Office and business support manager jobs

Associate Director Commercial

Salary: £75,000 – £80,000 + excellent benefits, including 27 days holiday, 2:1 pension (up to 12% employer contribution), plus many more

Location: London/Hybrid with at least one day per month in the office

Did you know that there are at least 20m people in the UK in vulnerable financial circumstances, who are poorly served or unfairly excluded from mainstream financial services?

That’s nearly a third of all adults in the UK.

We are Fair4All Finance. We are a not-for-profit organisation working with Financial Services providers to improve the financial wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances by increasing access to fair, affordable and appropriate financial products and services.

We are continuing our work following our latest round of funding, and as a result we are now seeking an Associate Director to join our Commercial team.

As an Associate Director in our Commercial team, you’ll help lead the development, testing, and scaling of innovative financial products and services through strategic partnerships. Working at the intersection of commercial contracting, product development, and social impact, you’ll drive key initiatives to transform access to credit, insurance, and savings across the UK.

You will know your way around a contract and be adept at negotiating terms. You will also know how to dig through the ‘noise’ of a proposal to get to the real information, whilst ensuring you mitigate risk for the organisation on the schemes & pilots that you do progress.

You'll be joining a purpose-driven, high-performing team committed to long-term systemic change. If you're a commercially astute professional with a passion for improving financial inclusion, we’d love to hear from you.

This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a mission-driven organisation, ensuring resources are strategically aligned with our goals to drive meaningful social impact

Key Responsibilities:

· Lead commercial lifecycle for new product pilots – from opportunity development and partner engagement through to contracting, testing, and evaluation.

· Identify and engage mainstream and mission-aligned financial providers to co-design, pilot, and scale new propositions.

· Run transparent competitive processes, negotiate contracts, and manage supplier relationships to ensure clarity, value for money and impact.

· Oversee delivery and evaluation of pilot projects, ensuring robust data capture, impact measurement and evidence-based decision making.

· Design and structure long-term financial instruments (e.g. subsidies, guarantees) to enable sustainable scale-up of successful propositions.

· Work closely with our Propositions and Investment teams to structure deals and build investment cases for propositions.

· Represent Fair4All Finance externally with C-suite stakeholders, financial providers, and at sector events.

· Ensure sound financial and contract management; contribute to investment committee papers and internal reporting.

· Support internal knowledge sharing, deputise for senior leaders, and contribute to building a collaborative and inclusive team culture.

Essential experience and qualifications:

· Proven track record in developing and delivering commercial partnerships, ideally involving financial products or services.

· Expertise in commercial negotiations, procurement, contract management, and structuring financial arrangements.

· Familiarity with consumer-facing financial services and their delivery models.

· Strong stakeholder management, with experience operating in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.

· Experience working alongside investment teams on capital deployment or investment structures.

· High level of numeracy and ability to build and present commercial business cases.

· Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders.

· Detail-oriented with strong organisational and project management skills.

· A collaborative team player with self-starter mentality and the flexibility to adapt in a dynamic environment.

Desirable experience

· Experience working in or with the public sector or civil service.

· Understanding of public procurement, subsidy control, and assessing economic/social value.

· Experience working with or supporting social purpose organisations or financial inclusion initiatives.

Person Profile

· Passionate about financial inclusion and committed to creating long-term social impact.

· Able to create partnerships and commercial structures that deliver value for all parties – customers, providers, and society.

· Comfortable working at both strategic and detailed levels, with a willingness to roll up your sleeves in a small, agile team.

· Values working with diverse stakeholders and across teams to co-create solutions.

· Adept at using data and insight to inform decisions, measure success and adapt for impact.

· Thrives in ambiguity and is able to flex priorities as new opportunities or challenges emerge.

· Confident engaging and influencing stakeholders at all levels, both internally and externally

Who are Fair4All Finance?

We are a not-for-profit organisation working with Financial Services providers to improve the financial wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances by increasing access to fair, affordable and appropriate financial products and services.

Founded in 2019, we are funded from the Dormant Assets Scheme. The scheme is led by the financial industry and backed by the UK government. This makes it possible for money in dormant bank and building society accounts to be used to help good causes.

Our vision is of a society where the long-term financial wellbeing of all people is supported by a fair and accessible financial sector.

Fair4All Finance is a Disability Confident Committed scheme member.

Fair4All Finance is a Disability Confident Committed member. We’re committed to an inclusive workplace and will offer an initial interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role. You’ll be able to indicate this in your application.

Our Benefits include:

Financial Security:

· Pension (2:1 up to 12% employer contribution), group life assurance, critical illness, and income protection, family leave

Wellbeing:

· 27 days holiday plus bank holidays, agile working, health cash plan, health & wellbeing resource hub (including an Employee Assistance Programme)

Personal & Professional Development:

· Individual discretionary Training budget

· Book Club – mission aligned, up to 4 per year

Fair4All Finance is dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. We value different perspectives, experiences, and expertise, encouraging everyone to grow and contribute fully. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, including age, gender identity, disability, marital status, race, sexual orientation, pregnancy, and socioeconomic status.

We ensure fair and equitable treatment for all team members and applicants and actively recruit from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to making reasonable adjustments to support candidates and promote flexible working for a healthy work-life balance.

To apply, submit your application via Applied by 5pm on Friday 4th July.

Please note that your application will be reviewed through a blind, unbiased process, so be sure to provide clear, specific examples in your responses. Your CV will only be reviewed at a later stage in the process.

Due to the nature of our work, and depending on the role, successful applicants may be required to undergo pre-employment checks, which include employment reference, financial and criminal record checks. All checks will be role appropriate and your recruiter will confirm which checks are required. We manage our checks via TrustID

Summary

The Lead Strategy and Impact Analyst plays a key role in developing practical, evidence-based policies that support effective mission and ministry approaches within the Church of England's Vision and Strategy priority areas.

In this role, you will analyse and synthesise data from evaluations of funded programmes, commissioned research, and wider social trends, building a coherent evidence base to inform both policy and practice.

As a member of the Insights and Engagement sub-team, you will work collaboratively across departments and teams to:

• Support strategic projects through analysis, reporting, and evaluation
• Engage with key stakeholders, fostering communication and knowledge sharing
• Assess the impact of grant-funded projects to ensure meaningful outcomes.

• Convert analysis into actionable insight to inform decision-making.
• Conduct high-quality research to build evidence and support policy development.
• Lead strategy development initiatives, including stakeholder engagement, communication, analysis, reporting, and evaluation.
• Perform statistical modelling and quantitative/qualitative analysis to assess the impact of the SMMI grants programme.

The post holder is required to work 1 day a week from the primary office location - Church House or The Brewhouse, Bishopthorpe Palace.

You will need to be/have:

• Experience in handling complex datasets, projects and applying different strategic modelling approaches.
• Proficient in data visualisation tools such as Power BI and Tableau.
• A strong background in statistical modelling, including regression analysis (R, Python, SPSS).
• The ability to prioritise and structure the evidence base with technical expertise.
• Critical thinking to evaluate risks, develop options, and provide recommendations.
• Experience in staff management and development.
• The ability to perform under tight deadlines and high-pressure situations.
• Proactive and resilient, demonstrating energy and commitment to meaningful change.
• Expertise in identifying and sharing key learning from grant-funded programmes and projects.
• The ability to present findings persuasively and accurately in both written and spoken formats.

• A salary of £59,248 per annum, plus age-related pension contributions between 8-15% of salary. We will also match any pension contributions you make up to an additional 3% of your salary.

• 25 days annual leave (increasing to 30 days within 5 years) plus eight bank holidays and three additional days (pro-rated if working part-time).
• We welcome all flexible working arrangement requests. This is looked at in a case-by-case scenario, and if this fits within the department's needs. We try to be as flexible as we can in your work pattern to support you with other commitments, and to give a good work-life balance.
• We offer many services and initiatives under our Family Friendly Programme, some of these include enhanced Maternity Leave initiative, Adoption Leave, Paternity Leave, & Shared Parental Leave.
• Structured induction programme and access to a range of development opportunities, including apprenticeships.
• Automatic enrolment and access to Medicash (one of the UK's leading health cash plan providers), providing you with many services including reimbursements of routine dental treatment, optical, specialist consultations, and therapy treatments. Unlimited access to virtual GP & Private prescription service and health & stress-related helplines.
• Access to Occupational Health, and an Employee Assistance Programme 
• Access to the Department of Education Restaurant and Westminster Abbey with a plus-one guest.
• Apply for eligibility for an Eyecare voucher.
• Opportunity to join the Civil Service Sports & Social Club, and get involved in a range of staff networks, groups and societies.

• Strive for Excellence
• Show Compassion
• Respect others
• Collaborate
• Act with Integrity

We're looking for a passionate, values-driven CEO to guide our charity into its next inspiring chapter. 

The Coalition registered as a charity in December 2023. We have spent the last 18 months developing the infrastructure of the organisation so we can meet the Charity Commission requirements. We developed a short strategic plan for a 2 year period to ensure we had all of the foundations in place to capitalise on our new charity status. This strategic plan ends in November 2025.

The CEO will set a new five-year strategy for the organisation by building on the solid foundations of the 2 year strategic plan and maximising the opportunities that charity status provides.

The CEO will have oversight across the whole organisation, often acting as the external ‘face’ of The Coalition with our stakeholders and partners. As such, they will represent us, and enable the Disabled community to have their voices heard to achieve equality and independence for Disabled people and those with long-term health conditions.  The CEO will promote the Social Model of Disability and champion accessibility across all services in Surrey.

Salary: £31,133 per annum pro rata

Hours: Part time - 18.75 per week - working pattern negotiable

Location: Lincoln Probation Office with travel across Lincolnshire

Contract: Fixed term until 31st March 2026

Closing date: Thursday 26th June 2025 at 11.30 pm

We are looking for an Accommodation Adviser for our team based in Lincoln Probation, to provide tailored accommodation support to men both in custody and under probation supervision within the community and helping reintegrate into a life outside the justice system.

About the role

You will complete an Initial Needs Assessment (INA) with each client, having a detailed discussion with them to outline their situation and the support they need. A strengths-based approach is used to identify the positive attributes that they can build upon to achieve their goals and is reflected in the design of the INA. Working together with your client, you will map out and agree a set of interventions and the outcomes needed, encouraging and empowering them to actively contribute towards their goals.

You will carry a fluctuating case load of service users with varying levels of needs. The focus of the service is to support the desistance model, supporting individuals to achieve their full potential.

The position will be based in Lincoln Probation, with other locations and travel expected when needed across the National Probation Service Region in Lincolnshire.

About You 

You have considerable experience of advocating for clients to agencies and authorities and have a track record of successful outcomes and challenging when needed. You can adapt complex information into practical plans and proactively manage your caseload. Motivating and encouraging your clients will be a key part of the role, as well the ability to build rapport, trust and actively listen to their needs. As you will be working closely with clients, a sound understanding of professional boundaries is crucial.

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 

We ensure that our clients are supported to gain and retain safe, decent and affordable accommodation. A stable home is a key factor in successful rehabilitation and breaking the cycle of re-offending. We work holistically with clients, alongside multiple agencies.

Nationally we aim to influence the Government and MOJ to bring about systemic change, so that people in the criminal justice system can access better housing. We also work with housing providers and local authorities to achieve change at a local level.

About Shelter 

Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet everyday 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 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.

Associate Director – Investments

Salary: £80,000 - £89,000 + excellent benefits, including 27 days holiday, 2:1 pension (up to 12% employer contribution), plus many more

Location: Hybrid/London – with travel to the office 1-2 days per week

Did you know that there are at least 20m people in the UK in vulnerable financial circumstances, who are poorly served or unfairly excluded from mainstream financial services?

That’s nearly a third of all adults in the UK.

We are Fair4All Finance. We are a not-for-profit organisation working with Financial Services providers to improve the financial wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances by increasing access to fair, affordable and appropriate financial products and services.

With additional dormant assets funding now secured, we're expanding our work – and we’re looking for two Associate Directors – Investment to help us deliver it.

The roles

These are brilliant opportunities to play a key part in transforming financial inclusion across the UK. As one of our Associate Directors specialising in Investments, you'll be a senior member of our Investment team, responsible for originating, executing and managing a growing portfolio of social investments.

You'll work with a range of mission-driven commercial lenders and community finance providers, helping to build sustainable, scalable solutions for underserved communities.

We’re hiring two roles at the same level with shared responsibilities across a number of exciting areas relating to our newly awarded Guarantee fund.

We’re looking for talented investment professionals who share our mission and bring strong commercial acumen, structured thinking, and the ability to manage end-to-end investment processes.

This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a mission-driven organisation, ensuring resources are strategically aligned with our goals to drive meaningful social impact

Key Responsibilities

· Lead origination, due diligence, structuring and execution of social investments into mission-aligned commercial lenders and community finance organisations

· Manage a portfolio of investments, including monitoring financial and social impact performance, reforecasting, and supporting investee governance

· Build and maintain strong relationships with mainstream banks, credit funds and aligned investors to crowd in commercial capital

· Play a leading role in shaping either our Guarantee Fund or our investment support for pilots and new products

· Contribute to strategic initiatives across the organisation, and support and mentor junior colleagues

· Represent Fair4All Finance at events, with stakeholders and in working groups

Essential experience & qualifications:

· Significant investment experience – this could be from social investment, banking, private equity or another relevant sector

· Strong financial modelling, commercial analysis and deal execution skills

· Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement experience, especially with senior leaders

· Evidence of building collaborative partnerships and leading teams or projects

· A commitment to our mission and an understanding of the impact of financial exclusion

Desirable experience

· Experience investing in social fintechs, consumer credit or early-stage ventures

· Experience working with community finance providers (e.g. credit unions, CDFIs)

· Commercial fundraising or regulated fund management experience

· Familiarity with policy and systems-change initiatives, especially around financial inclusion

Person Profile

You’re will be a confident, thoughtful investment professional with a passion for purpose. You’re equally comfortable pitching to senior stakeholders and getting into the details of legal documents. You thrive in collaborative environments, bring a sense of ownership to your work, and want to use your skills to make a lasting difference.

Who are Fair4All Finance?

We are a not-for-profit organisation working with Financial Services providers to improve the financial wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances by increasing access to fair, affordable and appropriate financial products and services.

Founded in 2019, we are funded from the Dormant Assets Scheme. The scheme is led by the financial industry and backed by the UK government. This makes it possible for money in dormant bank and building society accounts to be used to help good causes.

Our vision is of a society where the long-term financial wellbeing of all people is supported by a fair and accessible financial sector.

Fair4All Finance is a Disability Confident Committed scheme member.

Fair4All Finance is a Disability Confident Committed member. We’re committed to an inclusive workplace and will offer an initial interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role. You’ll be able to indicate this in your application. 

Our Benefits include:

Financial Security:

· Pension (2:1 up to 12% employer contribution), group life assurance, critical illness, and income protection, family leave

Wellbeing:

· 27 days holiday plus bank holidays, agile working, health cash plan, health & wellbeing resource hub (including an Employee Assistance Programme)

Personal & Professional Development:

· Individual discretionary Training budget

· Book Club – mission aligned, up to 4 per year

Fair4All Finance is dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. We value different perspectives, experiences, and expertise, encouraging everyone to grow and contribute fully. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, including age, gender identity, disability, marital status, race, sexual orientation, pregnancy, and socioeconomic status.

We ensure fair and equitable treatment for all team members and applicants and actively recruit from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to making reasonable adjustments to support candidates and promote flexible working for a healthy work-life balance.

To apply, submit your application via Applied by 5pm on Monday 7th July.

Please note that your application will be reviewed through a blind, unbiased process, so be sure to provide clear, specific examples in your responses. Your CV will only be reviewed at a later stage in the process.

Due to the nature of our work, and depending on the role, successful applicants may be required to undergo pre-employment checks, which include employment reference, financial and criminal record checks. All checks will be role appropriate and your recruiter will confirm which checks are required. We manage our checks via TrustID.

Unifrog’s mission 

We’re on a mission to level the playing field when it comes to young people finding and applying for their next step after school. We're achieving this by bringing all the available information into one single, impartial, user-friendly platform that helps students to make the best choices, and submit the strongest applications. We also empower teachers and counselors to manage the progression process effectively.

Our outlook is global - we work with schools and universities all over the world, from the US to New Zealand, and from Italy to Hong Kong. We want to make it so that young people can compare every opportunity taught in English, wherever it is in the world, and have all the support they need to make successful applications.

We have a clear social purpose, and we’re hugely ambitious. We already work with over half of UK secondary schools, and hundreds of international schools. We are growing rapidly in terms of the number of our customers, in terms of how much they use our platform, and in terms of the breadth of products we offer (check out this video to hear more about the Unifrog platform).

Our team is at the heart of our business and is integral to our success. We work hard to foster a culture of openness, happiness and innovation, and we commit to helping every individual learn and grow so that they can reach their full potential. We want to hire talented people, whatever their background. If you are excited by our mission and are ready to work hard, please don’t hesitate to apply. We look forward to hearing from you!

We believe in the power of diversity. If you are from an ethnic minority background, we would like to strongly encourage you to apply.

Teaching Resources at Unifrog

One of the most important parts of Unifrog is a searchable library of hundreds of teaching resources, covering careers guidance, progression, SEL, and PSHE. 

Each week the lessons are used by tens of thousands of teachers in the UK and around the world. 

We aim for our lessons to be plug-and-play, to be truly educational, to make it easy for schools to make the most of the Unifrog platform, and to be fun even when they deal with difficult subjects. We always try to make the learning as active as possible.

In December 2023, we launched our Courses tool. Students can browse and take short online courses in a range of engaging and challenging topic areas, many of which are created in partnership with universities and employers.

We create courses that fit into five main strands:

• ‘Careers in…’ courses introduce students to a career sector and spotlight a few specific roles within the sector, e.g. ‘Careers in art’. 

• University subject tasters give students an idea of what studying a particular university subject is like, e.g. ‘The complicated reality of criminology’.

• Life skills courses help students prepare for life after school/college, e.g. ‘Preparing for the workplace’.

• Virtual work experience courses combine a series of work-based tasks and live webinars with an employer, e.g. ‘Virtual work experience with the BBC’.

• Teacher/counselor courses help staff members in various roles get the most out of the Unifrog platform.

The role and responsibilities

As Teaching Resources Creator, your main focus will be creating and editing teaching resources and courses. Topics will include:

• Careers guidance

• University, college and apprenticeship applications

• PSHE and SEL

• Skills

• Revision 

• Work experience

You will be expected to create lessons and courses to a high standard, which will involve: 

• Researching the topic

• Producing content in line with our teaching and learning standards and Resource Library handbook 

• Responding to feedback from your line manager, from others on the Unifrog team, from employer/HE partners, and from teachers in our partner schools.

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What we’re looking for

• Essential: QTS and relevant secondary school teaching experience

You must have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and a minimum of 3 years teaching experience across at least two key stages from KS3-5.

• Adept at creating exceptional teaching resources 

Above all else, you need to be brilliant at creating teaching resources, and to love doing it. You will have had significant professional experience creating teaching resources, and delivering them to students.

• Creativity

We want you to come up with great ideas for how to teach topics to students in fun ways.

• Quest for feedback

We want to be as close to our users as possible. You’ll be able to seek out feedback from colleagues, teachers, and students.

• Attention to detail

You will have excellent writing and proofreading skills.

• Ability to work in a team

You’ll regularly ask team members for their input; to do this, you need to be an excellent communicator and team player.

• Ability to work independently

Creating hundreds of brilliant teaching materials is a long-term project that requires organisation, discipline, and resilience.

• Ability to work to tight deadlines

We’re really excited about our upcoming projects. We have a long list of them to get done, and many have strict deadlines. You need to be able to deliver things on time.
 

Working together

You’ll work in our existing Teaching Resources team, which consists of experienced teachers and resource creators. You’ll also be in regular contact with the Written Content team, plus people on our marketing, sales, account management, and strategy teams.

In the Teaching Resources team, we commonly brainstorm new ideas as a group, share insights from our own teaching experiences, provide feedback on other team members’ work, and get feedback from teachers and students at our partner schools.

You’ll be managed by the Head of Teaching Resources.
 

Benefits

Go to our jobs page for a full list of the excellent benefits we offer our team.

• Join one of ‘the best organisations to escape to’ and help transform careers and destinations in schools. We’re also a certified Great Place to Work.

• Become part of a committed, dynamic, and growing company. We want to build our team for the long term: if you do well, we will do our best to make sure you want to stay at the company for a long time.

• Professional development is important at Unifrog. You will define your own 6-month objectives and will be supported by your line manager and the rest of the team to achieve them. You will have an annual training allowance to spend on what you need to grow and progress.

• Influence the company’s direction: we love to promote great ideas, wherever they come from.

• Play a role in democratising access to learning: Unifrog makes a difference in young people’s lives. Every week you’ll have your work in front of hundreds of thousands of students, and tens of thousands of teachers.
   

Key details

• £36,000-£38,000 per annum pro rata (Grade B) and a share in a company-wide performance bonus. 

• 28 days paid holiday per year (plus bank holidays) (pro rata).

• 12 month FTC.

• Full time (please note we are unable to consider part-time applicants).

• Working hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Thursday, and 9:00am to 4:30pm on Friday. 

• Work remotely, or flexibly in our London office.

• Start date: We're looking for someone to start as soon as possible but you must be available from 1st of October at the latest.

• To discuss any details about the role before applying, please contact Mhairi (details on our website).

• We can only consider candidates who have the right to work in the UK.

Application process

• Deadline: 10:00AM (BST) on Tuesday 24th June 2025.

• Stage 1: Application form (~1 hour) ✍️

• Visit our website to upload your CV and complete the questions and tasks below. Please note that we do not review CVs at this stage of the application process so please be as specific as possible about your experience.

• i. With reference to examples of your recent experience, what would make you an excellent candidate for this role? (250 words)

• ii. Upload one complete, standalone lesson PowerPoint on a careers/PSHE/SEL topic of your choice, which fulfils these criteria:

  • 30 minute lesson;

  • Includes notes for teachers delivering the lesson;

  • States the intended secondary year group audience on the first slide;

  • Is well-structured, clear, and written to a high standard; and

  • Supports the teacher in being plug-and-play and informative about the topic you’ve chosen.

  • You can send us an existing lesson PowerPoint, there is no need to create anything new or align your presentation to Unifrog's visual identity. There is also no need to provide accompanying worksheets, handouts, etc.

  • Your presentation can be in either PowerPoint or Google slides format. Please provide a dropbox or google drive link to your presentation, ensuring you have set access permissions to “anyone with the link can view”. 

• iii. We’re creating a course for 14-16 year old students who want to learn more about what it means to be self-employed in the UK. Section 1 of the course, which explains what self-employment is, has already been written.

  • Your task is to write part of Section 2 of the course, which will explain the advantages and disadvantages of being self-employed.

  • Write 250 words to be included in Section 2, either on:

  • the main advantages of being self-employed

  • OR

  • the main disadvantages of being self-employed

  • Feel free to use headings and bullet points to structure your writing. Do not add activities.

• Stage 2: Task (~ 2 hours)

• Stage 3: Video call interview (1 hour) ��

• Standard Q&A from a panel of three, including questions about your experiences and how these relate to the role, and scenario questions based on common situations you might face (plus time for your questions)

• Stage 2 tasks will be scheduled after the application deadline. Video call interviews will be held on 7th July 2025.

• Your answers are an opportunity to let us know more about your motivations and experience. While we understand that candidates might want to use AI to improve parts of their application, we strongly encourage you to write your answers independently. 

• Please note, we compare all answers to an AI generated answer. Where we suspect AI has been used to write the majority of the answer, this will be taken into consideration when scoring

Inclusion and diversity at Unifrog

• Within the company we try to foster a culture of innovation, and a happy working environment, both because this is the right thing to do, and because we think this results in the most effective team. To this end we believe in open communication, celebrating successes, supporting each other, not being afraid to be wrong or to fail, and promoting good ideas wherever they come from.

• As a platform that supports teachers and students from a huge variety of backgrounds it’s important that our team and leadership reflects this diversity. This is something we are actively working towards and prioritising. We want to embed diversity, equity and inclusion across everything we do, continually evaluating policies and practices to make sure they are inclusive and equitable.

• To make sure everyone’s voice is heard and people have the opportunities to learn to be better allies in the workplace, we encourage the team to share what they’re celebrating, facilitate training and group discussions, and seek regular feedback about what more the company could do to help people feel included.

• To ensure that our recruitment process is consistent and fair, we anonymise your application and therefore do not see your name, personal, educational or professional background. We also randomise the order of responses so that it’s less likely that a candidate is advantaged or disadvantaged by where their answers appear compared to other candidates.

The National Lottery Community Fund is seeking a Strategic Communication Lead, Northern Ireland to drive forward our ambitious communications transformation. This newly created role sits at the heart of our restructured communications function, designed to deliver our strategy "It Starts with Community" and shift our focus to demonstrating the powerful impact communities have across the UK.

As we build a new, integrated approach to communications across the UK, this position offers an exceptional opportunity to shape how we tell our story. Playing a strategic leadership role, you will be the vital bridge between our grant makers and communicators, working in a matrix manner with the senior leadership team in your country and our wider communications team to solve problems and generate successful communications and engagement campaigns.

You will provide strategic leadership on communications and external affairs, working across two areas of responsibility: a specific country within the UK and one of our four missions. Your ability to create powerful alignment between these areas will be essential to success.

Your deep understanding of the devolved context and stakeholder landscape will help build the Fund's influence with regional decision-makers and opinion formers while advancing UK-wide objectives. You will also be an ambassador for the Fund's work, maintaining a strong network in your country.

We are looking for an experienced communications strategist with extensive knowledge of the local political, media and stakeholder landscape. You should bring a sophisticated understanding of how communications can drive organizational objectives and a proven track record of leading integrated campaigns. Your background might include senior communications roles in government, the VCSE sector, or complex organizations operating across devolved administrations, where you've demonstrated ability to navigate diverse stakeholder environments and translate strategic goals into impactful communications activity.

Key responsibilities

• Lead strategic communications for one Funding portfolio and one mission area, ensuring integration with business planning
• Build and lead matrix teams to deliver integrated communications campaigns
• Develop and implement communications plans that drive engagement with key stakeholders
• Provide senior counsel on reputation management and crisis response
• Act as senior regional point of contact for communications and external affairs
• Ensure consistent messaging across all customer journey touchpoints
• Represent the Fund with key external stakeholders and opinion formers

Location: You will be expected to be based in the country you will be supporting. We have a hybrid approach to working with work pattern and exact location agreed with the successful candidate. Our offices are in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Newtown.

Interview date: Friday 18th July and Monday 21st July (Morning only on both dates)

On application, please align your supporting statement to the criteria below

Essential criteria

• Extensive experience in developing and delivering strategic communications and engagement in support of organisational priorities, including planning and executing media, marketing and external affairs
• Strong influencing skills with both internal colleagues and external partners
• Significant experience in building and leading high-performing teams in a matrix-management setting
• Demonstrable understanding of public affairs in devolved governments
• Experience providing strategic communications counsel to senior leaders including at times of reputational risk
• Experience in leading crisis communications
• Excellent project management skills in a complex organisation with competing deadlines
• Demonstrable experience in using data and insight to inform and deliver communications campaigns.

Desirable criteria

• Experience working across multiple regions or countries
• Track record of developing innovative communications approaches
• Experience in one or more of our mission areas

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion  

Communities in the UK come in all shapes and sizes. National Lottery funding is for everyone – therefore, we are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we work hard to ensure our funding reaches where it is needed.  

We also believe our people should represent the communities, organisations and individuals we work with. That’s why The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. We recognise and celebrate the fact that our people come from diverse backgrounds. We positively welcome applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities or longstanding health conditions, people who are LGBTQ+, and people from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds, as well as people of all ages. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we take a proactive approach in making reasonable adjustments, if needed, throughout the recruitment process and during employment. (This can be related to a physical and mental health condition.) 

Stick ‘n’ Step is a wonderful, impactful and life transforming charity with a powerful history, and an exciting future ahead! This charity provides free conductive education sessions to children with cerebral palsy, enabling and inspiring these young people and their families every single day. When a local service was withdrawn, parents came together to raise funds themselves to keep the vital provision going for their children. Stick ‘n’ Step now provides support to over 100 children and their families every week, and offers an incredible range of sessions enabling each child to reach their potential and tackle their personal goals.

“Leo’s confidence has grown, and I totally credit Stick ‘n’ Step staff with getting him walking. The repetitive routines and the way sessions are structured are really helping Leo to learn new skills which I hope can give him some independence in the future. We can’t thank you enough.”

(Mum, Emma)

This is a hugely exciting time to join Stick ‘n’ Step, as the fundraising team navigates and embraces an exciting period of growth. We are looking for a passionate and motivated Regional Fundraiser to join this dynamic fundraising team, could this be you?

The Role

The Regional Fundraiser will be responsible for growing income by working proactively across the region. The main duties will include:

• Nurturing relationships with community groups, schools, local business and third parties.
• Recruiting, motivating and supporting volunteers.  
• Working collaboratively to meet individual targets, as well as team targets and objectives.
• Contributing to the fundraising strategy to achieve long term growth.

The Person

Ideally we are looking for someone with experience in a professional fundraising role. Most importantly you should be empathetic and enthusiastic about raising vital funds to support children with disabilities.

You must have:

• Proven experience in meeting and exceeding financial and non-financial targets.
• The ability to inspire people through public speaking and networking.
• Excellent communication and customer service skills.
• The ability to build and maintain strong relationships.

We are looking for a professional person who can represent this wonderful charity and live its fantastic values on a daily basis. You should therefore be passionate, motivated, organised and flexible to join this small but mighty fundraising function!

Why Stick ‘n’ Step?

Stick ‘n’ Step are a successful, dynamic and forward-thinking organisation. Their passionate, motivated team work together to help everyone achieve their full potential, while having fun.

Not only is Stick n Step hugely passionate about the incredible range of young people and families whose life it changes every year, the charity also puts significant emphasis on staff welfare. Stick n Step has a wonderful organisational culture, and the team has some ambitious and exciting growth plans having a further positive impact and making this a fantastic place to work! The charity also has a focus on personal welfare and promotes a positive work life balance through its inherent flexible approach. Additional benefits include:

Benefits also include:

• 28 days holiday per year with an additional day given for birthday leave plus Bank Holidays.
• 3% employer pension contribution 4% Employee contribution.
• Maternity, Paternity and Adoption leave - the rules and procedures regarding parental leave often change. Leave will be paid at the recommended Government rates and guidelines.
• Sickness Leave – dependent on length of service.

The role involves regular out of office work for meetings with supporters and stakeholders. Please note that a full UK driving licence and access to your own transport for business use is essential. You will be required to work some evenings and weekends to support events. This role requires an enhanced DBS check.

If this sounds like the type of role and charity that could suit the next phase of your fundraising career, then do get in touch. To register your interest please apply here, or for more information contact Charlie or Leanne at Charity Horizons.

Please note: If you would like to submit an application or express your interest in an alternative format, such as audio or video upload, please contact either Charlie or Leanne who will be happy to advise on this.

Please also be aware that Charity Horizons use anonymous recruitment methods when submitting shortlists for all our roles and we only work with organisations that are happy to engage with us in this way.

Charity Horizons is an equal opportunities employer and as such actively promotes equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We welcome and encourage applications from all suitable candidates irrespective of age, disability, hidden disability, race or national origin, religion or belief, gender, gender expression, political view, sexual orientation, medical condition and pregnancy.

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced strategic lead to drive the next phase of our Right to Health campaign. This new role will work with our experienced and well respected team and our extensive network, to make the political case for the better legal recognition and real-world protection for the right to health. 

An ideal candidate

You will be a passionate and experienced advocate for health, human, social or environmental rights, committed to driving meaningful change in the UK. You will bring proven expertise in leading policy, advocacy, or parliamentary engagement work - ideally within health, human rights, social or environmental justice sectors - and thrive in building strong, strategic relationships with government, civil society, and community stakeholders.

You have a good understanding of the structural causes of health inequality and the power of human rights frameworks to address them. You will know how the UK political and parliamentary systems work, and you are skilled at influencing these processes through clear, compelling narratives backed by evidence.

You are able to communicate with clarity and impact, tailoring your message to diverse audiences - from policymakers to grassroots activists. You are confident working independently and collaboratively within a small, flexible team, balancing strategic vision with practical delivery. Your approach is solutions-focused, inclusive, and grounded in the lived realities of people affected by health inequalities.

Most importantly, you are motivated by the opportunity to join a dynamic and well respected organisation and lead a strategic campaign that challenges the status quo and contributes to a fairer, more just UK.

You have the right to work in the UK and be able to work from home in London or within easy reach of London.  A minimum of weekly attendance in London will be required.

This opportunity is open to applicants wishing to deliver the work on a self-employed freelance or employed basis.