young People’s online engagement and digital inclusion with Kids.
- To create new capacity to work across all services and teams, and with a range of young people, to scope and deploy online campaigning capabilities in line with Kids’ Speak Up and wider national and local influencing work.
Key to your success in the role will be:
- Ensuring an audience-led approach, leading and championing an important collaborative way of working across Kids existing young people's services.
- Confidently working within the Kids digital infrastructure and context – understanding where we are at on our digital journey, building excellent problem-solving relationships with marketing, IT, change team and young people’s services colleagues.
- Helping to embed digital inclusion practices across the organisation.
- Applying strong digital, data and analytical skills to enable you to baseline, track and measure progress.
- Demonstrating excellent attention to detail whilst being flexible to adapt to the needs of a new programme.
- Influencing the broader Kids service teams to identify and engage digitally excluded young people.
- Centering the voices and needs of young people with SEND.
Person Specification
Experience
- Proven experience working in digital engagement initiatives, ideally with young people or vulnerable groups.
- Involvement in programmes that promote digital inclusion and wellbeing.
- Experience in outcome measurement, impact reporting, and using data to inform practice.
Desirable
- Experience in co-producing content or services with young people, including those with SEND.
Skills
- Strong project management skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple workstreams and meet deadlines.
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, tailored to diverse audiences including young people, professionals, and stakeholders.
- Skilled in using digital tools and platforms to deliver services and measure engagement.
- Ability to work collaboratively across teams and build strong internal and external relationships.
Knowledge
- Knowledge of safeguarding principles and practices in online environments.
- Awareness of current trends in digital engagement and youth participation.
- Knowledge of inclusive digital design and accessibility standards.
- Understanding of digital inclusion principles and the barriers faced by digitally excluded young people.
Personal Attributes
- Passionate about inclusion, equity, and empowering young people.
- Committed to co-production and user-led design.
- Growth mindset and proactive approach to problem-solving.
- Committed to continuous learning and sharing best practices.
- Flexible and adaptable, with a collaborative mindset.
*About the funded programme
Kids Online Wellbeing and Resilience Support Programme will help young people with SEND (aged 13 – 25 years) build resilience, positive self-regard and meaningful connections.
Our goal is to reduce isolation and protect mental health through a supportive, inclusive digital environment. We’ll begin by consulting directly with young people to understand what they need most. Together, we’ll co-create new online content and resources that truly reflect their voices and experiences.
What the Programme Offers:
- Online information with resources codesigned with young people with SEND.
- A series of interactive webinars and guided online activities.
- Free devices and data to improve access to those who need it most, plus the support to ensure everyone can participate.
We will reach over 1,800 young people over the two year funded period.
Partner Acknowledgements
Thanks to National Lottery players, the Digital Services Consortium (DSC) has received over £1.5 million over two years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK. The DSC has also received a grant of £400,000 from BBC Children in Need for two years to provide digital support for disabled or seriously ill children and young people and their family members across the UK. Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone have generously donated devices and data through the Good Things Foundation National Databank and Device Bank which will help address affordability barriers.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.