Independent mental capacity advocate jobs

Do you want to work with a leading advocacy charity organisation supporting those in need?

Do you have experience of working or volunteering in welfare, support or health and social care and are looking for a new challenge?

Are you keen to make a difference to people who want to be heard?

Then come and join us here at VoiceAbility.

We are looking for a new Advocate to join our team in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin. We are seeking applicants who have transferable skills, a willingness to learn and a desire to help those in need of support. Your role will require you to travel to locations such as hospitals and care homes across the area to meet with clients and professionals and be home based for administration; therefore, a suitable home internet connection is essential.

About us  

VoiceAbility is an independent charity and one of the UK’s largest providers of advocacy and involvement services. We deliver a wide range of service contracts funded by local authorities, health trusts and other voluntary and private sector organisations.  

We’ve been supporting people to have their say in decisions about their health, care, and wellbeing for over 40 years. We make sure people are heard when it matters most.  For more information on what Advocacy is and the services offered then please visit our website.  

About you 

Desirably you will have some experience of working as an Advocate, providing welfare, supporting, or caring for Adults or young people who have support needs, ideally for those with a variety of communication needs, mental ill health, physical health issues, or barriers to accessing education and support. 

You should have worked or volunteered in health, social care, welfare, support services, education or young person’s services, or advice and guidance. 

How will you make a difference? 

You will be responsible for ensuring the individual’s wishes, feelings, beliefs, needs, and values are met to create positive outcomes for the people you support. 

You will support people to speak up for themselves and grow in confidence, equip them to understand and exercise their rights and options, and will assist them in the decision-making process relating to their care, treatment, and support. 

You will work resourcefully and collaboratively with the individuals you support.You’ll be creative in your approach to empower our clients by ensuring you meaningfully explain people’s options and rights to them.You’ll support individuals to fully participate in decisions affecting them and will make sure they have their voices heard.  

Professional Development? 

You will have plenty of opportunities to enhance your professional abilities and you will make a real difference every day. Advocates are expected to be willing to gain, or to already hold, the Level 3 Award in Independent Advocacy Practice with disciplines suitable for the role they work in. 

Benefits

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time colleagues) rising to 30 days upon 5 years’ service

• 5% employer pension & minimum 3% employee contribution

• Salary sacrifices pension scheme

• Separate Life Assurance Cover (equivalent of two times your annual salary)

• Staff discount scheme including retail discounts, entertainment, holidays, gym membership etc

• 24/7 Employee Assistance programme

• Access to remote counselling service

• Paid Disability Leave

• Paid compassionate Leave

• Home Working Allowance 

Support with continuous professional development

Access to Clifton Strengths Coaching for development 

Personal Development Plans

How are staff supported to work remotely?

VoiceAbility has a small number of offices. Employees including Team Leaders are homebased for Administration and meetings will be held online as well as in person in the relevant community.

When you need to travel for work, expenses will be paid (mileage or public transport costs). 

VoiceAbility offers the usual regular manager one to ones, Staff forums and communities of practice depending on role. Team meetings with a mix of virtual and in person approach. 

Equality and Diversity 

VoiceAbility believes in fostering an inclusive workplace which welcomes, values and celebrates the diversity of its staff and partners, treats all on a basis of equality and encourages all to meet their maximum potential. 

VoiceAbility are a Disability Confident employer, any applicant that identifies themselves as having a disability and can demonstrate that they meet all the essential criteria for the role will be offered an interview.

How to apply

To apply for this role please sign up for a recruitment account by clicking the apply button on this page. Follow the instructions to create your account, upload your CV, and complete our short application form.

Important Dates:

Closing date for applications; MIDNIGHT 8 December 2025, however, VoiceAbility reserve the right to withdraw this vacancy before this date.

Don’t forget to read the person specification so you can tell us about yourself and how your skills, abilities and experiences match the criteria outlined in the person specification.

Hint: you can use work, personal and/or voluntary experiences, and examples to tell us why you should be our next Advocate.

We look forward to hearing from you.

NB: If you don't already hold the Independent Advocacy Practice qualification, and you are successful in your application, it is a requirement that you complete the core element within 12 months of commencing the training.  VoiceAbility will fund this training.

Job Summary

Learning Support Assistants support PiP’s Development Workers to deliver a flexible programme of learning and development opportunities; ensuring that students can actively participate and engage in sessions, giving student’s maximum opportunity to learn and develop. 

PiP’s programmes focus on four learning pathways:

- Independent Living Skills

- Creative and Performing Arts

- Health, Wellbeing and Happiness

- Employment and Vocational Skills

The role incorporates session delivery, recording and monitoring student progress, key working responsibilities such as liaising with student’s support networks and involvement in PiP’s wider work. 

Who We Are

PIP is a local charity that supports adults with learning disabilities or autism to achieve their potential, and to lead lives that are as independent as possible.  

Our mission is to empower adults with learning disabilities to achieve their potential. We are a growing, grassroots charity based in West London, and run a number of key services to promote independence and choice for our students.

What You’ll Need

• Experience of working with people with learning disabilities, or a similar vulnerable service user group in care or educational settings
• A strong commitment to person-centred support and advocacy
• A passion for enabling positive change in the lives of our students
• The character and communication skills to be an effective and supportive team member
• Energy, initiative and a proactive attitude
• A calm and creative approach to challenges and problem solving

What We Offer:

· You'll get 25 days holiday + bank holidays ever year. We're closed for Christmas but the rest of the year you may take leave whenever you wish. 

· An extra day of annual leave for each year you've worked with us up to another 5 (30 in total)

· We offer a travel subsidy to help with the cost of commuting.

· We provide a 4% pension contribution

· Incremental pay progression

· When we can, we try to have an early finish on Fridays for staff at 4 pm

· Free Employee Assistance Programme 24/7 including access to counselling

· We offer regular team meals and social-generally during work hours and they are optional.

· We offer a cycle-to-work scheme and other staff discounts

Our Mission

PiP's mission is to empower adults with learning disabilities to achieve their potential. We are a growing, grassroots charity based in West London, and run a number of key services to promote independence and choice for our service users.

Our commitments

PiP is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful applicant will be required to undertake an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with the Inclusive Employers Standard 2020. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly applicants who are significantly underrepresented in our sector, such as people with lived experience of disabilities and individuals from Black and Minority ethnic communities. 

PiP keeps all personal information confidential and in line with current data protection legislation and GDPR. 

Closing Date: Friday, 28 November, 2025

We encourage you to apply early, as applications will be reviewed as soon as they are received, and we reserve the right to close the advert sooner subject to finding suitable candidates.  

Overview of Calan DVS: 

Calan DVS is one of the largest domestic abuse charities in Wales and we are committed to working in partnership to end domestic violence and abuse. Our staff are passionate about what they do and deliver much needed services to support some of the most vulnerable people in society. 

Our service was formed in 2012 as a result of a merger between Neath & Lliw Valley Women’s Aid and since 2012, other Women’s Aid organisations have also joined the group including Brecknock Women’s Aid, Bridgend Women’s Aid and Ammanford Women’s Aid. 

Our vision: 

At Calan DVS, our vision is to work towards safe and resilient communities free from domestic violence and abuse. To achieve this, we aim to relieve the distress, suffering and poverty experienced by families exposed to domestic violence and abuse. We also aim to educate the public regarding the causes and effects of domestic abuse along with prevention methods 

The Lotus Project:  

The Lotus Project is a new service within Calan DVS which has been co-produced with survivors and stakeholders.  The new service has been implemented to support individuals who are accessing Calan Domestic Abuse services and who have also experienced Sexual Violence.

The service will operate from a trauma informed, strengths based perspective in order to ensure each survivor has consistent yet individualised support throughout their recovery journey.

Each survivor who accesses the service will have the opportunity to receive specialist support through our Sexual Violence Counselling service, tailor made group work program and one to one support.  Survivors will have regular strength based goal setting sessions with their Sexual Violence Support Worker.

Consultations and collaborative working are at the heart of working in a trauma informed way, therefore the Lotus Project will continue to be developed alongside the support staff and survivors who access the service.

Purpose of the role: 

• To provide consistant, psychosocial, trauma informed support for survivors of sexual violence. 

• To ensure each survivor accessing The Lotus Project is informed and empowered on the ways in which to access therapeutic support after experiencing sexual violence.

• To deliver sexual violence specific group work and one to one support. 

• To work in a multidisciplinary manner to ensure each survivor is linked with the appropriate external support services (such as ISVA services, SARC, substance use services) 

Key Accountabilities: 

Sexual Violence Support 

• To provide one to one emotional support for survivors of sexual violence who would like to access The Lotus Project. 

• From the point of receiving the referral, the SVSW will create a collaborative safety and support plan to help inform the person accessing the Lotus Project of what support is available to them either from the group work program, one to one support session, counselling or ongoing telephone support.

• To link in with external agencies so that the survivor accessing the Lotus Project has access to a full range of support (for example, SARC, ISVA, Substance support, Sexual Health, GP). 

• To have a strengths based, trauma informed approach to working with survivors of sexual violence and to ensure that suvivors are at the center of their own recovery journey.

• To work alongside the professional making the referral to ensure all risk and support needs are considered and actioned in a fair and consistent way.

• To attend professional review meetings with other Calan practitioners who may be supporting the person accessing the Lotus Project.

• To report any safeguarding concerns to their line manager and follow Calan’s Safeguarding Policy and Procedures. 

• To deliver online and in person sexual violence group work programmes (as appropriate). 

• To support delivery of group therapeutic activities such as yoga, self care, art therapy, creative writing, nature walks and document feedback. 

• To provide one to one support for those who are unable to attend the group work program, using the group work program as a structure for those support sessions.

• To work alongside the person accessing the Lotus Project to dispel any rape myths, self-blame and pathologized attitudes towards sexual trauma.

• To have regular case review meetings with their line manager and supervision sessions. 

• To empower and encourage those accessing the Lotus Project to sustain ongoing peer support groups. 

• To support those accessing the Lotus Project to understand techniques to cope with anxiety, flashbacks and other symptoms of trauma. 

• To explore areas of self care with those accessing the Lotus Project and encorperate this into each individuals safety and support plan.

• To write supporting documents for GP’s or other relevant professionals so that the person accessing Lotus Project doesn’t have to retell their story.

Health and Safety 

• To work at all times in a safe and efficient manner and be aware of the Lone Working Policy / Health and Safety Policy and Procedures. 

• Participate in the Risk Assessment processes. 

• Ensuring the safety of the survivors accessing The Lotus Project through ongoing risk assessments and monitoring. 

• To actively engage with their own self care to minimise the impact of vicarious trauma and burnout. 

• To work alongside their line manager to identify their own areas of support in regards to their mental and physical wellbeing.

Organisational 

• Participate in relevant training and opportunities to increase and develop knowledge. 

• Follow Calan DVS Equal Opportunity Policy and Diversity Strategy and observe the standard of conduct which prevents discrimination taking place. 

• Attend and participate in team meetings.

• Prepare for and participate in supervision, appraisals and team reviews. 

• Conduct administrative duties relating to the Lotus Project e.g.  maintain support plan records and reviews, record statistics and provide reports as required. 

• Promote public awareness of the work of The Lotus Project and trauma informed approaches to working with survivors of sexual violence.

• To support the development of The Lotus Project in collaboration with the Sexual Violence Service Development Manager.

• Ensure that all work is conducted to the highest professional standards and complies with the DA Support Services and Calan DVS Policies and Procedures. 

Other Duties and Responsibilities 

• Assist with organising and take part in promotional, educational and funding activities as required.

• Keep up to date with relevant legislation, local strategies, policies and procedures. 

• Ensure that all activities are within Calan DVS budgets. 

• Work flexibly to provide the service which may include weekend and evening work. 

• Work flexibly to cover for other posts as required/appropriate. 

• Work within Calan DVS Codes of Practice. 

• Maintain confidentiality in relation to service users, staff and projects. 

• To undertake any other duty reasonably requested by their Manager/Management. 

• To partake in Calan’s on-call service. 

This job description is indicative of the range of current duties and responsibilities of the post, it is not comprehensive.  It is inevitable that the duties will change as the role develops, and it is essential, therefore, that it should be regarded with a degree of flexibility, so that changing needs and circumstances can be met, all changes will be discussed fully.  

Personal Specification 

Essential: 

You will be able to demonstrate the following key knowledge, skills, behaviours and experience: 

• Minimum of two years experience supporting survivors of sexual violence. 

• Demonstrable experience of working in a strengths based, trauma informed way. 

• Experience of building a rapport with survivors of abuse in an trusting, empathetic way whilst maintaining own personal boundaries.

• Knowledge and understanding of the impact of sexual violence and trauma on an individual. 

• Experience of facilitating support groups and structured one to one support. 

• To actively engage in your own self care and understand the role of self care in a persons recovery from trauma. 

• To identify coping mechansisms to trauma that may be detrimental to a persons recovery.

• Experience of working collaboratively with organisations in the community to raise awareness, network and build partnerships. 

• Proven experience of working in a non-judgemental way whilst understanding and respecting a persons individual boundaries.

• Experience of supporting people in crisis and those experiencing high levels of emotional distress 

• Commitment to ongoing professional development. 

• Proven experience of liaising and advocating for survivors with statutory and voluntary agencies. 

• Experience of strengths-based needs assessment, risk assessment, risk management and support planning. 

• Competency in Information Technology including internet and software packages. 

• Possession of a valid full driver’s licence and ability to use own car for work purposes. 

• Good verbal and written communication skills, including report writing. 

• Ability to work on own in an unsupervised setting or as part of a team. 

• Awareness of equal opportunities and ability to work in a non-discriminatory way. 

Desirable 

• Ability to speak Welsh.

• NVQ Level 4 or equivalent in a relevant field, i.e. social care or health. 

• Foundation counselling qualification 

The Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) is a human rights and feminist
organisation led by and for Latin American migrant women in the UK. Our work is dedicated to
supporting the immediate and long-term needs of Latin American migrant women exposed to
violations of their fundamental human rights; facing violence against women and girls,
exploitation or trafficking; enduring difficult living and working conditions in low paid jobs, and
facing barriers to social protection.
The post holder will be responsible for leading the development and implementation of LAWRS’
policy, advocacy, and communications strategy to tackle the issues affecting migrant women
survivors of VAWG, and will work jointly with LAWRS’ policy team and VAWG team.
This post is open to Latin American women only* in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. We
particularly welcome applications from disabled and LGBTQ+ candidates as they are currently
underrepresented within the team.
Please keep in mind that if you are shortlisted for an interview, you will be
required to complete an exercise beforehand.
*women who identify as Latin Americans (1st and 2nd generation) and speak Spanish and/or
Portuguese
Please note that only applicants with the right to work in the UK covering the duration of the contract will be considered for this position.
We regret that late applications cannot be accepted.
Deadline: Sunday 30th November
Interviews: the week commencing 15th December

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

1. To liaise, work with, and gather evidence from ILPA and SLAC members to support advocacy and knowledge-sharing in the sector;

2. To coordinate and contribute to internal and external meetings;

3. 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;

4. 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;

5. To manage SLAC’s Steering Committees;

6. 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

7. To assist with facilitating SLAC training events, and feed into the monitoring and evaluation.

Person Specification

Essential knowledge, experience, skills, and qualities:

1. A law degree, postgraduate qualification in law, or other relevant qualification in law; 

2. Experience of working in or with immigration, asylum and nationality law in the UK, such as in a caseworker or paralegal role;

3. Experience of building and managing effective professional relationships with a range of people, with demonstrable ability to communicate effectively in challenging situations;

4. Relevant legal knowledge, skills and judgment, including:

   1. an ability to navigate and understand the Immigration Rules and Government guidance,

   2. a general understanding of UKVI processes, and

   3. an ability to clearly communicate legal and technical information orally and in writing;

5. Excellent attention to detail;

6. Excellent planning, coordination, organisational, time management, strategic problem-solving and independent working skills, including:

   1. an ability to take a proactive approach to independent working, 

   2. managing workstreams effectively, 

   3. confidently taking responsibility for tasks and decisions, 

   4. meeting tight deadlines, and 

   5. taking a calm and diligent approach to problem solving;

7. Commitment to the principles of a non-racist, non-sexist, just, and equitable system of immigration, asylum and nationality law; 

8. Commitment to the principles of equality, diversity, and inclusion, and taking a proactive approach to espousing these principles; and

9. 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:

• To promote the advising and representation of immigrants;

• To provide information to members and others on domestic and European immigration, asylum and nationality law; and

• 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. 

CPAG is seeking an AI Coordinator for a two-year fixed term to support our work in the responsible use of AI. In this role, you will lead on planning, delivering, and monitoring AI projects in collaboration with our partner organisations. This work involves the ongoing protection of CPAG's intellectual property and reputation as a sector leader. You’ll carry out regular evaluation of each project and regularly update stakeholders with performance metrics, user feedback, and impact assessments.

This new role also involves developing training materials and delivering sessions to upskill CPAG staff in AI technologies, with tailored materials for the needs of different teams. You will ‘own’ and maintain the relevant internal policy documents and processes for AI use and will oversee the use and optimisation of AI tools across the organisation. Alongside colleagues, you’ll manage risk and compliance (including legal and ethical standards) to ensure responsible AI adoption that is fully compatible with CPAG’s mission. You’ll monitor developments in AI, assessing new products for risk and opportunity, and share lessons learned across the charity.

We’re looking for someone with strong project coordination skills, experience of managing multiple stakeholders, and a keen interest in and experience of AI and emerging technologies.

This is an exciting opportunity to shape CPAG’s AI work, helping the organisation innovate and support the sector responsibly while building practical AI capability across teams.

We welcome applications from individuals with the skills and experience outlined and we can be flexible about working arrangements. We operate a hybrid working system and would be happy to discuss any flexibilities required. CPAG is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion which you can read more about in the job pack.

For more information about this post and to apply, download the AI Coordinator job pack.

If you have questions or need specific arrangements or reasonable adjustments to take part in the selection process please contact us.

Closing date for applications: Monday 1st December 2025 (midnight)

Interviews will be held on: Wednesday 10 December 2025