Housing solicitor (legal aid) jobs

Job Title - Homelessness and Housing Law Advisor or Solicitor

Contract - Fixed Term – 3 years

Hours - 21 hours per week

Salary Range - £36,000 - £39,000 FTE (£21,600 - £23,400 pro rata)

Location - Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AZ

About Coram

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.

One of the twelve members of the Coram group, Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) is the UK’s specialist centre for children’s rights in education, immigration, community care and family law, and provides significant international legal systems consultancy.  The centre is located on the Coram Campus in central London with a base in Colchester. We champion access to justice through information and advice, legal practice and representation, policy and strategic litigation.  Our Legal Practice Unit provides advice and representation primarily under legal aid contract.  Our Policy and Practice Change team promotes practice change through training and capacity building to professionals and secures systems change through research, policy and advocacy.

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a multidisciplinary team working to tackle youth homelessness. 

This role is funded by the Oak Foundation and forms part of Coram’s Voices in Action programme which combines CCLC’s legal work, Coram Voice’s advocacy support and Coram’s policy and participation work to champion young people’s rights and create change.  It centres and amplifies the voices of young people through our young ambassadors with personal experience of homelessness or school exclusion. The young ambassadors campaign locally and nationally to change policy and practice and empower their peers with knowledge of their rights through workshop delivery and content creation. 

Working with others across the group, the purpose of this specific role is to provide specialist housing law advice, preliminary casework and onward referrals to young people under the age of 25 experiencing housing related issues.  This will include delivering regular outreach advice sessions in partnership with community organisations.  The post holder will work with the Head of Community Care Law on project design, co-ordination, delivery and reporting.  Supported by the Head of Community Care Law, they will be proactive in developing community partnerships and managing relationships with partner organisations.

The role will be integrated within the wider community care and public law team and will be supported by the Head of Community Care Law.  Building on the existing expertise and practice within the team, there will be a particular focus on advising and supporting young people who are care experienced, should have benefited from care or are young migrants.  The aim is to diagnose complex legal issues relating to housing and homelessness, to ensure young people understand their position and legal rights and are either supported to take steps to realise those rights, provided with preliminary casework to resolve issue at early stage, or where needed, referred on for complex casework and litigation either internally or externally.

The role would suit an experienced housing law advisor or caseworker. We welcome applications from solicitors and non-solicitors.  The priority is experience delivering high quality housing law advice and casework sensitively to vulnerable clients with a track record of delivering against project targets and meticulous case management skills. We are looking for a committed, resourceful and determined housing law advisor with a positive and solutions focussed attitude who is able to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team. They will be well supported with access to training, supportive line management and will benefit from being part of a wider collaborative legal practice team. They will work closely with a paralegal and be responsible for helping to develop the paralegal’s knowledge and understanding of housing related law.

The role will be based in our offices and with regular advice delivery in outreach locations. However, some remote/ hybrid working may be possible depending on the experience of the candidate after the initial settling in period. There may be flexibility over how the three days will be spread across the week (within working hours) and in accordance with the needs of the project.

To apply for this role, please click on the 'apply now' button below to complete the application, please note we do not accept cv’s.

Closing date: Sunday 12th April 2026

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. 281222.

Paralegal

Salary: Grade 2 - £28,639 per annum 

Location: Birmingham 

Contract: Permanent

Full time – 35 hours per week

Closing date:  Tuesday 14th April 2026 at 11.30 pm

Please note this role is being advertised as a Paralegal but on appointment the job title will be Legal Adviser.

We are looking for an enthusiastic individual with legal experience to join Shelter as a Paralegal/ Legal Adviser and help us deliver an effective service for people experiencing housing issues in Birmingham. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key part in standing up to the housing emergency.

About the Role

You will support our solicitors to maintain an active caseload, enabling our clients to enforce their housing rights while ensuring a high standard of client care. Your role will be varied and will include taking instructions and witness statements, drafting letters, making applications, providing court representation and making sure time recording income targets and professional and quality standards are met. You will work closely with the team in Birmingham Hub to continuously improve and integrate our services.

About you

You will need a good understanding of Civil Procedure Rules, be able to write reports and meet financial targets, as well as being able to provide a good standard of professional service and client care. You will have excellent communication skills, both in writing/drafting and face-to-face along with proficiency using case management systems and time recording. If you have housing law experience and Legal Aid/ CCMS this would be an advantage but is not essential. You enjoy collaborating as part of a team and are able to encourage and support colleagues to meet Shelter’s strategy.

Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.

About the Team

Our Legal team is based around England and is made up of over 100 people, delivering housing advice and litigation services for our clients. Working closely with other teams in Shelter Services, we take referrals from them including certified litigation work, controlled work and Housing Possession Court Duty Schemes.

In Birmingham Hub we specialise in providing housing advice and homelessness work, with a particular focus on families and people experiencing multiple disadvantage. We work in partnership with a range of organisations to improve the underlying systems that prevent people from living securely in suitable, safe, affordable accommodation.

About Shelter

Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet every day millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.

We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.

We need ambitious, passionate people to join us. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.

Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. To win this fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, equitable and transparent. We are committed to combating racism both within and outside Shelter. We welcome you on our journey to becoming truly anti-racist.

How to apply

Please click ‘Apply for Job’ below. You are required to submit a CV and a supporting statement. Your supporting statement should include responses to the 'About You' points outlined in the Job Description of no more than 350 words each. Please provide specific examples following the STAR format and ensure you demonstrate how you address the behaviour below throughout your responses:

• We prioritise diversity and have an inclusive and open mindset

Any applications submitted without a supporting statement will not be considered. 

Safeguarding Statement

Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.

Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.

This is an exciting opportunity to lead CPAG’s strategic legal work at an important time in the organisation’s fight to end child poverty. As Head of Strategic Litigation, you will oversee and carry out CPAG’s work using legal cases for positive impact, to benefit families and children in poverty. You will be responsible for setting the strategic direction of CPAG’s legal work, in addition to managing CPAG’s legal practice and playing an active role in conducting high-profile litigation on a day-to-day basis.

We are looking for someone who is strategically minded and passionate about using the law to advocate for the rights of, and directly improve the lives of, families in poverty. The ideal candidate will be a solicitor (E&W qualified) with substantial post-qualification experience. You will have experience of conducting public law litigation and legal aid (publicly funded) work. You will be able to supervise the casework of colleagues, such as CPAG’s junior or trainee solicitor(s) and welfare benefit advisers, and support the professional development and wellbeing of your team. You may have experience of working with clients in vulnerable situations or with additional needs, for example, survivors of domestic abuse, refugees, disabled people or children and young people.

We welcome applications from individuals with the skills and experience outlined and we can be flexible about working arrangements. We operate a hybrid working system and would be happy to discuss any flexibilities required. CPAG is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion which you can read more about in the job pack. 

For more information about this post and to apply download the Head of Strategic Litigation job pack and application form. 

If you have questions or need specific arrangements or reasonable adjustments to take part in the selection process please contact us.

To apply, please return to us the application form, taking particular care to provide full details of how you meet the person specification. 

Closing date for applications: 11.59pm, Wednesday, 15 April 2026

Interviews will be held at our London office: w/c 27 April 2026