Advocate

Job Title: Associate Advocate

Service: Coram Voice

Contract: Self-employed / Freelance Associate

Rate: £16.00 per professional hour; £12 per hour travel time; £0.50 per mile mileage

Location: Home-based, with travel to meet children and young people across Cheshire East and the wider North West service area.

About Coram

Coram is committed to improving the lives of the UK’s most vulnerable children and young people.

We support children and young people from birth to independence, creating a change that lasts a lifetime.

Coram is the UK’s oldest children’s charity founded by Thomas Coram in London helping vulnerable children and young people since 1739. Today, the Coram group helps more than one million children, young people, families and professionals every year by providing access to the skills and opportunities they need to thrive.

About Coram Voice

Coram Voice is a national independent children's charity committed to ensuring that children and young people are heard, their rights are respected and the systems responsible for supporting them are held to account.

We provide independent, child-led, confidential and rights-based advocacy to children and young people in care, leaving care, on the edges of care and in other circumstances where they need support to have their voice heard.

About the role

We are looking for committed and experienced Associate Advocate to provide independent advocacy to children and young people across Cheshire East and the wider North West.

You will work directly with children and young people to support them to:

• understand their rights, options and entitlements;
• express their wishes, feelings and views;
• participate meaningfully in meetings and decisions;
• challenge decisions or practices;
• raise concerns and make complaints; and
• achieve the advocacy outcomes that matter to them.

You will work with children and young people with a wide range of communication needs, abilities and preferences. You will need to adapt your communication and advocacy approach to each individual, using appropriate methods and tools to help them understand information, express their views and exercise choice and control.

Advocacy may be provided face-to-face, by telephone, online or through other approaches that meet the individual needs and preferences of the child or young person.

You will work constructively with social workers, carers and other professionals while maintaining the independence of the advocacy relationship. You will take the child or young person's instructions and support them to exercise choice and control rather than making decisions on their behalf.

Our practice is informed by recognised advocacy standards, including the Advocacy Charter, Advocacy Code of Practice, National Standards for the Provision of Children's Advocacy Services, alongside Coram Voice's quality and professional practice requirements.

About you

You will have experience of working directly with children and young people and a strong understanding of independent advocacy and children's rights.

You will be an excellent listener and communicator, able to build trusting relationships and adapt your communication to meet different communication needs, including where children and young people communicate in ways that may differ from conventional verbal communication.

You will be able to represent children's views effectively and work confidently with professionals and other agencies while maintaining your independence as an advocate.

A relevant professional qualification in advocacy, social care, counselling, youth work or another relevant field is desirable. Candidates without a relevant qualification but with substantial relevant experience are encouraged to apply.

You will also need:

• a commitment to child-led and rights-based practice;
• an understanding of safeguarding, confidentiality and professional boundaries;
• the ability to work independently and manage your own workload;
• a commitment to equality, diversity and anti-discriminatory practice; and
• the ability to travel across the service area to meet children and young people.

Self-employed Associate arrangement

Associate Advocates are self-employed professionals, not employees of Coram Voice.

Associates are responsible for their own professional practice, including appropriate insurance, secure equipment and their own tax and National Insurance arrangements.

You will be required to meet Coram Voice's safeguarding, confidentiality, data protection, recording, quality and contractual requirements and complete required training, including Advocacy in Action, safeguarding and equality, diversity and inclusion.

An enhanced DBS check will be required, and applicants must declare any actual or potential conflict of interest that could affect the independence of the advocacy service.

To apply for this role, please click on the 'apply now' button below to complete the application.

Closing Date: Applications accepted on a rolling basis until 30th October 2026

Interview Date: Rolling basis

Coram is an equal opportunities employer and we believe a diverse workforce enables us to improve the services to the children and families we help. We are genuinely committed to encouraging candidates from all sections of the community we seek to support. This includes those from global majority ethnic backgrounds, those that identify as LGBQT+, those with disabilities, those with lived experience of care, those with neuro-diversity, and those from other groups who are underrepresented at Coram.

If applicants feel comfortable, we would encourage them to draw on lived experience as well as professional experience in their personal statement as part of their application.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and where appropriate will require the successful applicant to undertake a check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Registered Charity No. 312278.