Community action for refugees and asylum seekers jobs

We are seeking a compassionate and confident Project Manager to lead our InterAction project, delivering high-quality support to asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants across Tyne and Wear. This strategic and operational leadership role involves managing a small team, coordinating multi-agency partnerships, and ensuring the delivery of impactful casework, drop-in services, and targeted contracts focused on health access and social inclusion. 

The InterAction service provides practical and emotional support through weekly drop-ins in Newcastle, regional casework, and collaborative work with community organisations. You will oversee service planning, budgeting, and monitoring, while promoting integration, wellbeing, and empowerment for those navigating the asylum and resettlement process. 

You will work closely with the Head of Client Services and other Action Foundation teams to ensure joined-up delivery and continuous improvement. This is an exciting opportunity for someone with strong leadership skills, a commitment to inclusion, and a passion for supporting people with lived experience of migration. 

We offer hybrid working and flexible hours to support a healthy work-life balance. Our offices at CastleGate are located close to Newcastle’s vibrant Quayside, providing a welcoming and accessible base for our work. 

Action Foundation is an award-winning charity established in 2005 to support and empower asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants in the North East. We deliver services across Tyne & Wear, helping over 2,000 people each year to overcome barriers, build community connections, and develop skills for independence. 

We welcome applications from all sectors of the community, especially those with lived experience of migration. Action Foundation is committed to safeguarding, and this post will require a DBS check and two references. 

Essential information

Reports to: Head of Client Services

Hours: 35 hours per week, full time

Location: To operate from Newcastle and Gateshead with travel across Tyne and Wear

Salary Scale: £31,483 – £36,581 per annum plus 6% pension contribution

Contract: Fixed Term for 12 months; subject to passing a 3-month probation period

Annual Leave: 28 days + English Bank Holidays

Application deadline: 12:00 noon on 30th October 2025

Interview dates: Interviews are planned to be held on 10 November 2025 at Action Foundation Newcastle, (subject to change)

If you’re unsure about applying, we encourage you to contact Mark Hall, Head of Client Services, for an informal chat. 

Note:  We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive sufficient applications. 

Purpose of the Post

To work as part of our Homeless Services Team, providing tailored support to asylum seekers and newly recognised refugees, helping them prepare for life in the UK, avoid crisis situations, and reduce the risk of homelessness and rough sleeping. The postholder will deliver one-to-one advice, guidance, and group information sessions within Greater Together Manchester’s Lifeskills programme, embedding support in trusted community settings.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver individual support to asylum seekers and new refugees, including:
  • Advice and guidance on housing, welfare benefits, health, employment, and education.
  • Support with paperwork, applications, and referrals to statutory/voluntary services.
  • Crisis prevention planning for those leaving asylum accommodation.
• Facilitate group information sessions at Lifeskills activities (e.g. football, workshops), covering:
  • Rights and responsibilities after gaining refugee status.
  • Access to housing and homelessness prevention.
  • Health and wellbeing, including GP registration.
  • Financial literacy, banking, and benefits.
  • Employment and education pathways.
• Build trust and positive relationships with participants, creating safe spaces for learning and support.
• Act as a link between participants and local statutory/voluntary organisations, strengthening pathways into services.
• Support individuals moved outside Manchester to connect with appropriate services in their new location.
• Maintain accurate records of support provided and outcomes achieved, in line with grant monitoring requirements.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues, volunteers, and external partners to strengthen Greater Together Manchester’s refugee and asylum seeker support offer.

We’re seeking to recruit to two maternity cover posts at City of Sanctuary Sheffield – a ‘Welcoming Spaces Manager – Maternity Cover’ and ‘Volunteer Coordinator – Maternity Cover’ (covered in separate job adverts).  We welcome applications from individuals for one or both of the roles and are prepared to offer flexible working hours for the right candidate(s). 

Please state in your application which post you would like to be considered for or whether you would like to be considered for both posts.  If you would like to be considered for both posts please only apply for one post but state in your application that you would like to be considered for both.

Post 1 – Welcoming Spaces Manager – Maternity Cover

In this post you will manage and develop The Sanctuary and support the running of The Drop-In – two vital welcoming spaces for refugees and asylum seekers in Sheffield and those working in solidarity with them.  This role is a maternity cover for the current post holder. 

• Reports to: Director  

• Responsible for: Drop-In Manager; Team of volunteers  

• Period of Contract: This is a temporary contract covering maternity leave for a duration of 9 months with the possibility of a 3 month extension  

• Hours of work: Part time – 0.8 FTE (28 hours a week, 35 hours full time)  

• Pay Band: B  

• Pay scale: £31,322 per annum (0.8 FTE); (£39,152 1.0 FTE)  

• Pension: 8%  

• Based: Sheffield City Centre  

• Holiday: 20.8 days per year, plus public holidays 

Post 2 – Volunteer Coordinator – Maternity Cover 

See other job advert.

To Apply  

To apply, please write a covering letter (no more than 2 pages long).  In this letter:

• Say why you are applying for the job.

• Tell us how you meet the job requirements detailed in the person specification that we are considering at the application stage. Give practical examples of what you have done that meets each requirement.

If applying for both roles please write one cover letter that speaks to the job requirements of both roles, many of which overlap. 

In addition, please include the following:

• A brief summary of the work and volunteering you have done or a short CV.

• Name, phone number and email addresses of two references, at least one of whom can comment on recent work or volunteer experience.

A free preparation session will be run by the New Beginnings team at Voluntary Action Sheffield.  This will be open to anyone applying for the role to learn a bit more about the job and get support with their application.  This session will be at 4pm on Tuesday 14th October at The Sanctuary, Chapel Walk, S1 2PD. 

Closing date for applications is 5pm on Sunday 2nd November

The main purpose of the post holder is to develop the capacity of new and existing Refugee and Migrant Community Organisations (RMCOs) in Islington and surrounding boroughs by providing high quality information, capacity building training and developmental support.  The post holder is expected to udnerstand the values and challenges of the voluntary sector.

The capacity building project has been running for 18 months, and will continue for another 18 months until 30 June 2027 where funding will end. Renewal of this employment contract beyond of this period is subject continuation of funding

We’re seeking to recruit to two maternity cover posts at City of Sanctuary Sheffield – a ‘Welcoming Spaces Manager – Maternity Cover’ and ‘Volunteer Coordinator – Maternity Cover’ (covered in separate job adverts).  We welcome applications from individuals for one or both of the roles and are prepared to offer flexible working hours for the right candidate(s). 

Please state in your application which post you would like to be considered for or whether you would like to be considered for both posts.  If you would like to be considered for both posts please only apply for one post but state in your application that you would like to be considered for both.

Post 1 – Welcoming Spaces Manager – Maternity Cover

See other Job Advert

Post 2 – Volunteer Coordinator – Maternity Cover 

In this post you will have the opportunity to develop and manage the City of Sanctuary Sheffield volunteer team.  You will be a vital part of the running of City of Sanctuary Sheffield - ensuring that the volunteer team is inclusive, cohesive and well trained and that it supports all the incredible work that City of Sanctuary Sheffield do. Crucially, you will ensure that people seeking sanctuary remain at the heart of the volunteer team. This role is a maternity cover for the current post holder. 

• Reports to: Director  

• Responsible for: Volunteer Administrator; Team of volunteers.  

• Period of Contract: This is a temporary contract covering maternity leave for a duration of 9 months with the possibility of a 3 month extension  

• Hours of work: Part time – 0.4 FTE (14 hours a week)  

• Pay Band: Band B  

• Pay: £14,165 (0.4 FTE); (£35,412 - 1.0 FTE)  

• Pension: 8%  

• Based: Sheffield City Centre  

• Holiday: 10.4 days per year, plus public holidays and time between Christmas and New Year  

. 

To Apply  

To apply, please write a covering letter (no more than 2 pages long).  In this letter:

• Say why you are applying for the job.

• Tell us how you meet the job requirements detailed in the person specification that we are considering at the application stage. Give practical examples of what you have done that meets each requirement.

If applying for both roles please write one cover letter that speaks to the job requirements of both roles, many of which overlap. 

In addition, please include the following:

• A brief summary of the work and volunteering you have done or a short CV.

• Name, phone number and email addresses of two references, at least one of whom can comment on recent work or volunteer experience.

A free preparation session will be run by the New Beginnings team at Voluntary Action Sheffield.  This will be open to anyone applying for the role to learn a bit more about the job and get support with their application.  This session will be at 4pm on Tuesday 14th October at The Sanctuary, Chapel Walk, S1 2PD. 

Closing date for applications is 5pm on Sunday 2nd November

Job Title: Legal Project Officer

Organisation: Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA)

Duration: Four years 

Location: Hybrid / London (our anchor day is in London on a Tuesday, and there are often evening meetings in London, with occasional other travel within the UK) 

Reports to: Senior Legal Officer and Senior Legal Projects Manager

Annual leave: 25 days per annum, plus bank holidays and the week between Christmas and New Year off. 

Salary: £30,000 to £32,000 per annum starting salary, depending on skills and experience, NB. pension is 5% of salary

Working Hours: 35 hours per week, plus 1 hour lunch break (NB. evening working is required to attend any scheduled evening meetings, which ordinarily finish no later than 7pm). 

Start date: 12 January 2026

Application deadline: 11:59pm on Friday, 7 November 2025

Interviews are anticipated to be held on 1 and 2 December 2025. Shortlisted candidates will be notified by Friday, 21 November 2025.

Applications from individuals only – no agencies. Please do not use artificial intelligence in completing your application form.

Please submit a completed ILPA application form and equalities monitoring form as a Word document or in another editable format. If an application is not submitted in this format, it will not be considered. 

About the Role

The Legal Project Officer coordinates two projects which sit at the heart of ILPA’s legal policy and strategic legal coordination work.

The Legal Project Officer will work closely with the Legal Team (Legal Director and Senior Legal Officer) to run ILPA’s Working Groups and with the Senior Legal Projects Manager in a key role to coordinate strategic legal advice and litigation. The Legal Project Officer also works closely with the rest of the ILPA Secretariat, including the Chief Executive, Content and Digital Channels Manager, Training Manager, and with Trustees, ILPA and SLAC members, the SLAC Steering Committee and convenors of ILPA’s Working Groups.

You will support the organisation and running of ILPA’s thematic Working Groups, which provide a valuable forum for ILPA members to share best practice and discuss issues of current importance, assisting with agenda-setting, presenting updates, following-up on action points, answering queries, and preparing meeting summaries. The overall aim of these activities is to improve immigration, asylum and nationality law, policy and practice. 

You will work with the Senior Legal Projects Manager to develop partnerships with NGOs and legal professionals around the UK and to coordinate all Strategic Legal Advice Committee (SLAC) meetings. These meetings will be held online, across the UK. Each SLAC group will hold four meetings per year as well as emergency meetings where necessary. You will be responsible for the minute taking of all SLAC meetings. You will work with the Senior Legal Projects Manager to set member-led meeting agendas, identify member training needs, facilitate training, update the SLAC website, and feed in to monitoring and evaluation of the project. You will be responsible for coordinating SLAC Steering Committee meetings.

About you

The position would suit a self-motivated individual who is passionate about the sector and is looking to further their career in the immigration world, through coordinating and organising these two projects at ILPA.

You may be keen to be working at the heart of the systemic changes following Brexit, recent significant legislation, including the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, Illegal Migration Act 2023, Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024, attempts to remove people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda, government initiatives to “reduce net migration” such as the increased Minimum Income Requirement for family visas, the suspension of the refugee family reunion route, and the recently introduced Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. 

You will have an interest in strategic litigation and how it can be used to protect and promote the rights of those discriminated against on the basis of their migration status. You will be passionate about being involved in the coordination of a unique and exciting project that brings the third and legal sectors together in developing strategic litigation. 

Given the complexity of immigration, asylum and nationality law, we do not expect applicants to have expertise in every area, but an understanding of the law and excellent critical analysis skills are key. Any successful applicant will be able to attend ILPA training to further their knowledge.

Main responsibilities

1. To liaise, work with, and gather evidence from ILPA and SLAC members to support advocacy and knowledge-sharing in the sector;

2. To coordinate and contribute to internal and external meetings;

3. To coordinate ILPA’s thematic working groups and SLAC meetings, including by attending evening meetings, agenda-setting, participating, drafting minutes/meeting summaries, and working with the Secretariat, ILPA’s thematic Working Group co-convenors, and SLAC’s Steering Committees to take forward agreed actions;

4. To handle queries relevant to ILPA’s thematic Working Groups and SLAC sent by members and others where appropriate, such as by forwarding these on to relevant individuals and drafting responses;

5. To manage SLAC’s Steering Committees;

6. To monitor, organise, and disseminate information, communications, and updates, which will often relate to law, policy, and litigation relevant to SLAC and ILPA’s thematic Working Groups

7. To assist with facilitating SLAC training events, and feed into the monitoring and evaluation.

Person Specification

Essential knowledge, experience, skills, and qualities:

1. A law degree, postgraduate qualification in law, or other relevant qualification in law; 

2. Experience of working in or with immigration, asylum and nationality law in the UK, such as in a caseworker or paralegal role;

3. Experience of building and managing effective professional relationships with a range of people, with demonstrable ability to communicate effectively in challenging situations;

4. Relevant legal knowledge, skills and judgment, including:

   1. an ability to navigate and understand the Immigration Rules and Government guidance,

   2. a general understanding of UKVI processes, and

   3. an ability to clearly communicate legal and technical information orally and in writing;

5. Excellent attention to detail;

6. Excellent planning, coordination, organisational, time management, strategic problem-solving and independent working skills, including:

   1. an ability to take a proactive approach to independent working, 

   2. managing workstreams effectively, 

   3. confidently taking responsibility for tasks and decisions, 

   4. meeting tight deadlines, and 

   5. taking a calm and diligent approach to problem solving;

7. Commitment to the principles of a non-racist, non-sexist, just, and equitable system of immigration, asylum and nationality law; 

8. Commitment to the principles of equality, diversity, and inclusion, and taking a proactive approach to espousing these principles; and

9. Commitment to be a champion of ILPA by positively encouraging your team, identifying and encouraging opportunities for growth, and celebrating success.

About the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association

The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) is a charity and a professional association the majority of whose members are barristers, solicitors, advocates and IAA (previously OISC) regulated advisers practising in all aspects of immigration, asylum and nationality law. Academics, non-governmental organisations and individuals with a substantial interest in the law are also members.

Founded in 1984 by leading practitioners in the field, ILPA exists to promote and improve advice and representation in immigration, asylum and nationality law, through an extensive programme of training and disseminating information and by providing research and opinion that draw on the experiences of members. ILPA is represented on numerous government, official and non-governmental advisory groups and regularly provides evidence to parliamentary and official inquiries.

The Secretariat does not give advice to members of the public on individual cases but works closely with members to ensure that they are enabled to do their best for their clients. It runs ILPA’s busy training programme and produces a wide range of information for members and non-members.

The objectives of ILPA are:

• To promote the advising and representation of immigrants;

• To provide information to members and others on domestic and European immigration, asylum and nationality law; and

• To secure a non-racist, non-sexist, just and equitable system of immigration, asylum and nationality law practice.

ILPA is an equal opportunities employer. We acknowledge that the legal and charitable sector can be less accessible to people from minoritised or racialised communities and people from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds. We are committed to unsettling the status quo. In this role you will wear many hats and we recognise that the successful candidate may not have all the skills and experience listed in the personal specification. We welcome an application from you if you can see yourself in this role and have an appetite to gain new skills, knowledge, and experience. We encourage applications from individuals who have lived experience of the UK immigration or asylum system or of the hostile environment.

We also encourage applications from people who have previously unsuccessfully applied for roles at ILPA. We will consider each application afresh. We appreciate that individuals are always learning, growing, and adding to their knowledge and experience.

About the ILPA Team 

You would be joining a small team, of around 10 team members. Under our current hybrid work policy, we have one anchor day (currently a Tuesday), in which you will be expected to work from an office setting in London, together with team members living in England and Scotland. On average, once a month, there will be a Working Group meeting in the evening that you will need to run in London. The rest of the time you will ordinarily work remotely or wherever conferences, training events, or meetings might take place. 

About Us

Unfold is an established local charity, supporting young people and families in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea to get where they want to be, identifying and achieving their goals through mentoring and peer support.   

For over 35 years, we have been supporting people who face social injustice, from families seeking asylum and young people excluded from school to women rebuilding confidence after hardship. Our programmes are rooted in empowerment and inclusion, led by trained volunteers who mentor, listen, and champion change.

Last year, we supported over 450 women, young people, and families, and with our team now 19-strong, we’re growing our reach, our partnerships, and our impact.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Programme Coordinator who is passionate about supporting young people and committed to social change.

In this varied and rewarding role, you’ll coordinate Unfold’s mentoring programmes, from recruiting, training, and supporting volunteer mentors to assessing and matching young people. You’ll also play a key role in delivering our weekly Youth Support Groups for young people seeking asylum, developing partnerships, and ensuring each mentoring journey is well-supported, safe, and impactful.

You’ll work closely with the Programme Manager and a small, dynamic team to help us deliver a quality, inclusive service that puts young people’s needs at the centre.

About You

You’ll bring:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build rapport and trust.
• Strong organisational skills, able to manage multiple tasks and priorities effectively.
• Good data management skills, with attention to detail and accuracy.
• Understanding of the volunteer sector and what makes volunteer experiences meaningful.
• Experience working with young people or children, with empathy and sensitivity to their needs.
• Confidence in public speaking and facilitating group sessions.
• A passion for supporting families to improve outcomes for children and young people.
• Experience in partnership management and workshop facilitation.

You’ll be personable, people-oriented, and a good listener. You'll thrive in community settings and will be willing to work the occasional evening or weekend to support activities and events.

Why Join Us?

• Holidays: 25 working days (along with additional Christmas closedown days)
• Pension: We offer a generous pension provision. New staff are automatically enrolled for a pension after three months, and after six months, we will match your contribution up to a maximum of 8%.
• Team working: We are a small but brilliant team: we're supportive, diverse, and we help each other out. There are always opportunities to get involved in different aspects of the organisation, or lead on new initiatives.
• Training opportunities: We want to ensure that our team is continuously learning and building expertise in their field. For this reason, we offer each team member two days per year dedicated to professional development and training opportunities.
• Wellbeing - How we feel matters: Staff have access to a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme, and our staff Wellbeing Champions are leading on the design and delivery of our wellbeing strategy, including the review of our quarterly wellbeing survey. Staff have regular supervision sessions to encourage reflection and discussion on our work and wellbeing. Additionally, we’re excited to introduce three days a year dedicated to team-building activities. These days are an opportunity to build skills, foster connections, and recharge as a team!
• Flexible working: We're happy to consider flexible working arrangements in line with the requirements of the role.
• Working Environment: We work in a beautiful, accessible, eco-friendly co-working space with a number of other charities, with plants, a leafy roof terrace and free hot and cold drinks. With comfortable spaces to read quietly or talk in a group, our workspace is somewhere you'll want to be.