Policy and communications officer jobs

A rare chance to join an incredibly supportive and inclusive employer that values hard work, flexiblity and employee well-being, and recognised by the GM Good Employment Charter! We are a small but vastly experienced team of family support/volunteer Coordinators, delivering highly respected volunteer-led home visiting support to families in the early years. 

We are looking for someone to provide direct support to families and also recruit, train and support a team of local parent/carer volunteers who will provide weekly home visiting and community support to families.

You will work  with other professionals from universal and specialist services to provide a coordinated response to families’ needs. You will assess need and risk prior to carefully matching volunteers with families or offering direct support, working as part of multi agency support, ensuring information sharing and safeguarding is at the forefront of your work. This will include instigating Early Help assessments, preparing for and attending Child in Need and Child Protection meetings.

You will have an understanding of recruiting, carefully selecting and managing volunteers to ensure they feel supported and fully trained to offer effective support to families in order to get the best outcomes for the family and in particular the children. 

You will be experienced in working with families in their own home - skilled in recognising and responding to safeguarding concerns, be apt in completing strengths-based assessments and conversations and have a deep understanding of the issues families can face and the link with childhood development and difficulties they may experience later in life.

We are really excited to have welcomed our new Director of Income Generation and Development to Brain Tumour Research this month, a great new start for the new year!​

​​This is a fantastic time to be joining our ambitious and growing charity and we are keen to share this with likeminded and talented individuals.​

We currently have an opening for a Community Fundraiser, to be based in the Mid-North Wales and West Midlands region.​​

​As the Community Fundraiser covering Mid-North Wales and West Midlands, you will play a crucial role in helping the charity meet its strategic plans and objectives, which include campaigning to increase the national investment in brain tumour research to £35 million per year, while fundraising to create a network of seven sustainable Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence across the UK.​

​​Your role will be to generate and grow our income through community fundraising activities, contributing to a regional team target of more than £1 million.​​

• Do you want to make a difference in one of the most innovative and exciting medical research fundraising charities in the UK?
• ​​Do you live in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire,​Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire or Mid-North Wales?​
• Do you have at least one years' experience of working in a professional Community Fundraising position?​​Have you answered Yes to these questions?​
• Does this sound like the opportunity to really get 2026 off to an amazing start? ​​​

If you are excited to learn more about this position, please take a read through our recruitment pack provided with this advert.​​

If you have the skills and ambition that we are looking for we welcome your application.  We are really looking forward to welcoming a new member to our team!

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We are asking for a CV as the first step but applicants may be asked to provide a targeted covering letter as part of the selection process.  Interviews will be conducted during the application window as appropriate, and will consist of a first interview via MS Teams, progressing, if successful to a face to face second interview, held at our offices in Milton Keynes.​

​We reserve the right to close the application window early and advise candidates to apply in good time to avoid disappointment.​

We are looking for people who share our passion for finding a cure for brain tumours and who have the skills and experience to make a difference. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, and ages. We believe that diversity enriches our organisation and helps us achieve our mission. We are committed to providing an inclusive and supportive environment where everyone can be themselves and contribute to our vision.

Learning Disability Community Leader, L'Arche Manchester

ABOUT THE ROLE

Hours of work: 37.5 hours per week (including some evening and weekend working, and regular on-call)

Salary: £47,946 per annum

Reports to: L’Arche UK Regional Leader

Place of work: L’Arche Manchester Community, Manchester M20 4AW. Some travel and overnight stays will be required within the UK

Contract type: Temporary 12-month appointment to cover maternity leave

Closing date: Monday, 2nd March at 12 pm.

Main purpose of the role

The Community Leader is responsible for ensuring that the Community is living the mission of L’Arche, by providing excellent and sustainable care and support services, support for  spirituality, and engaging with our neighbours and the wider community around us.

The Community Leader will:

• Lead the Community by responding to the needs, choices and context of our members while being faithful to the L'Arche UK Vision and Values, the L'Arche International Identity and Mission Statement, and to a co-created Community Mandate and plan;
• Maintain and enhance high-quality, person-centred care, support, and housing for people with learning disabilities, both at home and in our day services in partnership with the Registered Manager, the local and national teams, individual circles of support, and external partners. 
• Ensure the Community’s financial sustainability through robust financial planning and management. This includes setting budgets and controlling spending, maximising housing occupancy, supporting the negotiation of care contracts, growing our day services and spotting fundraising opportunities. 
• Foster a culture that maximises the voice and power for people with learning disabilities, and builds listening and collaboration between Community members. This will include working with an active Community Support Group, Community Gatherings, listening groups, and other forums. 
• Lead and manage a committed and engaged leadership team to achieve objectives, set a positive culture, and support the personal and professional growth of our teams. 
• Cultivate an open, creative, and inclusive spiritual life, inviting everyone in the Community to deepen their connections. 
• Model, advocate for, and embrace the L’Arche ethos of deep, long-term, and mutually transforming relationships between people with and without learning disabilities. Plan and lead a regular calendar of events that build community belonging and help keep people connected. 
• Contribute to the national work programmes of L’Arche UK, as part of the National Council, collaborating with Community Leaders of other L’Arche Communities, to share skills, best practice and resources. 
• Be a visible representative of L’Arche locally in the wider community, with stakeholders like local authorities, professional organisations, schools, faith communities, and L’Arche world wide.

Key essential criteria

• Senior leadership experience in support to adults with learning disabilities (or transferable skills and experience in a closely-related field). 
• Experience leading and managing an organisation or large teams to deliver results, maintain compliance and quality, and to respond to risks and opportunities. 
• Experience leading and developing diverse teams to flourish, individually and together. 
• Good financial planning skills and experience successfully managing a substantial budget. 
• Evidence of the ability to think strategically, and work collaboratively to develop and implement community plans. 
• Experience of living or working alongside people with learning disabilities and/or autistic individuals

This role is subject to an enhanced DBS criminal record check. 

You may have held these job titles in the past: Registered Manager, Service Manager, Head of Care, Senior Operations Lead, Community Director, Head of Community Services, Country or Regional Lead, Learning Disability Services Manager, Head of Mission and Community Life, Health & Social Care Manager, Local Authority Commissioning Lead;

You can find more details about L'Arche and the Manchester community on our website. 

Why join L'Arche?

As well as joining a friendly Community, where you will be well supervised and supported, and benefit from L’Arche’s mentorship programme, these are some other benefits you get by working for us:

• Joining shared meals since cooking and having a meal together is what we are all about
• Enhanced Maternity, Adoption/Surrogacy, Paternity Pay (depending on length of service, details available on request) 
• Enhanced sick pay
• Interest free loans and salary advances available
• Free DBS / PVG checks
• Free Employee Assistance Programme available to everyone
• Up to 5 days paid compassionate leave
• Up to 6 days paid (pro rata) for time off for emergency dependents leave
• Specialist bereavement counselling for employees and their family members
• Life Assurance
• Access to the Bike to Work scheme

Discover what makes L’Arche a rewarding place to work—explore  more of our employee benefits on our website.

A full job description and person specification can be found in the Recruitment Pack.

To apply, please submit your CV and answer the questions from our online application form. 

The closing date is: Monday, 2nd of March at 12 pm.

First interviews (online via Microsoft Teams) are expected to take place during the week beginning the 9th March 2026.

Second round interviews will take on the place week beginning 16th March 2026 and will take place within the Community.

We encourage you not to wait until the closing date to submit your application, as we may begin interviewing strong candidates before then.
We also reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive enough suitable applications.

Please also read our privacy notice for job applicants.

At Outside the Box we make a real difference, positively changing the lives of the people with learning disabilities/autism. To build on our success, we are now looking for someone special to lead our ‘day’ services (OTB Choices).

OTB Choices provides a dynamic portfolio of education, skills, creative and work experience opportunities, from cooking, art and craft to printing, computing, music and customer service, and much more. We are at an exciting stage in our delivery and development and are seeking an exceptional person to lead and manage our services, ensuring consistently high quality provision that really does make a difference.

You will play a pivotal role in our work, proactively leading a diverse team and multi-site operations to achieve targets and outcomes. You will be solution-focused, have the strength, vision and evidenced track record of an experienced manager and shared passion for enabling and empowering people with learning disabilities and/or autism to have their best lives.