Shelter jobs

Contract length: Permanent

Location: North West London

Hours per week: 35

Salary:  up to £33,700 pa depending on experience

Closing date for applications:  Monday 6 April 2026 , midnight, interested candidates are encouraged to apply as early as possible

Every dog and cat in need deserves expert, personalised care and support, and to be loved. When you work for Mayhew, you understand that better than ever.  We’re a passionate, committed and diverse team of c80 staff and c150 volunteers, here for dogs, cats and communities in the UK, in Afghanistan and in Georgia. We offer expert veterinary care, rescue and rehoming services, programmes in the community and guidance and support to improve the lives of dogs and cats in need.

This is a challenging climate for pet owners; we are contending with a significant increase in demand for all areas of our work. We can only rise to meet this challenge by cultivating and sustaining a diverse volunteer base, including of foster carer volunteers – they make it possible for us to scale our reach at pace so we can be there for many more dogs and cats who need us, and more pet owners who rely on our support.

Volunteering and Foster Caring Manager is a new role at Mayhew, reflective of the importance of volunteering and foster caring in our ability to deliver our onward strategy and direction. This is a highly visible and important role for Mayhew. The postholder will be working across all teams with staff and volunteers, supporters, partners and members of the public.

This role requires an effective leader and manager, with practical subject matter expertise in volunteering good practice, strong organisational skills, and a drive, rooted in passion for both animal welfare and volunteering, to enable Mayhew to reach many more dogs and cats and pet owners who need us by cultivating a thriving, engaged and diverse volunteer base.

Staff and volunteers at Mayhew, particularly in animal facing and public facing roles have duties that can be physically and emotionally demanding, sometimes interfacing with dogs and cats and pet owners who are in distress and facing heart-breaking situations. Yet our work is hugely rewarding; you can view some of our amazing rescue stories here.

We offer a caring and supportive team and the chance to make a lasting difference to the lives of dogs and cats who rely on us.

While we embrace hybrid and flexible working models, interested applicants should note this role requires at least three working days in five to be worked at Trenmar Gardens, NW10 6BJ.

Generally, you will:

• Lead on developing our onward volunteering strategy and plan
• Provide leadership and management of volunteering and foster caring at Mayhew
• Provide support, training and guidance to staff managing volunteers
• Lead on volunteer engagement and communication
• Engage a range of internal and external stakeholders including staff, volunteers, supporters and partners
• Collaborate with the Senior Management Team to ensure delivery of our strategic and operational goals
• Be self-driven and resilient, having a professional, friendly, calm and caring manner

To be successful in this role, you need relevant experience:

• Working in a volunteering management role in a charity or other organisation of comparable breadth and scope
• Leading and living volunteer management best practice, including overseeing policies, procedures and guidance
• Owning and improving volunteering management processes

Please note that successful candidates will be asked to evidence their Right to Work in the UK post-job offer – we do not hold a sponsor licence therefore we are unable to provide Visa sponsorship.

We reserve the right to close this post at any time, should we receive a high volume of applications.

We’re looking for a Senior Coordinator for our multiple disadvantage team to manage and deliver commissioned services, currently the Early Help for Adults service. This is a service commissioned by Manchester City Council, delivering 1:1 support to adults throughout Manchester.

We’re looking for someone with strong line management skills who will support, develop, and manage project staff to deliver excellent support to the participants on the programme while achieving contract targets and outcomes.

You will be responsible for supporting, developing, and managing project staff on the Multiple Disadvantage team and capturing learning, monitoring, and evaluation of service delivery. Partnership working and influencing is also a key element with the role and delivering workshops and training to share programme learning to wider stakeholders.

Please note: EHA may not be the only commissioned service that this permanent role will manage, given the fixed term nature of commissioned services.

We are looking for someone who is proactive and flexible – putting their commitment to the people on the programmes at the centre of their work. We deeply value diversity and lived experience and what it can bring to a team/role, and we welcome applications from people who may have faced disadvantage.

For all the details of the role and how to apply please download the job pack below.

We are currently looking for a Project Worker 2 to join our Early Help - Yardley and Hodge Hill Localities.

Initial Location of Post

Fox Hollies Children's Centre, 419 Fox Hollies Road, Birmingham, B27 7QA.

Objectives of the Early Help Service

Yardley and Hodge Hill Early Help are two of ten Early Help Localities across the city of Birmingham lead by Voluntary and Community Sector organisations (VCS) alongside Birmingham Children's Trust (BCT). The aim of the provision is to build capacity within local communities to ensure that children, young people and families have access to the right support at the right time before issues and concerns escalate.

Outcomes 

Our Early Help Advisors provide “light touch work” with families. This can be one off interactions and on-going support/intervention for a suggested maximum of four to six weeks. The role can involve; some introductory and exit scaling work with parents (outcomes wheel), referral completion, signposting to families, building trusting relationships with families, children and young people – using mixture of remote (by phone and email) contact and direct work and home visits. Relationships are built through empathy, listening, sound knowledge and understanding of local and national resources and responses to be able to respond to need. You should be confident in meeting with families in community spaces, schools and their homes when needed.

You will respond effectively and in a timely manner to needs as identified in Family Connect Forms referred into the service and tasks set by team manager as well as those needs that arise directly from families. Where applicable you will assist with identifying and speaking with the most appropriate person (such as a school) to undertake Early Help Assessments and Our Family Plans, so you will need to build rapport with families and professionals working with them.  You will record and report and concerns and explore any barriers with colleagues and manager. You will be able to make clear and meaningful case recordings.

You will work well remotely and independently as you do alongside Early Help colleagues in shared office space, and be able to manage your time well, whilst being motivated to make a difference to the families and children you support.

Initial Specific Responsibilities 

• To assist parents and carers to engage with and utilise personal, professional and local community networks to develop solutions to meet their personal aspirations and needs.
• Offer meaningful contact (communication) with families whether by phone, email, or in person.
• Write high quality and timely case notes and assessments using ECINS and other recording systems – to evidence work completed and the story of families through Early Help.
• To be able to develop rapport and understanding with families using excellent phone manner and verbal communication.
• Speak to schools and other professionals supporting a family as part of a multi-agency approach, including, collaborating with schools to encourage them to complete an Early Help Assessment and to offer to contribute to this via your support of families.
• Make referrals to third party organisations to support a family's needs e.g. to Shelter, DWP or Early Help services such as Early Help Mentoring.
• Develop an informed understanding of the key issues within the local area for Children Young People and Families
• Ability to work independently on a day-to-day basis and use own initiative whether working from home or offices (role will involve a combination).
• Able to work closely with other Early Help Advisors.
• Work with an understanding of the importance of consent in Early Help and an awareness of safeguarding issues and procedures, following them as required.
• To support other professionals across the locality to find solutions and support for families.
• To cover the duty role and phone line to ensure that enquiries into the locality are responded to in a timely manner.
• To provide advice, information and guidance to families to enable them to access relevant support to meet their needs.
• Provide support to the Team Manager and other Early Help colleagues to promote the work of the Early Help partnership and share good practice.
• To attend if/as requested allocations meetings and provide relevant information to progress support to families.
• Attend relevant Early Help meetings and training courses in the course of the work.
• Keep up to date on support and funds available for families to be able to offer robust support and advice.
• Liaise with Early Help Locality Lead to identify priorities funding applications.
• Support the production of promotional and publicity materials as required.
• Support the evaluation strategy and identification of case studies which contribute to the monitoring of the Early Help Offer
• Have an understanding of the lived experience of individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
• To support induction/training of new staff
• To support staff supervisions
• To support with case screening for TAFN (Team Around Family Network) meetings
• To support with note taking at TAFN (Team Around Family Network) meetings

Education/Knowledge (additional to the Person Specification)

• Relevant Professional Qualification in relation to working with children, young people and families e.g. Social Care, Youth or Community Work
• In addition to experience with Microsoft packages, prior experience with some or all of the following is considered highly desirable: OpenText – Content Server, ECINS, RMM, RIO, etc.
• An in-depth knowledge and understanding of issues and challenges affecting families, financial difficulties, non-school attendance, worklessness, offending, emotional well-being and mental health, domestic abuse, impact of trauma etc. and suitable responses to these.
• Good working knowledge of services, resources and support available for Children and Families in Yardley, Hodge Hill and Birmingham would be highly
• Driver with car and/or ability to travel around Yardley / Hodge Hill as well as wider Birmingham effectively would be important.

Please note due to the high volume of applications for some posts, this advert might close before the displayed closing date. We recommend that you apply for this role as soon as possible.

Pay & Reward Framework

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people. 

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. 

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application. 

Benefits

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our Buy Your Leave scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

About Barnardo's

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

Our basis and values

We are recruiting a Van Peer Coordinator to support our Hepatitis C peer project in the Oxford & Thames Valley area. This role involves driving a van across the region and working with people affected by substance use and hepatitis C. 

Peers use their lived experience to raise awareness of hepatitis C, reduce stigma, and help people access testing and treatment. 

About you 
You will: 

• Be confident driving a van and travelling long distances 

• Have experience working with people affected by substance misuse 

• Have lived experience of hepatitis C, or experience supporting someone who has 

• Be reliable, compassionate, and well organised 

• Have good communication skills 

• Hold a clean driving licence (essential) 

What you’ll do 

• Recruit and support volunteer peers 

• Work with NHS hepatitis C teams, drug and alcohol services, and homelessness services 

• Coordinate education sessions and community-based hepatitis C testing 

• Support people into hepatitis C treatment and ongoing care 

This role requires regular travel across Oxford & Thames Valley. 

Job Title: Faith and Communities Engagement Officer (Westminster) 

Hours: 35 per week (full time) 

Location: Home working with regular travel across Westminster to faith and community venues in the borough 

Contract: Fixed term (until September 2027) 

Salary: £40,535 per annum 

About us 

Housing Justice brings together communities and finds solutions to homelessness by building personal connections, a sense of belonging, and creating justice in the housing system. We train and support volunteers to offer various accommodation options while building a network of local support. This includes providing personalised assistance to help individuals access relevant local services and address their other needs. Through compassionate, courageous, and collaborative action, we implement innovative solutions to tackle housing injustice, enhance the quality of housing, and elevate the voices and experiences of groups affected by housing injustice to both local and national governments. 

About you 

We are looking for someone with a depth of knowledge and experience of the faith and community homelessness sector (existing connections within Westminster would be a benefit). The successful applicant will feel confident to speak to anyone and will proactively seek out opportunities to build partnerships and promote and develop the existing work of the homelessness sector in Westminster.
 
About the role 

The Faith and Communities Engagement Officer role is designed to enhance and strengthen the infrastructure of homelessness services across Westminster by mobilising and supporting faith and community-based initiatives and groups. The intention is to facilitate effective partnerships with statutory and voluntary sector services and promote sustainable, community-led responses to homelessness and rough sleeping. 

Key responsibilities will include engagement and partnership development, capacity building and support, infrastructure and sustainability and advocacy. The role will play a vital part in bridging gaps between grassroots faith and community initiatives and formal homelessness systems, ensuring coordinated and compassionate support for those experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping. 

Benefits 

• 29 days annual leave, 3 of which are fixed between Christmas and New Year. This is in addition to bank holidays and pro-rata if part time. 

• After 3 years of service you are entitled to one additional day of holiday for each additional year of service, up to a maximum of 5 additional days, pro-rata if part time. 

• We offer flexible working. Not all posts can be made flexible, but where possible we operate core hours of 10 – 3pm, with employees able to flex their working day around these. Any flexibility is at the discretion of the line manager and relevant senior manager. 

• As this role is offered as Home Working, we will provide some financial support to get you set up with appropriate equipment. 

• We offer an employee assistance programme through Spectrum Life, which can be used by you and your family for a range of advice and support. 

• We offer a cycle-to-work scheme.  

This is a new post that responds to a clear and pressing need. Over many years of working alongside people recently granted refugee status, we have seen how the moment of transition, when someone leaves asylum accommodation and tries to find a home of their own, can significantly impact the opportunity to build a stable life. Too often, people face this period with little support, or relying on friends, volunteers and organisations who want to help but aren't always sure how, especially in such a rapidly changing environment. This role exists to change that.

Through our Refugee Homelessness Prevention Project we want to build on the learning and experience we’ve gained over the last 20 years and increase our impact in local communities across Greater Manchester. We are therefore looking for an experienced trainer who is proactive, well‑organised and able to build strong relationships in local communities.

This is a varied and community‑focused role, suitable for someone who is comfortable facilitating training, enjoys meeting people in a range of settings and is keen to help others feel confident in offering housing‑related guidance.

In accordance with the Christian ethos and values of Boaz Trust, the Housing Access Training and Development Officer is responsible for developing and delivering a training and resources programme that builds the capacity of organisations and communities across Greater Manchester to support people recently granted refugee status in accessing private rented accommodation.

The post holder will:

• develop and deliver practical, accessible training for a range of audiences which could include faith communities, VCSE organisations and mainstream homelessness services
• develop and maintain our suite of housing resources and tools that equip non-specialist supporters to help refugees navigate the private rented sector with knowledge and confidence
• build positive and productive relationships with organisations, networks and partners across al ten Greater Manchester boroughs as a representative of Boaz Trust. 

For a full Job Description and Person Specification as well as more details about the role and the organisation download our 'recruitment pack'. The deadline for applications is 9am on Thursday 2nd April 2026. We look forward to hearing from you!

Social Finance is an ambitious non-profit that designs, funds and scales solutions to complex social problems. Our vision is a fairer world where together we unleash the potential of people and communities. We work with governments, funders, communities and the social sector to tackle some of the most persistent challenges facing society in the UK.

Our multidisciplinary team brings together experience from the public, private and charity sectors. We are known for our collaborative and intellectually curious culture and for delivering systems change, improving how entire systems operate so they produce better, lasting outcomes.

One of our most significant initiatives is IPS Grow, which supports the national expansion of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) employment services across England. IPS is an evidence-based approach that helps people experiencing severe mental illness, addiction and other health challenges find and sustain competitive employment with tailored support.

IPS Grow works with commissioners, healthcare providers and delivery partners to expand high-quality IPS services, improve quality and learning across the system, and ensure the data and evidence behind IPS continue to demonstrate its impact. Scaling IPS has been a priority for Social Finance since 2015 and continues to be an integral part of our work today.

With IPS Grow transitioning from a fast‑growing initiative to a mature organisation with expanding reach and influence, we are now looking for an experienced Chief Operating Officer to join the IPS Grow and Social Finance Senior Leadership Team.

The COO will provide strategic leadership across IPS Grow’s operational infrastructure, ensuring the organisation has the systems, processes and capabilities required to deliver impact at scale. You will strengthen financial oversight, resource planning and risk management while helping develop IPS Grow’s data and digital capability. The role will also help shape the organisational structures and culture needed to support sustainable growth.

We are looking for a senior operational leader with experience in finance and the non-profit or publicly funded sectors, ideally with a track record of helping organisations scale. You will bring strong financial literacy, sound strategic judgement and the ability to build effective operational frameworks in complex environments.

You will be a collaborative partner across IPS Grow and the wider Social Finance organisation, building trusted relationships, bringing clarity to operational challenges and fostering a strong “one team” culture across a distributed team.

This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the next phase of IPS Grow’s development. If this resonates with you, we would be delighted to hear from you.

To download a full copy of the candidate brief and learn more about the role, please click the ‘Apply’ button, where you will be redirected to the website of our recruitment partner, Tall Roots.

Applications should include a CV and covering letter responding to the following questions:

1. What is motivating you to become our new Chief Operating Officer for IPS Grow? (200 words)
2. Given what you have read about us so far, what do you believe would make an effective Chief Operating Officer for IPS Grow? (200 words)
3. Please describe your experience ensuring an organisation had the right systems, processes or capabilities in place to use data effectively. What was your role and what difference did this make? (250 words)
4. Please tell us about a time when you built strong partnerships across teams or organisations to deliver a shared goal. What approach did you take and what was the outcome? (250 words)