Jobs in West midlands

We are seeking a Head of Governance reporting into our Chief of staff and leading a team of four, comprising two Senior Governance Officers and two Governance Officers.

This is an exciting opportunity to join The National Lottery Community Fund in a pivotal leadership role, where you will be given the opportunity to shape and strengthen governance function and frameworks while providing expert support to executives, non-executives, and the Board.

As a trusted advisor to the Chair, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring robust governance, compliance, and assurance in line with our regulatory requirements. You will lead a skilled team delivering strategic governance oversight in a modern, agile way that supports the whole organisation.

Why Join Us?

This is a unique opportunity to shape governance at a senior level within a purpose-driven organisation. You will work alongside senior leaders and stakeholders, influence strategic direction, and lead meaningful improvements that make a lasting impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop all areas of governance across the Fund, ensuring efficient, effective, and compliant practices.
• Provide strategic governance oversight, driving consistency and harmonisation across committees and decision-making forums.
• Act as a proactive and trusted advisor to the Chair of the Board.
• Oversee governance support for UK-wide and England-based decision-making bodies, simplifying and improving ways of working.
• Manage a complex cycle of governance meetings, ensuring excellence in delivery and decision-making support.
• Lead the appointment, induction, and development of non-executive members.
• Build and lead a high-performing governance team, fostering development, coaching, and continuous improvement.
• Work closely with the sponsor government department and lead governance improvement initiatives aligned to our One Fund ambition.
• Contribute strategically as part of the Directorate leadership team, supporting corporate planning and taking collective responsibility for staff.

About You

You are an experienced and influential governance leader with a track record of delivering strategic oversight and driving organisational improvement. You bring:

• Significant experience leading a governance function within a complex or public sector organisation.
• Proven ability to streamline processes and strengthen governance assurance.
• Experience providing strategic, proactive support to senior executives and Boards.
• Strong knowledge of relevant legislative frameworks (including the National Lottery Act and Public Sector Equality Duty).
• Expertise in delivering governance improvements through harmonisation and matrix working.
• A strong people leadership background, with experience coaching and developing high-performing teams.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and a commitment to outstanding customer service.

Interview details:

• Date: Week Commencing 6 July 2026
• Format: Online
• Location: UK Wide

The role can be based at any of our UK offices: Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle, and Newtown.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact the recruitment team

For any questions about the recruitment process, please email the recruitment team.

How to apply:

Upload your CV in word format and write a supporting statement (1000 words) with the following criteria, we will use this to score your application.

Essential Criteria

1. Proven leadership experience of a governance function within a complex, regulated or public sector organisation.
2. Demonstrable expertise in governance frameworks and compliance, with the ability to ensure adherence to statutory and regulatory requirements.
3. Significant experience advising senior executives and Boards, including acting as a trusted and proactive strategic advisor.
4. Strong track record of improving governance practices, including streamlining processes and driving consistency across committees or decision making bodies.
5. In-depth knowledge of relevant legislation, including the National Lottery Act and Public Sector Equality Duty (or equivalent regulatory frameworks).
6. Experience leading and developing high-performing teams, with a focus on coaching, mentoring, and building capability.
7. Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and build strong relationships across internal and external stakeholders, including government departments.
8. Excellent organisational and operational skills, including managing complex governance cycles, delivering high quality outputs, and ensuring attention to detail and assurance.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion ​

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed.  

We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment. (This can be related to a physical and mental health condition.) 

About Care4Calais and the Legal Access Department

Care4Calais is a volunteer-based charity providing essential aid and support for refugees in France and the UK.

In northern France we operate year-round from Calais, working alongside communities in Calais and Dunkirk to provide warm clothing, bedding and service provision to displaced people who live in difficult and dangerous conditions.

Across the UK we collect and distribute clothes, shoes, mobile phones and other essential items, as well as providing psycho social support and interaction, including language lessons, sport and music workshops. We also help with vital access to medical and educational services.

Our Legal Access Department is an access to justice project that exists to support people seeking asylum in the UK by facilitating access to legal representation and offering holistic support to people throughout the asylum process. The department, made up mostly of specially trained volunteers, works tirelessly to ensure that people feel informed, empowered, and far less isolated and alone. We conduct one-to-one, complex casework for people seeking asylum for a variety of matters, over the years we have supported thousands of people to secure legal representation. Our current casework channels include securing legal representation and support for people’s asylum claims, challenges to unsuitable accommodation and potential removal from the UK (for example under the current UK-France ‘One in One out’ deal), and support for young people in their age dispute matters. Our teams work remotely across the UK. The Department seeks to adapt and amend our services based on the needs of the communities that we work with.

About the role

The aim of the role is to support and inspire volunteer teams to undertake the individual one-to-one casework and support that lies at the heart of what the Legal Access Department does, furthering access to justice for people seeking asylum and refugees. The Casework Manager will be responsible for the casework conducted by our Asylum Team, which focuses on securing legal representation for our client's asylum claims and offering holistic support through the difficulties of the asylum process. Casework managers will use their experience and understanding of the UK asylum system and conducting complex casework to guide their teams, working collaboratively with each other and the Head of Department to respond with agility to a fast-moving policy environment.

Responsibilities

Volunteer Management

• Lead existing team(s) of volunteers to undertake their specified roles as agreed with the Head of Department
• Conduct quarterly 1:1s with volunteers to give and receive feedback, reaffirm commitments, review caseloads, support with more complex cases, and ensure volunteer wellbeing. Escalate any issues and/or concerns to the Head of Department where necessary.
• Motivate and engage volunteers, taking into account the remote nature of the roles, collaborating with other Casework Managers.
• Facilitate regular team meetings and/or virtual drop ins for volunteers to ensure continued engagement and space to raise issues or concerns.
• Support volunteer caseworkers undertaking their roles, providing advice on casework and stepping in to support clients where required. Provide casework cover when volunteer caseworkers are otherwise unavailable.
• Supervise the casework conducted to ensure that volunteer caseworkers adhere to casework procedures so that every client receives the same level of service. Where volunteers may struggle to adhere to procedures ensure that concerns are identified and raised in a timely manner to reach an appropriate solution.
• Support volunteers to raise safeguarding / protection concerns through the appropriate channels. Escalate concerns where necessary. Support volunteer caseworkers through debriefs.
• Recruit, train and onboard new volunteers with the support of the Head of Department as required.
• Manage own, limited, complex caseload of clients where required to support the volunteer casework team.

Casework Management

• Oversee the appropriate collection and management of confidential client information and data, ensuring that volunteers adhere to organisational policy at all times.
• Keep team procedure documentation up to date, implementing changes where required to keep pace with the ever-changing policy environment. Work with the Head of Department to proactively adapt the casework services provided to suit the needs of the communities we work with.
• Work with the Head of Department to proactively identify systemic issues seen regionally and/or nationally and influence the direction of the Department. Contribute to evidence gathering and furthering strategic litigation cases supported or undertaken by the Department.
• Report on team progress to the Head of Department via pre-arranged channels and format.
• Attend relevant external meetings representing the organisation as needed, ensuring that knowledge and learning is shared across the department.
• Build and maintain robust understanding of the policy landscape impacting people seeking asylum in the UK, identify and attend external training opportunities, ensure that any learning is passed on to other staff and volunteers across the organisation.
• Build and maintain relationships with key partners and stakeholders, including, but not limited to local authorities, legal teams, and other NGOs focused on support of people seeking asylum.
• Attend and contribute meaningfully to team meetings

Person specification

1. In-depth understanding of the UK asylum system
2. Dedication to social justice with a clear understanding of the challenges faced by vulnerable populations, or a willingness to learn about these
3. Ability to work sensitively with a diverse range of people, demonstrating cultural competence, respect and compassion
4. Able to build positive relationships with a range of stakeholders including those from displaced communities, legal teams, and other charities
5. Clear leadership ability, with the capability to act with initiative and drive
6. An understanding of the volunteer experience including potential challenges volunteers may face
7. Self-motivated and used to managing multiple priorities to meet deadlines
8. Collaborative team member with excellent verbal and written communication skills
9. Strong digital literacy, including ability to work on Google Workspace and Office 365
10. Resilience in the face of challenging and emotionally demanding situations, with a positive and solution-oriented mindset

Whilst not essential, we welcome applications from people with the following skills

     12. Proficiency in one or more of the languages spoken within asylum seeking communities, such as, but not limited to:               Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Dari, Kurdish Sorani, Tigrinya or Amharic

     13. Experience leading and managing volunteer teams from varied backgrounds

Application process

Please apply via CharityJob and submit your CV and a letter of interest. In this, please outline your interest in the role and how you meet the criteria set out in the ‘person specification’. Please include any skills, relevant experience and examples of how you exemplify each point. We recognise that skills and experience come from more than just employment history and encourage anyone who meets most of the specification for this role to apply, even where this experience comes from outside traditional employment structures. If you are interested in applying but do not have all the experience necessary, we encourage you to contact us at admin [@] care4calais .org to set up an informal chat with our staff. We can discuss why you would like to apply for the role and what skills or experiences you have which could be relevant.

The recruitment process will include two interview stages which will both be conducted online. We will be reviewing applications as they arrive and reserve the right to close the advert before the closing date. Care4Calais receives a very high volume of applications for roles we advertise and therefore we are unfortunately unable to offer feedback to applicants who are not successful in securing an interview. We do, however, thank you for your interest and taking the time to apply for this role.

Care4Calais is dedicated to cultivating a diverse and inclusive work environment and recognises that this is invaluable to our ability to serve the communities we work with. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from diverse backgrounds including from Black, Asian and Minority-Ethnic communities, people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, and people with lived experience of the UK or EU immigration systems.

We are a proud member of the Experts by Experience Employment Network (EBE), which aims to create a charitable sector led by individuals with lived experience of the asylum system.

As part of our membership, we are dedicated to creating inclusive employment practices that recognise and accommodate the unique circumstances and strengths of people with lived experience. We actively move away from a one-size-fits-all approach, ensuring our recruitment processes are fair, supportive, and accessible.

We warmly encourage applicants with lived experience to make use of the guidance and resources available on the EBE website (ebeemployment). In addition, applicants with lived experience are welcome to connect with the EBE support team for tailored assistance with completing the application form and, where available, one-to-one interview preparation.

Importantly, we recognise the significant cultural, linguistic, and experiential insights that individuals with lived experience of the UK asylum system bring to this role. As such, all applicants from this background who meet the essential criteria will be automatically shortlisted and invited to interview. If you are a candidate with lived experience, please let us know in your application. We respect that people’s identity is not defined by their past experiences and will not expect candidates to describe their lived experience at interview unless they wish to do so.

If you have any questions about this or need additional support with the application process for any reason, please contact us at admin [@] care4calais .org

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is a key member of HCPT’s Senior Leadership Team, responsible for the effective delivery and high performance of all operational and business support aspects of the charity’s work. This includes leadership of all business support functions; Finance, HR, IT and Governance, working with and through internal teams and external business partners.  As such we are looking for an experienced chartered accountant who is also astute in leading the wider business operation of medium sized charity.

The postholder will have oversight of the quality and efficiency aspects of all that we do in planning and execution of pilgrimages, care & safeguarding, compliance and infrastructure and will support the CEO to develop a culture of accountability and high impact, whilst staying true to our values of: Compassion, Faith, Inclusion, Community and Celebration.

The COO will ensure that HCPT’s operations are safe, efficient, and aligned with our Catholic ethos and mission of inclusion and care, and that our performance is optimised to deliver excellence, which is:  THE BEST pilgrimage experience we can offer as defined and measured by our beneficiaries and volunteers.

This is a senior role in volunteer-led organisation and as such the successful postholder will be required to exercise flexibility with evening and weekend work to meet the business needs of the charity, given the availability of our volunteer leaders who have professional commitments during the day.

We are seeking two Regional Caseworkers to join our team, one in the Northern Circuit and one in the Northeastern Circuit. This role has a dual focus, combining casework responsibilities with stakeholder management, requiring the successful candidates to build strong relationships and rapport across their assigned circuit. You will also represent Advocate by attending events and delivering information sessions to raise awareness of our services and promote our work.

We are a national charity that matches people who need free legal help with barristers who are willing to donate their time and expertise for those who cannot obtain legal aid and cannot afford to pay. We believe that fair and equal access to justice is the foundation of our society, and the quality of your legal representation shouldn’t depend on the depth of your pockets, but the merits of your case.

We are the only pro bono charity to provide access to legal assistance in all areas of law, in all courts and tribunals across England and Wales. We exist because committed barristers care about access to justice for everyone. We have been facilitating free legal help since 1996 and have grown into a thriving organisation, working with almost 4,500 volunteer barristers. Our staff team comprises 23 staff and we have 13 trustees on our Board, which is chaired by Sharif Shivji KC.

Job Title: Pathfinder Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA)

Position available: 1 full-time position (37.5 hours) based across the Black Country

Salary: £25,282.44 - £28,861.62 (dependent upon qualifications and experience)

Closing date: 24 June 2026

BCWA reserve the right to close this advert before the closing date

All interviews will be held via Microsoft Teams

Is this you?

This is a challenging role that requires empathy, compassion, excellent interpersonal and caseload management skills, and confidence working with partner agencies and advocating for clients.

The Role:

Pathfinder IDVAs will be the main point of contact and support for victim/survivors and their children in the Family Court process, ensuring that they are well-informed and prepared for proceedings, and that they are well-supported throughout. Pathfinder IDVAs will provide detailed reports for the court to ensure that the impact of domestic abuse on the family as a whole and on the children in particular is fully appreciated and understood. Pathfinder IDVAs will be the ‘subject matter experts’ for the Court in relation to domestic abuse, and will offer advice and training to court officers and staff to promote the better understanding of the dynamics of domestic abuse within the Court setting.

The Pathfinder IDVAs will work with people from Sandwell, Walsall and Dudley areas whose cases are being heard in Wolverhampton or Telford Family Court.

If you are self-driven, conscientious, hardworking with lots of ambition we would love to hear from you.