Policy and Public Affairs Manager
Location: Remote, with some travel to Cannock, London and other locations as required
Reports to: Charity Director
Team: Charitable Service
At Newlife, we’re entering an exciting new chapter - we’re on a mission to empower disabled children and their families, to live life to the fullest and champion the joy of childhood.
So we’re investing in our people and building the team we need to deliver our new strategic ambitions.
Newlife is looking for an experienced and values-driven Policy and Public Affairs Manager to lead our policy, influencing, public affairs and campaigning work. This is an exciting opportunity to shape national conversations and drive meaningful change for disabled children and their families across education, health and social care systems.
In this role, you will ensure that lived experience is at the heart of Newlife’s influencing work, developing evidence-based policy positions, building strategic relationships and delivering campaigns that challenge barriers, raise awareness and improve outcomes for families.
About the role
As Policy and Public Affairs Manager, you will provide strategic and operational leadership across Newlife’s policy, campaigns, public affairs and lived experience activity. You will identify opportunities to influence policy and practice, develop compelling cases for change, and represent Newlife with decision-makers, sector partners and external stakeholders.
You will also oversee the delivery and development of the APPG for Access to Disability Equipment, working with parliamentarians, government departments and sector organisations to increase awareness of the issues affecting disabled children and families.
Key responsibilities
o Lead the development and delivery of Newlife’s policy, public affairs, campaigning and influencing strategy.
o Develop evidence-based policy positions informed by research, service insight and lived experience.
o Ensure the voices of disabled children and families shape Newlife’s policy, campaigning and influencing work.
o Oversee the APPG for Access to Disability Equipment and build relationships with parliamentarians, policymakers and sector partners.
o Lead campaigns and influencing activity that raise awareness, challenge barriers and support policy change.
o Build strategic partnerships and coalitions to strengthen Newlife’s influence and collective impact.
o Represent Newlife externally at parliamentary events, conferences, roundtables and sector forums.
o Provide effective leadership for policy, campaigns and lived experience activity, including line management of the Lived Experience Coordinator.
o Contribute to organisational strategy, planning and growth as a member of the Charity Leadership Team.
About you
We are looking for someone with significant experience in policy development, public affairs, campaigning or influencing, ideally within the charity, public or not-for-profit sector. You will bring strong knowledge of policy and influencing processes, excellent communication skills and the ability to build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and decision-makers.
You will be confident developing policy briefings, consultation responses, reports and position papers, and able to use evidence, research and lived experience to influence change. You will also be a collaborative leader with a strong commitment to inclusion, equity and the rights of disabled children and their families.
Essential experience and skills
o Experience of developing and delivering policy and influencing strategies.
o Experience of building relationships with parliamentarians, policymakers, government departments or national stakeholders.
o Experience of managing campaigns, consultations or public affairs activity.
o Experience of partnership and coalition working.
o Experience of using research, evidence and lived experience to influence change.
o Strong understanding of education, health, social care and disability policy.
o Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
o Strong leadership, people management, strategic thinking and analytical skills.
o Degree-level qualification or equivalent professional experience.
For the full person specification, please refer to the attachement below
Why join Newlife?
This is a unique opportunity to play a leading role in strengthening Newlife’s voice and influence, helping to create systemic change for disabled children and their families. You will work with passionate colleagues, families, professionals and partners to shape policy, improve practice and ensure lived experience drives meaningful action.
If you are a strategic, compassionate and influential leader who wants to make a lasting difference, we would love to hear from you.
Benefits
In return, you will receive 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays, a generous in-store discount, a cash health plan, discounts on restaurants, travel and insurance, and access to an Employee Assistance Programme through Retail Trust.
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Registered Charity
101 - 500
The UK’s largest charitable provider of specialist equipment for disabled children.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Using Anonymous Recruitment
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About Chapter One
Chapter One is a growing charity, working to ensure that every child has 1:1 reading support at the time they need it most.
Our unique Online Reading Volunteer programme currently supports about 3,500 children a year. It pairs disadvantaged, struggling five to eight-year old (KS1) readers with reading support volunteers who come from over 180 local and national businesses. The volunteer task is very focused: readers commit 30 minutes a week to read with a child using a bespoke digital platform for an entire academic year. The results are transformative, boosting children's reading confidence and ability.
We have set ourselves ambitious targets and want to support 3,900 children by 2026/27, so this role, with responsibility for communicating and maintaining relationships with our existing corporate partners, will be crucial to ensuring that we have sufficient volunteers and support to achieve this target.
For more information about our programmes please visit our website. Please also take some time to visit our social media channels and watch our videos.
About the Role
Chapter One is seeking a proactive, organised and enthusiastic Corporate Partnerships Communications Officer, reporting to our Marketing & Communications Manager, to support the delivery of excellent communications and content for our growing portfolio of corporate partners. Working closely with the Corporate Partnerships and Marketing & Communications teams, you will coordinate partner communications activity, managing workflows, timelines, approvals and follow-up to ensure a smooth and positive partner experience.
You will build strong relationships with corporate partners across our partnership tiers, acting as a key point of contact where appropriate and helping to identify and develop engaging stories, case studies and content opportunities. You will create tailored communications for partners, including internal announcements, intranet content and employee-facing materials, ensuring messaging is aligned with partner needs and Chapter One’s mission.
This is a new role within Chapter One and is an opportunity for an early career professional to learn about charity partnership communications in a dynamic charity which is flexible and agile.
Key Responsibilities
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Act as the primary coordinator for corporate partnership communications and content, managing workflow, timelines, follow-up and sign-off.
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Build and maintain effective relationships with corporate partners across the Platinum, Gold, Silver and other partnership tiers, acting as their main point of contact where appropriate.
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Proactively identify, gather, and develop stories, case studies, and other content opportunities from across the corporate partnership base.
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Draft bespoke content for individual corporate partners on request — for example, internal announcements, intranet copy, or employee-facing campaign materials.
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Work closely with the Marketing & Communications and Corporate Partnerships teams to ensure content is aligned with the corporate partner journey and that sign-off processes run smoothly.
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Support the production of corporate partner impact reports, award entries, and a content and asset library relevant to corporate partners.
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Maintain accurate records of corporate partner activity, approvals, preferences and key communications.
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Contribute to improving processes, workflows and consistency across corporate partnership communications activity.
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Represent Chapter One professionally in all partner interactions.
General Responsibilities
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Attend online and in-person meetings and relevant team sessions to support collaboration, communication and delivery of Chapter One’s activities.
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Provide general administrative support to the Marketing & Communication and Corporate Partnerships teams as required.
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Manage multiple priorities and deadlines, ensuring content requests, approvals and partner communications are delivered in a timely and organised way.
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Support the maintenance and organisation of corporate partnership resources, including content libraries, assets and shared team materials.
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Represent Chapter One professionally at meetings, events and partner interactions, demonstrating commitment to the organisation’s mission and values.
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Undertake other duties as required to support the delivery of Chapter One’s objectives.
We are looking for applicants with the following essential qualities:
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Strong relationship-builder, confident working with a range of partners and stakeholders.
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Highly organised, with excellent attention to detail and a reliable approach to follow-up and record-keeping.
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A clear and adaptable communicator, able to write well for different audiences and channels.
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Proactive and self-starting, with an eye for stories, content opportunities and ways to improve how things work.
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Process-minded and comfortable managing multiple priorities and deadlines simultaneously.
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A collaborative team player, happy working across teams and with shared sign-off processes.
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Calm and flexible under pressure, able to exercise good judgement and handle sensitive information with discretion.
How to Apply
Please send your CV (maximum 2 A4 sides) and a covering letter via Charity Jobs. Your covering letter (maximum 1 side of A4) should:
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Detail your relevant experience, including clear examples.
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Tell us about a specific example of a piece of work you were responsible for - a relationship, a project, a piece of content - that wasn't going as planned. What did you do, and what would you do differently? We will expect you to talk about this at the interview.
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Tell us about how our organisational mission is in line with your values.
Applications that fail to meet these criteria will automatically be discounted. We understand that you may use AI to help craft your application, but do remember that we will be looking for individuals who write a covering letter that stands out. We want you to have every opportunity to shine and to show us your talents - please let us know if there is anything we can do to make sure the assessment process works for you.
Chapter One is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value and celebrate diversity in backgrounds and experience and are deliberate about the kind of inclusive teams we are building. Literacy is a universal concern, and we need people from all backgrounds to maximise our innovation, creativity and impact. We especially welcome applications from persons who have experienced disadvantage and/or from those who are of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities who are currently underrepresented in the organisation.
Chapter One is committed to safeguarding children and young people. All post holders are subject to a satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service disclosure. Copies of our Safeguarding Policy and Safer Recruitment Policy are available on request.
N.B. Shortlisting is likely to take place from 29/06/2026. Stage 1 interviews are planned for 08/07/2026 and 09/07/2026 with successful applicants being invited to a second interview between 15/07/2026 - 16/07/2026. These dates have been scheduled based on the recruiting team’s availability, however we will make every effort to accommodate alternative requests where possible.
Registered Charity
21 - 50
At Chapter One, we want to create a world where all children have the literacy skills needed to thrive.