Engagement and student membership jobs

The Living Wage Foundation is seeking an experienced and driven Senior Media and Communications Manager to join our team for a 12-month contract. This is an exciting opportunity for a highly organised and proactive communications professional with a strong background in media relations, public messaging, and team leadership. The ideal candidate will be experienced and confident in working to tight deadlines, responding to last-minute changes, and prioritising competing demands in a high-profile environment. They will be motivated to amplify the Living Wage Foundation’s mission of tackling low pay and insecure work.

The postholder will lead all media, messaging, and external affairs work, developing and implementing a proactive media strategy that supports our mission and key campaigns, such as Living Wage Week and the annual Rates announcement. As a skilled media professional, you will oversee all communications outputs, ensuring consistency and strategic alignment, while delivering media training and refining key messaging to maximise reach and impact. 

In this role, you will be instrumental in advancing our political engagement efforts, building cross-party support and working with political leaders, mayoral teams, and other key stakeholders to promote our initiatives. You’ll manage two direct reports (Events Manager and Media Manager) who each hold line management responsibilities, and you will play a critical role within our Senior Management Team, collaborating closely with the Head of Communications to shape the overall direction of our communications work. This role will work closely with Citizens UK colleagues, including the Citizens UK communications team on cross-organisational priorities.  You will report to the Head of Communications.

As a senior leader, you will be responsible for managing and allocating part of the communications team budget, expanding team capacity, and driving the team’s effectiveness. In collaboration with other senior managers, you will help foster a culture that values creativity, innovation, and strategic impact.

We are recruiting a Sessional Counsellor to join the Children and Young People’s (CYP) Community Counselling service.

Do you want to support children and young people (CYP) with mental health concerns? Are you calm, non-judgemental and able to work effectively with people experiencing distress?

Can you demonstrate our values of Hope, Together, Courage and Responsive and want to be part of our vision to ensure everyone in Hertfordshire will feel supported with their mental health?

If the answer to all of these is yes, we want to hear from you.

Job title: Sessional Counsellor (CYP)  
Reference Number: 329
Reports to: CYP Senior Counsellor
Salary: £30 per clinical hour
Contract: Freelance / Contractor (Dependent on the schedule of services agreed)
Work Pattern: Variable - to be agreed based on the schedule of service being delivered by the Sessional Counsellor. Work will be completed within the service operational hours of: 7:30am-10:30pm (7 Days a Week, excluding bank holidays). 
Based: Counselling will be delivered from varied venues across Herts county (e.g. HMN wellbeing centres, community venues, schools). Some remote work from home is permitted and to be agreed with your line manager.

About the Project

The Children and Young People’s (CYP) Community Counselling service is a new Herts Mind Network service, whose aim is to provide accessible, timely and high quality countywide counselling to local children and young people. Our CYP Community Counselling Service will deliver a blend of face-to-face, online, 1:1 and group counselling to enable young people to obtain impactful therapeutic support for the mental health difficulties they are facing, in a way that suits them.

The objectives of the CYP Community Counselling Service are:

• To support the emotional wellbeing of children and young people experiencing mental health issues in Hertfordshire.
• To provide high quality counselling, both face-to-face and online that is tailored to the child or young person and incorporates all facets of their life.
• To promote early intervention and prevention through an accessible and flexible counselling service that champions the strengths and self-resilience of children and young people.
• To work actively, inclusively and collaboratively with local children, young people and their families.
• To be a key partner of the Hertfordshire CYP MHS system, offering and increasing access to community-based help regarding mental health and emotional wellbeing.

About the Role

The CYP Sessional Counsellor post is integral to the delivery of this new community-based clinical service, delivering needs-led, robust and flexible counselling to local CYPF. The postholder will work clinically within the service, delivering group and/or 1:1 counselling either in-person or online. The CYP Sessional Counsellor will deliver a minimum of one therapeutic group or 3 x 1:1 counselling sessions per week. The clinical work of the postholder may take place in varied formats/locations, meeting the needs, requirements and preferences of CYPF accessing the service. The postholder will keep timely, detailed and accurate records, following organisational processes diligently. They will also ensure any concerns regarding CYPF accessing the service are escalated and managed efficiently, keeping the CYPF at the centre of their decision making.

The successful candidate will have a Level 4 qualification diploma or above in counselling, psychotherapy or arts/play therapy AND current registered/accredited/full/qualified membership of one of the following relevant professional bodies (BACP, UKCP, HCPC, BAAT etc.), competency in working within a recognized theoretical framework or therapeutic modality and a minimum of 1-2 years experience working in a therapeutic or counselling capacity with children, young people and/or families.

Closing date: Ongoing. Please complete and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment
Interviews will take place on a rolling basis, on a first come first served basis.
N.B. Please quote reference number 329 when completing your application for this role. 

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position

We welcome applications from all suitably-qualified candidates, irrespective of gender, disability, marital or parental status, racial, ethnic or social origin, colour, religion, belief, or sexual orientation. In addition, during the various stages of recruitment, specific measures can be taken to ensure equal opportunities for candidates with disabilities or special needs.

Hertfordshire Mind Network is committed to the Disability Confident and Mindful Employer charters. We actively recruit staff who have a lived experience of mental ill health. Our inclusive approach recognises the unique skills, knowledge, and perspectives that lived experience brings to our team.

No agencies please.

About us

Our mission is to make life better for carers. Across the UK today, 5.8 million people are carers, supporting a loved one who is older, disabled or seriously ill. We provide information and advice on caring, help carers connect with each other, campaign with carers for lasting change, and use innovation to improve services. 

About the role

This is an exciting new post; with oversight of Carers Wales information and advice service, training and learning offer, and Employers for Carers support.  Find out more about Employers for Carers Wales on our website. 

As part of a small and busy team, the post holder will be required from time to time to support with delivery of these services, as well as playing a key role in their strategic development.

About you

We are looking for someone with a background in service delivery; with experience of providing information and advice, and designing and delivering training and learning. 

The ideal post holder will be equally comfortable planning strategically and rolling up their sleeves to deliver. This means we need someone who is a great communicator with excellent leadership skills who can also turn their hand to managing budgets and client accounts, helping us to plan the future development of our services offer.  

You’ll be fluent in Welsh including in written correspondence with a solid understanding of carers and the issues and challenges they face. 

Diversity and inclusion

Carers UK is committed to becoming a diverse and truly inclusive organisation; fostering an environment and working culture that celebrates and promotes diversity and inclusion.  We strive to create a workplace where our colleagues and volunteers can truly be themselves and feel like they belong and constantly seek to ensure all voices are heard.
To embrace this culture of diversity, our employee and volunteer recruitment should reflect our stakeholders and the society that we serve and support, regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, physical abilities, disabilities or religious practices. We value individual diversity and are actively building diverse teams here at Carers UK and value our colleagues from a wide range of backgrounds.

As a membership charity for carers, we particularly seek employees and volunteers with a real understanding of the issues faced by carers. Reasonable adjustments can be made to the process and role, dependent on the needs of the applicant.

We are proud to be an Employers for Carers member. We have signed the Menopause Workplace Pledge and achieved the Disability Confident Employer accreditation. We aim to offer interviews to those who have a disability covered under the definition outlined in the Equality Act 2010 and who meet the minimum criteria for the role. The minimum criteria can be found under the Essential section of the Person Specification of the recruitment pack. Please let us know if your application is being made under the Disability Confident Scheme.  You are not required to share the nature of your disability or long term health condition. You will need to state in your email application that you are making your application under the Disability Confident Scheme as you consider yourself to be disabled, or as having a disability. If you meet the minimum criteria then you will be offered an interview.

At Carers UK we want our application process to be as accessible as possible. If you need any adjustments to apply, please email the recruitment team to discuss.

The closing date for applications is Friday 15 May 2026 at 5pm.

Carers UK anonymises all applications prior to shortlisting.

Carers UK reserves the right to appoint at any stage, should an outstanding candidate emerge.

Carers UK are actively interviewing as we receive applications.

Carers UK may carry out online and social media checks before a formal offer is made.