Entry level jobs for the Social Welfare sector
We are recruiting for a IDVA to join our team in Kingston; the scope on this job involves….
Job Title: IDVA
Location: Hybrid with a requirement to work regularly from a range of locations within Kingston and occasionally from our Head Office (Vauxhall)
Salary: £28,857.12 per annum
Contract type: Full time, Permanent
Hours: 37.5
Refuge is recruiting an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) to join our Enhanced Support Outreach Team, focusing on supporting clients living in Kingston.
The IDVA will provide high quality, trauma informed independent advocacy and support to survivors of domestic abuse, and additionally face multiple disadvantages in accessing support service across Kingston. Funded by MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime), this post focuses on improving access to justice, safety and holistic support for individuals affected by domestic abuse, including those navigating the criminal justice system.
We are looking for someone who is passionate, committed and cares about the work Refuge undertakes. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of domestic abuse and the impact this has on survivors and their children. They will be able to work under pressure to effectively manage risk and provide needs-led support to clients with a variety of support needs.
Refuge is the UK’s largest provider of specialist services, and we are proud to be a leader in our field and an employer of choice, with leading edge systems for supervision, quality management and development. This is an opportunity to join a brand-new service and improve the local multi agency partnership to recognise, reject and respond to all forms of gender-based abuse.
Closing date: 9.00am on 23 January 2026
Interview date: 30 January 2026
Benefits
Refuge offers a variety of exciting opportunities to learn, develop and grow in your career. We recognise the value everyone brings to the organisation to achieve our aims and are dedicated to developing and rewarding our staff. More details of our benefits can be found in Job Information Pack.
Thank you!
Job Title: Floating Support Worker
Location: Warwickshire
Salary: £15,514.27 per annum
Contract type: Part Time, Permanent
Hours: 22.5 hours per week
This is an opportunity to join Refuge as a Floating Support Worker to provide high quality practical and emotional support to survivors of domestic abuse and their children living in our dispersed refuge accommodation in Warwickshire. This service will provide emergency accommodation across Warwickshire with high-quality domestic abuse support, ‘by-and-for’ services for survivors of domestic abuse and their children.
The post holder will provide high quality support and safety planning to survivors and their children who are fleeing domestic abuse. This includes enabling survivors to access housing, welfare, benefits and legal advice. A key requirement is to provide personal welfare support and to ensure that survivors are provided with a safe, supportive and welcoming environment in accordance with Refuge’s philosophical principles.
The Floating Support Worker (FSW) will carry a caseload of survivors of domestic abuse to enable them to provide a more holistic and intensive support package. They will work closely with survivors from the point of crisis through to move on from the emergency accommodation. FSWs will work in partnership with both statutory and voluntary sector partners to ensure that the whole range of survivors’ needs are met.
As part of this role, you will be required to participate in an out-of-hours on call rota.
This post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.
Closing Date: 09:00am 28 January 2026
Interview Date: 16 February 2026
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
We are looking for a Communications and Campaigns Officer to join the Birth Companions Institute staff team. The Communications and Campaigns Officer will play a key role in raising awareness of our work and the issues we are seeking to address; influencing policy and public opinion; and amplifying the voices of the women we support. They will help shape public narratives around inequity and disadvantage, and contribute to Birth Companions’ mission to lead systemic change.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
About the role
Our Welfare Officers provide direct and impactful welfare support to RAF personnel and their immediate family. As a trusted and confidential source of support, you will assist our service users with challenges they are facing, from mental ill-health, difficult relationships, domestic abuse, financial and cost-of-living concerns, resettlement, housing, childcare, equality issues, bereavement, military discharge or deployment and many more - no day will be the same, as such this is a great opportunity to develop your knowledge and skills within the Welfare sector.
Our intervention is provided with consent on a non-statutory basis, and you will work with and engage our service users to develop appropriate interventions for individual outcomes.
Our service is transitioning to become more accessible and inclusive, digital technology plays a key role in this, as such you will use digital technologies to complement and enhance processes and service user experience.
You will play an active role within the community, promoting the service through the delivery of presentations and representing the service at public engagement events. You will also work closely with RAF welfare teams, local authorities, health, education, civilian agencies, charities and other military organisations to ensure the best outcome for the service user.
About the Team
2024 marked 34 years since SSAFA began delivering an independent non-statutory, and confidential service, for the Royal Air Force community across the UK, and this is an exciting time to be joining as we were successful in our bid to continue delivering this service.
We are transforming our ways of working to be innovative, to ensure our service is even more inclusive and accessible to meet the needs of a modern RAF.
We are a hard-working team from diverse professional backgrounds. Although we all have our own area of responsibility, we support each other in delivering the best possible service to our military community.
Find out more about the Personal Support & Social Work Service on our website.
About you
To thrive in this role you will have relevant experience of supporting adults, families and children/young people. You will be able to take a flexible and creative approach to problem solving. You will have excellent communication skills and be able to deliver presentations with confidence.
You will have used Microsoft Office 365 to a high standard. It is important that you have experience of planning and managing your own workload, with minimal supervision.
It would be advantageous if you have experience of carrying out assessments, preparing plans, monitoring and reviewing outcomes.
There will be some travel required and therefore you will need to be able to drive and have access to your own car.
About SSAFA
SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity is a trusted source of support for the Armed Forces community in their time of need. In 2024 our trained teams of volunteers and employees helped more than 53,000 people, including veterans, serving personnel (regulars and reserves) and their families.
SSAFA understands that behind every uniform is a person. And we are here for that person and their family, any time they need us and in any way they need us.
Diversity and Inclusion at SSAFA
SSAFA exists to support a diverse range of beneficiaries within the armed forces community, and we believe diversity within our teams is key to ensuring we can deliver our services effectively. We thrive on differences and believe it is critical to our success as a worldwide charity. SSAFA is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace that seeks to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We therefore encourage applications from all genders, races, religions, ages and sexual orientations, as well as parents, veterans, people living with disabilities, and any other groups that could bring diverse perspectives to our business.
SSAFA is committed to using the Disclosure & Barring Service to ensure we, as an employer, safeguard those we serve.
Further information about the role can be found via the Apply button.
If you have any queries or would like to speak to someone about this role, please contact Jayne Whitcher, Social Work Team Lead for an informal discussion.
No agencies please. Any unsolicited submissions from agencies will be accepted as a direct application from the candidate and no fees will be payable.
How to apply
For more informaion and to apply, please click on the Apply button.
If you need any adjustments to support you with the application process, please contact us.
Closing date: Midnight on Sunday 25 January 2026. SSAFA reserves the right to close the vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.
Interviews: Face to Face, week commencing 02 February 2026
Registered Charity
101 - 500
Our vision A society in which the Armed Forces, veterans and their families can thrive.
Thank you!
About the role
At the heart of our welfare operations, our brilliant Regional Casework Coordinators are the primary point of contact for members of the Armed Forces community when reaching out to our Regional Offices for assistance.
In this dynamic role, no two days are the same. You may be assisting beneficiaries in distress over the phone, managing email and voicemail communications, collaborating with volunteers on complex casework, building strong relationships with local authorities and charitable organisations, or working closely with internal services to secure the best possible outcomes for our beneficiaries.
You will sometimes handle complex problems from clients who may be distressed; identifying their needs to determine the best way to assist them. You will have ownership of cases from beginning to end, coordinating the casework process efficiently and ensuring that the beneficiary journey is at the centre of the service.
Whilst the post is homebased, to be eligible for this role you are required to live in the East of England region; in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, or Essex.
You will occasionally be required to travel around the region or further afield, to attend face to face meetings or training events.
To help you establish yourself in this new post you will receive excellent training and an induction to SSAFA. You will initially be required to attend an in-person caseworkers’ course which may require an overnight stay.
About the team
Reporting to the Regional Casework Manager our Casework Coordinators, along with our Volunteer Caseworkers, work remotely within the regional office area. With beneficiaries at the heart of everything we do, team members pride themselves in building and maintaining close working relationships to ensure the smooth operation of the office. The wider regional team includes a Regional Manager, Volunteer Development Manager and a Community Engagement Manager.
About you
To thrive in this role, you will maintain composure and resilience in high-pressure situations, while demonstrating empathy and a strong commitment to assisting individuals in need.
Our beneficiaries are at the heart of everything we do. To assist them effectively, you’ll need to be an attentive listener and a clear, compassionate communicator.
You will have experience of providing welfare support, especially on the telephone and a good knowledge of benefits, debt management, disability, homelessness, local authority provision or mobility would be a real benefit. Understanding the way of life of today’s Armed Forces, veterans and their families and experience of working with volunteers would be a real advantage.
Knowledge of Safeguarding and GDPR is essential in this complex role as team members are responsible for recording and protecting personal data and reporting safeguarding concerns.
A good working knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 applications is essential, and prior experience using a case management system would be highly advantageous. It is important that you have experience of planning and managing your own workload, with minimal supervision.
About SSAFA
SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity is a trusted source of support for the Armed Forces community in their time of need. In 2024 our trained teams of volunteers and employees helped more than 54,000 people, including veterans, serving personnel (regulars and reserves) and their families.
SSAFA understands that behind every uniform is a person. And we are here for that person and their family, any time they need us and in any way they need us.
Diversity and Inclusion at SSAFA
SSAFA exists to support a diverse range of beneficiaries within the armed forces community, and we believe diversity within our teams is key to ensuring we can deliver our services effectively. We thrive on differences and believe it is critical to our success as a worldwide charity. SSAFA is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace that seeks to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We therefore encourage applications from all genders, races, religions, ages and sexual orientations, as well as parents, veterans, people living with disabilities, and any other groups that could bring diverse perspectives to our business.
SSAFA is committed to using the Disclosure & Barring Service to ensure we, as an employer, safeguard those we serve.
Further information about the role can be found via the Apply button.
If you have any queries or would like to speak to someone about this role, email us for an informal discussion.
No agencies please. Any unsolicited submissions from agencies will be accepted as a direct application from the candidate and no fees will be payable.
If you need any adjustments to support you with the application process, please contact us.
Recently unsuccessful candidates need not reapply.
How to apply
For more information and to apply, please click on the Apply button.
If you need any adjustments to support you with the application process, please contact us.
Closing date: Midnight on 25 January 2026. SSAFA reserves the right to close the vacancy early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.
Interviews: Week commencing 02 February 2026.
As part of the selection process, you will be required to complete an assessment.
Registered Charity
101 - 500
Our vision A society in which the Armed Forces, veterans and their families can thrive.
Thank you!
Carers First is a charity that works directly with, and for unpaid carers, providing personalised information and tailored support. We have a committed, dedicated staff team, and you could be just the person we are looking for to join us to make that valuable difference in carer’s lives. We live and work through our values in all that we achieve by being positive, collaborative and ambitious and we have clear plans to scale our reach, support and impact for carers.
About this role
As a Communications Officer, your responsibilities will include:
• Raising the profile of Carers First by creating engaging and accessible content across digital and offline channels
• Supporting increased local presence and visibility of Carers First across the areas we work
• Assisting with the development and delivery of campaigns and projects, helping to increase engagement and promote our work locally
About you
To be successful in this role you will need:
• Some experience supporting communications and stakeholder engagement activities across a range of channels
• The ability to help deliver campaigns and contribute to the implementation and monitoring of communications plans
• Awareness of how analytics can be used to measure performance and support improvement
• Good written and verbal communication skills, with attention to detail and accuracy
• Well organised, with the ability to prioritise tasks and meet deadlines
• Good IT and digital skills, including use of Microsoft Office and familiarity with digital tools such as email platforms, CMS, and social media scheduling software
• Positive interpersonal skills, able to build relationships and work collaboratively as part of a team
• Motivated and reliable, able to work with some independence while seeking guidance when needed, and committed to the charity’s values
We are looking for passionate people who are committed to the overall aims and objectives of the Charity. Carers First is committed to providing a supportive, vibrant, diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.
Carers First Can Offer You
In return for your contribution, we have an amazing package of staff benefits including 26 days annual leave entitlement which increases with length of service, flexible working options, paid carers leave, access to our work-place pension, staff discount scheme, employee assistance programme and a Benenden Healthcare package. Whatever you are aiming to achieve in your career, we are here to encourage, help and support you grow, through our excellent training and development programmes.
How to Apply
For a full job description and to apply, click on the ‘Apply Now’ button to begin your application. Appointments are subject to Carers First receiving an appropriate disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service that we consider acceptable.
Interview Process
The closing date for applications is 5.00pm on 26 January 2026.
Each application will be assessed against the Person Specification and successful candidates will be invited to an interview via Teams on Tuesday, 03 February 2026. Time to be advised.
Registered Charity
101 - 500
Our new three-year strategy will enable us to grow our work to reach and support significantly more carers delivering innovative programmes of support
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.