Policy and research assistant jobs in leeds city centre, west yorkshire

About Kinship

We are Kinship. The leading kinship care charity in England and Wales. We’re here for kinship carers – friends or family who step up to raise a child when their parents aren’t able to. 

Together, let’s commit to change for kinship families.

About the role

We are seeking a technically capable, qualified accountant with strong knowledge of the Charities SORP to provide effective stewardship and oversight of the Finance function at Kinship. You will be responsible for financial controls, management accounting and ensuring the effective delivery of ‘business as usual’ financial management.

As well as producing monthly management accounts, you will be responsible for running the annual budget and the year-end processes, preparing for the yearly external audit and ensuring that the organisation complies with statutory obligations.

You will prepare papers for and attend the quarterly Finance Committee meetings and will liaise with a range of stakeholders including auditors, the bank and investment managers.  You will be the ‘go to’ business partner at the charity, supported by the Chief Operating Officer and Fractional Chief Financial Officer.

You will manage a team of two colleagues – a Senior Finance Officer and a Payroll Manager – providing them with guidance, coaching and support to enable them to perform effectively. You will also collaborate and work with Directors and senior managers across the organisation to inform them on performance against budget and conditions of funding, as well as supporting fundraising and commissioning bids. 

You will have excellent communication skills and will be able to organise conflicting priorities around the monthly management accounts cycle, while supporting the achievement of our strategic objectives. You will be flexible and adaptable in your approach to supporting transformational change in our processes and systems, as well as dealing with, and leading on, the day-to-day financial management. 

This is a broad and challenging role for a dynamic and systems-driven individual who wants to grow within the organisation, proactively problem solve and help colleagues to deliver on our mission.

Essential requirements include:

• Fully qualified ICAEW, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent
• In-depth understanding of accounting principles, standards and the Charities SORP, and experience of applying these in a service delivery organisation
• Experience managing a Finance function in a charity with £1-10m annual turnover
• Experience of line management and developing a team using approaches that are empowering
• Experience of Business Central, or the ability to quickly learn a new accounting system
• Excellent Microsoft Excel skills with the ability to use Pivot Tables and other functions to analyse large data sets

What we’ll offer you 

Kinship offers 30 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time) as well as a generous pension scheme. We have an excellent wellbeing offer including the Employee Assistance Programme and clinical supervision. We will invest in your professional development with training and career development opportunities.

Kinship is committed to championing equality, diversity and inclusion.  We believe our work is greatly enhanced by the varied backgrounds, experiences and views represented within our teams.  We aim to create inclusive teams, celebrate differences and encourage everyone to join us and be their true self at work. We therefore encourage applications from anyone who fits our values, whatever their religion or belief, sex, gender identity, race, age, sexuality or disability and are actively seeking candidates that can bring real innovation and commitment to us. 

This is a fantastic time to join a supportive and well-established team within an organisation with rapid growth ambitions. This role will be what you make it and we’re looking for someone to seize this opportunity!

How to apply

Please apply via Charity Job with your CV and a cover letter of no more than 2 pages for the attention of Joshua Marks. Please include your notice period and earliest availability to start in your cover letter.

• Application deadline:      8.00am on Monday 7 July 2025
• First interview:                 Online - Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 July
• Second interview:          In-person (Vauxhall, London) - Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 July [2 hours                                                     including Excel and presentation task]

Kinship reserves the right to close applications early on receipt of sufficient applications. Apply early!

PR and Policy Assistant

Join a Great Place to Work certified employer!

We are seeking a PR & Policy Assistant to join the team!

Position: PR and Policy Assistant

Location: Bradley, Huddersfield/Hybrid

Hours: 37 hours per week

Salary: £26 - 28k per annum

Contract: Permanent 

Benefits: Include 25 days’ holiday, rising to 29 after service increments plus 8 bank holiday, Personal Pension Scheme, Healthcare Cash Plan, Employee Assistance Programme, Staff Awards Scheme, Company Sick Pay Scheme, flexible working patterns

The Role

The Policy and Communications work is critical to ensuring that the organisation are at the forefront of the debate on early years education and childcare. You will help secure high quality media coverage and support our political influencing work. Working with the PR Manager, you will take responsibility for monitoring media coverage, creating engaging content for press releases and news features, as well as supporting policy research.

Key responsibilities include:

• Support the PR Manager to deliver the media relations strategy to ensure effective communication of key messages to target audiences via the national, trade, and social media
• Identify and create print, broadcast and digital opportunities for maximising the reach and impact
• Monitor the media and respond promptly to new developments, compiling and circulating information about media impact
• Ownership of the day-to-day operation of  media and policy contacts, particularly with compiling and maintaining a library of contact details
• Undertake research to explore policy issues as agreed with the senior management team
• Liaise with press and media contacts to maximise positive exposure and coverage across UK national and trade media
• Support in finding suitable nurseries as case studies and spokespeople for the press and broadcast media
• Publish press releases and comments on the website and circulate to relevant members and stakeholders
• Assist with internal and external speaking engagements
• Write and produce material for member magazine Nursery News as well as other member communications and publications
• Contribute towards the delivery of  social media presence
• Contribute to developing the research programme, including compiling and publicising surveys, analysing results and writing reports

About You

We are looking for someone with outstanding communication skills – both written and verbal, with the ability to present information clearly and write engaging material.

You will be enthusiastic and creative and able to digest information and to understand and interpret complex issues for a variety of audiences.

We are looking for someone with:

• Good numeracy skills, with the ability to understand and analyse data
• The ability to build relationships at all levels internally and externally
• Good organisation and time management with the ability to work under pressure
• Good understanding of media and public relations techniques
• Knowledge of the UK political system
• Experience of writing for diverse audiences (eg. essays, newsletters, social media content, briefing papers, press releases)
• Data analysis knowledge – drawing results, trends and conclusions from qualitative or quantitative data sources

To apply you will be asked to submit your CV along with a covering letter detailing how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the requirements of the role.

About the Organisation

The organisation is a national charity and membership association specifically for nurseries. They work in partnership with nurseries, local authorities, national government and a range of partners to develop an environment in which early learning and care can flourish.

The organisation is committed to a policy of equal opportunities and is actively opposed to discrimination in society.

The organisations is proud to be recognised as a Great Place To Work® certified employer. This means employee feedback has determined that they offer a fantastic employee experience with a strong sense of community and workplace pride. This certification is a significant achievement, and the team are incredibly proud that it’s employees feel so positively about their experiences working at the organisation.

You may also have experience as a Policy, Communications, PR, Public Relations, Policy Officer, Communications Officer, PR Officer, Public Relations Officer, Policy Assistant, Communications Assistant, PR Assistant, Public Relations Assistant. #INDNFP

PLEASE NOTE: This role is being advertised by NFP People on behalf of the organisation.

The Youth Endowment Fund 

Senior Research Manager (Toolkit)

Reports to: Head of Toolkit

Salary: £52,700

Contract: 2-year fixed term contract

Location: Central London, Hybrid* 

Closing date: 27th June 2025

About the Youth Endowment Fund

We’re here to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to put this knowledge into practice.

 Last year, 244 people in England and Wales tragically died after being assaulted with a knife. Of these, 32 were children. Every child captured in these numbers is an important member of our community and society has a duty to protect them. Even beyond knife crime, we know that the fear of violence has a terrible effect on children’s daily lives.

The Youth Endowment Fund exists to try and permanently change things. To succeed, we must build an exceptional body of knowledge about violence affecting young people and how we reduce it. This knowledge has to be both rigorous and highly relevant to those making decisions about how to support vulnerable young people. We need to find out what works and what doesn’t through evidence synthesis, data analysis and qualitative research into children’s lives. We then need to convert this into highly accessible content on what works, how delivery organisations need to change their practice and how the systems they operate in need to be reformed.

About the Toolkit Team

The Toolkit team is at the heart of our work to spread knowledge of what works to prevent children becoming involved in violence. We want research to lead actual changes in outcomes for children.

Our flagship resource, the Toolkit, is a free, online resource that summarises the best available evidence about the effectiveness of various approaches to preventing children becoming involved in violence. It explains the evidence, how confident we can be about the findings, and provides actionable guidance to help policy makers, commissioners, and practitioners to turn evidence into action. The Toolkit is influencing real world policy and practice: the Home Office requires Violence Reductions Units to allocate at least 30% of their funding to interventions that have an impact rating of ‘high’ or ‘moderate’ in the Toolkit. Over half of Youth Justice Services use the Toolkit to align their work with the latest available evidence. Our Change team use the Toolkit to influence systems, policy and practice across children’s services, education, health, neighbourhoods, policing, youth services and youth justice.

The Toolkit is a live resource that currently contains 35 approaches to violence prevention, and we will add at least ten updates to the content this year. New research is published every day around the world. We collate relevant studies in our YEF programmes evidence and gap map and YEF systems evidence and gap map, and we collate study results in our Effect Size Database. We are working in partnership with the National Children’s Bureau and the EPPI Centre to implement new technology and to use machine learning to create a ‘living platform’, that contains relevant studies and their results in one place. This is an exciting development that will significantly speed up our production of systematic reviews and meta-analyses to keep the Toolkit up to date.

Key Responsibilities

The Senior Research Manager will be an essential part of the YEF Toolkit Team and will develop a portfolio of impactful projects. The core of your role will be leading the commissioning of evidence synthesis, using our new methodology, across a range of topics and producing Toolkit content.

You will:

Commission new systematic reviews.

• You will lead the commissioning and management of systematic reviews of the evidence through our Toolkit and Evidence Synthesis Partners: the National Children’s Bureau, the EPPI Centre, and the Race Equality Foundation. This will involve scoping and prioritising violence prevention approaches, convening expert advisory groups, reviewing research protocols and technical reports, and ensuring that research products produce actionable insights.

Write accurate and actionable summaries of evidence for the Toolkit.

· You will use findings from evidence synthesis to write new summaries for the Toolkit, and to inform YEF’s guidance and implementation resources.

· You will ensure that Toolkit content is only ever easy-to-understand and written in plain English with incredible clarity.

·You will collaborate with our Research team and our Change team to feed insights from the evidence into systems, sector and practice guidance. 

Lead Toolkit communications.

· Collaborating with the YEF Communications and Public Affairs team, you will produce accurate social media content, blogs, and briefings on new Toolkit content to facilitate accurate journalism and press coverage.

Become an expert on the Toolkit.

· You will be an advocate for Toolkit evidence, and you will ensure insights from this evidence are accurately communicated to policy makers and practitioners. You will do this by delivering presentations on Toolkit evidence and providing briefings.

· You will also ensure YEF colleagues are up to date on the topics and content in the Toolkit by providing training and updates internally and sharing guidance about how to accurately explain the evidence.

About You

You are this sort of person:

· You want to play a significant part in reducing children and young people’s involvement in violence. You care about having an impact.

· You share our belief that an evidence-based approach is our best hope of preventing violence. You are fascinated by research, but you’re not just interested in research for its own sake. You want to achieve actual changes in outcomes for children.

·You’re a confident reader of research and have strong critical appraisal skills. You know when research can be trusted and when it can’t and can confidently articulate your views on the strength of research. You might have gained this expertise through your academic studies, research, or professional experience.

· You have a proven track record of commissioning or conducting high-quality evidence synthesis. You have a good understanding of these methods and can discuss the pros and cons of them. You might have gained this expertise through your academic studies, training, research or professional experience. You can scrutinise a budget to ensure it provides value for money.

· You have at least three years’ experience working in a role that required you to think about research. This could include a range of roles in policy, academia, funding, and practice.

· You write in a way that people easily understand. You have that rare skill of writing in plain English. You have experience of translating complex research findings into plain writing that everyone can understand.

· You have excellent project and time management skills. You can work independently, quickly, and to a high standard.

·You are good with people. You are comfortable working with a wide range of people, including senior academics and other research experts, children and their families, practitioners, and policy makers. You’re able to provide constructive challenges when required.

·You learn fast but remain humble. You like learning. You are very good at synthesising information. You know how much you don't know and that you can always learn more.

·You work well in a team. You care more that good things happen than who gets the credit. You support your colleagues to produce excellent work.

·You’re committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. You believe and act in a way that celebrates and encourages a range of experiences, views and values.

You may have:

·A good level of knowledge and understanding of crime or violence. You know the facts, understand the issues, know the key people, and can discuss the theories. You’re knowledgeable on this topic and very at ease discussing it with experts. Alternatively, you might have a strong understanding of a relevant area such as education, youth work or social care.

·Confident public speaking skills. You’re an excellent verbal communicator. You’ve delivered dozens of talks on complex topics. You’re calm and confident when answering challenging questions.

 While it’s not a criterion, we’re especially interested to hear from applicants who have lived experience of violence.

It’s also important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or socioeconomic background.

Hybrid Working

The office is based in Central London. Those living in and around London are expected to be in the office for a minimum of 2 days per week. If you live outside of London and work remotely, you’ll be expected to work from the London office 2 days per month.

To Apply

To apply, please send a CV and cover letter, and complete the monitoring form click on "Apply for this" button by 27th June 2025.

When applying for this role, please ensure that your cover letter can answer, within a maximum of 1000 words, the following questions:

1. Briefly describe the key evidence synthesis projects that you have undertaken or commissioned and be clear about the role you played in the work.

2. Provide some clear examples of products, presentations, events, or other materials that you have produced to help explain complex research evidence to policymakers, commissioners, and practitioners.

You will also be required to provide proof of your eligibility to work in the UK. As part of our commitment to flexible working, we will consider a range of options for the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at interview stage.

Interview Process

Interviews will take place in the week commencing the weeks commencing 7th and 14th July.

If you are invited to interview, we will send you a systematic review ahead of the interview and we will ask you to prepare a 10-minute presentation to explain the main strengths and weaknesses of the review and its conclusions.  

Benefits Include

• £1,000 professional development budget annually
• 28 days holiday plus Bank Holidays
• Four half days for volunteering activities
• Employee Assistance Programme – 24hr phone line for free confidential support
• Volunteering days - 4 half days per year
• Death in service - 4 times annual salary
• Flexible hours. Core office hours 10am – 4pm
• Financial support including travel and hardship loans
• Employer contributed pension of 5%

Personal Data

Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.

Centre Support Assistant

Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Part-time, 22.5 hours per week, some evening and weekend work may be required

We are committed to paying the Real Living Wage.

About Us

Yorkshire is one of the regions hardest hit by cancer. Together, we can change this.

Yorkshire Cancer Research is a charity dedicated to funding research so that you and those you love live longer healthier lives, free of cancer.

Thanks to supporters, the charity funds vital cancer research and pioneers innovative new services for people with cancer. These life-giving medical breakthroughs are helping more people survive cancer – in Yorkshire, and beyond.

As an inclusive employer, our aim is to ensure our workforce reflects the rich diversity of our region. We believe a diverse workforce is vital to us taking action to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer more effectively in Yorkshire. We offer equal opportunities regardless of race, religion or belief, age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnerships.

The Benefits

We offer all employees a wide range of benefits including an enhanced contributory pension scheme, 25 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays (increasing to 30 days after 5 years’ service), flexible working arrangements, private medical insurance, enhanced maternity leave, career progression, learning and development, wellbeing initiatives, offices within walking distance of Hornbeam Park train station, free onsite parking and a whole lot more.

We’ve got a strong set of values that inform everything we do and we’re looking for people who are aligned with these. As our Donations Sorting Assistant, you will put people in Yorkshire at the heart of everything you do, unite with colleagues and other organisations in this cause, and dare to think big and bold to make positive solutions happen.

The Role

We are currently looking for two Centre Support Assistants to join our Retail, Services and Operations team.

The role will be interesting and varied and will provide support across departments to ensure the centre is able to operate efficiently and effectively 7 days a week. We recognise that this a varied role and all appropriate training will be provided, to ensure you possess the knowledge to effectively operate as part of all our customer facing teams, as well as within our donation centre.

Reporting to the Centre Manager, as Centre Support Assistant, your primary role will be to provide a professional and warm welcome to the Yorkshire Cancer Research Hornbeam Centre. You will undertake administrative tasks to support the delivery of the Active Together Harrogate service and the smooth running of the centre. You will also provide cover across our Donation Centre, Delivery Team, Café and Hornbeam Shop as required.

Specifically, you will:

• Help create a welcoming, professional atmosphere and deliver high standards of customer service for all donors, customers and supporters.
• Establish good working relationships with all visitors to the centre.
• Show responsibility for personal health and safety and security, and that of others in the conduct of the role.
• Take ownership of all workplace areas ensuring a high standard of presentation, cleanliness and functionality throughout.
• Respond to and report safeguarding concerns in line with Yorkshire Cancer Research safeguarding policy and procedures.
• Communicate in person, by phone or in written communication to provide information about the Active Together service and wider charity.
• Support Active Together service users to navigate the service and sign-post to approved educational, health and wellbeing resources as necessary, ensuring information is up to date.
• Process referrals and questionnaires, handle eligibility queries and bookings, working closely with the Service Manager and delivery team to ensure consultations and classes are appropriately booked.
• Follow all policies and procedures to contribute to the smooth running of the Donation Centre.
• Ensure donations are sorted and stored appropriately and in-line with Yorkshire Cancer Research procedures.
• Accompany a member of the team to carry out deliveries and collections of furniture and goods across Yorkshire, to and from shops and customers, including disposal of waste materials.
• Assist in all aspects of running our café at Hornbeam Park, including opening and closing procedures, food production, preparation of hot drinks, till operation and cleaning tasks.
• Assist in all aspects of running our shop at Hornbeam Park, including merchandising, till operation and cleaning/tidying tasks.

About You

To be considered for this role, you will need:

• To ideally be educated to GCSE standard including Maths and English.
• To have previous experience in a customer facing role and a high level of commitment to customer care is essential.
• To have proven administration experience and experience of maintaining accurate records is essential.
• To have high computer literacy with comprehensive knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, especially Word, Excel and Outlook. 
• To be up to date with safeguarding and confident in raising any concerns. 
• To have a good knowledge of GDPR requirements and how to apply them is essential.
• To enjoy delivering excellent customer service and customer/supporter interaction.
• To be happy to work independently and ask for support where this is needed, but also like to both work with and support colleagues as part of a team working towards a common goal. 
• To have excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, with an ability to use active listening skills, and write professionally and appropriately for a range of diverse audiences.
• To have strong organisational skills and a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
• A willingness to complete our pre-employment checks (to be undertaken once the role is offered and accepted) which include:
• A check on your employment history by seeking two references
• A check on your eligibility to work in the UK as per the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006
• A DBS check

Please note, this role is not eligible for a visa sponsorship.

Application

Before applying, please visit our Careers Page to view the full role profile and find out more about working for Yorkshire Cancer Research.

To apply please submit a CV and cover letter outlining your suitability for the role to Claire Wooldridge, Head of People, before 18 June 2025. Please read our privacy notice before applying.

Yorkshire Cancer Research is a responsible and flexible employer. We welcome any discussion for flexible working at the interview/offer stage where we will consider an individual’s circumstances against the needs of the charity.

We positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates from all backgrounds. If we can make any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact us via our website. 

Join our friendly and mission-driven team at NFER, where you’ll help bridge the gap between research and classrooms. This is your chance to bring vital insights directly to schools – raising awareness of the NFER Classroom brand and increasing the reach and impact of our research findings within the education community.

Pay: £36,000 - £40,000 (FTE)
Contract: 18-month fixed-term contract
Hours: Part-time (21 hours)
Location: Remote within the UK, with occasional visits to our Slough office (approx. 6 times per year)
Annual Leave: 30 days plus 4 paid closure days FTE
Pension Contributions: 10% employer contributions
Family Support: Enhanced maternity/parental leave and paid compassionate leave

What you’ll be doing
In this role, you’ll be at the heart of our mission to connect schools with powerful, practical research. You’ll take a leading role in shaping how NFER communicates with educators, using your creativity and insight to bring our work to life across digital channels.

One day you might be crafting social media content that sparks conversation among teachers, the next, you’ll be writing an email newsletter that lands just right with a headteacher seeking evidence-based ideas. You’ll help turn research into engaging, accessible summaries, so schools can quickly grasp key insights and put them into action.

You’ll also update and improve our For Schools website pages, ensuring every word is useful and user-friendly. Behind the scenes, you’ll track performance using analytics, learning what works and what could work even better. And throughout it all, you’ll collaborate with researchers, designers, and communications experts to deliver thoughtful, impactful campaigns that schools actually want to read.

PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential skills and experience:

• Experience in marketing communications or a related role
• Excellent writing skills and creative flair
• Confidence using digital tools such as social media platforms, Canva, Google Analytics and CRM systems
• Strong time management and the ability to work independently
• A collaborative approach and a clear focus on impact
• Experience working in or with schools is a bonus, but not essential.

If you meet only 70% of our essential skills, still apply; you may have skills we didn’t know we needed.

Other roles you may have experience of include: Marketing Executive, Marketing Officer, Marketing Assistant, Marketing Coordinator, Marketing Specialist, Brand Executive, Communications Executive, Digital Marketing Executive, Social Media Executive, Content Marketing Executive, Email Marketing Executive, SEO Executive

WHY NFER?
At NFER, we are recognised globally for providing trusted research, resources and insights that drive meaningful change. By joining us, you’ll contribute to a mission that prioritises impact over profit, working in an environment where collaboration, flexibility, and inclusion are valued.
What we offer:

• A supportive and inclusive workplace culture.
• Opportunities to develop your skills and advance your career.
• Flexible working arrangements to support work-life balance from day 1.
• The chance to make a real difference in the education sector.

APPLICATION PROCESS
We are reviewing applications on a rolling basis and encourage you to apply early. Shortlisting will commence from 23rd June 2025.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require any adjustments or accommodations at any stage, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re here to support
you and ensure a positive experience. For further details, please review the Job Information Pack.

If you’re ready to bring your skills and passion to a role that makes a difference, we’d love to hear from you. Apply now and start your journey with NFER.

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.

Bipolar UK is the only national charity dedicated to supporting individuals affected by bipolar, including carers and families. We're launching an exciting new lottery-funded project in Northern Ireland to expand our peer support network.

As Senior Volunteer Co-ordinator, you’ll play a central role in growing and supporting our network of local support groups. You’ll recruit, onboard and induct volunteer co-facilitators, ensuring a welcoming, inclusive experience. You’ll supervise and support volunteers, helping them develop skills and confidence to deliver safe, effective peer support—whether online or in-person.

Key responsibilities include:

• Supporting the set-up and running of new support groups across Northern Ireland.
• Providing ongoing training and practical assistance to volunteers.
• Collaborating on the promotion of groups and services with internal teams and external partners.
• Ensuring compliance with safeguarding, GDPR and internal policies.
• Promoting Bipolar UK’s self-management courses and psychoeducation resources.
• Representing the charity within communities and building partnerships with local mental health services.

This is a varied, hands-on role ideal for someone with strong communication skills, experience supporting volunteers, and a passion for peer-led mental health support.

Applicants must be based in Northern Ireland due to the requirments of the role.

Salary: £28,000–£30,000 | Contract: 2-year fixed term (extension subject to funding)
Location: Home-based in Northern Ireland, with occasional travel to London. 
Hours: Full-time (35 hours/week)
Reporting to: Services Manager – Groups

Please note that we are currently only able to consider applications from candidates who have the legal right to work in the UK. We are unable to sponsor visas at this time.

Do you have experience in generating and sustaining charitable giving from individuals and nurturing a Friends scheme in the Arts education sector? Are you passionate about choral singing and its power to change the lives of children and young people and can you successfully advocate on our behalf to potential major donors?

The primary focus for the new role is to generate sustainable charitable giving from individuals, maintaining and growing our Friends memberships and developing significant income from major donors. We will also welcome input on stewardship of trusts and foundations if this is also your area of expertise.

We are a leading choral singing organisation and run residential summer courses for children and young people. Our artistic director, Ralph Allwood, founded the organisation 45 years ago, since when over 10,000 young people have benefited from our life-changing courses. Nowadays, around one third of students receive generous bursary support to attend a course and we also work with a range of partner organisations to encourage even more young people from diverse backgrounds to take part in our choral singing courses. We want to secure the future of the organisation and increase the number of students we can support by significantly growing our individual  giving.

We are looking for an experienced fundraiser to work up to 2 days per week on a freelance basis to help us move up a gear or two in terms of our fundraising, specifically to develop private giving from our extensive alumni network and the many successful individuals who feel music education at a young age made them the person they are today.

We have an office in central London but the job can be done remotely with occasional meetings with the General Manager, either in person or virtually.

Key information

Position: Head of Development, Friends and Major Donors

Reports to: General Manager

Key relationships: Artistic Director, Operations Manager, Assistant Director Rodolfus Choir, Communications Manager & Artistic Adviser, Chairman and Trustees

Location: Working from home with occasional visits to the office at King’s Place, London and meetings with donors c. weekly

Main goal: To launch our 45th anniversary year development appeal and manage fund raising through individual giving, Friends memberships and legacy donations and pledges, growing our charitable income in line with our strategy. 

About this role:

The main duties and responsibilities for the Heads of Development role are as follows:

INDIVIDUAL GIVING

· Maintain and build relationships with our donors, and identify new individuals who would like to see the Rodolfus Choral Foundation thrive

· Use our extensive alumni list to source and maintain donors

· Use contacts from the artistic director and trustees to generate new donors

·  Ensure that our top and potential donors are well looked after and researched, passing on key information to the Artistic Director and, where appropriate, arranging meetings between him and our donors

· Organise and co-host special donor events in unique venues

· Plan and help organise membership events for donors

· Help establish a legacy giving scheme for Rodolfus

· Have overall responsibility for reaching individual giving targets

· Ensure that data is accurately kept in our database in line with GDPR, and is harnessed to support our fundraising efforts

STRATEGIC PLANNING & REPORTING

· Develop a five-year Fundraising Strategy

· Set ambitious but achievable targets for each year, within the overall Rodolfus budget

· Contribute new ideas and find new opportunities for fundraising

· Produce quarterly fundraising updates for the Trustees

· Produce a fundraising report for the annual accounts, identifying strengths, weaknesses and areas for development in the Fundraising Strategy

TRUSTS AND GRANT-MAKING BODIES

· Liaise with the General Manager to ensure a coordinated fundraising plan and targets, in keeping with the artistic vision for Rodolfus

· Proof and submit applications and be the point of contact for Trusts and Foundations (this work is currently supported by the General Manager and a fundraising consultant)

GENERAL

· Attend Team and Board meetings as required

· Be a passionate advocate at all times for Rodolfus

· Adhere to all legal requirements relating to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as all other company policies and procedures

· Create a positive work environment, underpinned by the organisation’s values

· The list of responsibilities is not exhaustive and may be reviewed from time to time by the Trustees.

· The appointee may be required to perform duties outside of this as operationally required and at the discretion of the Board.

ABOUT YOU

We are looking for someone who:

· Is able to foster excellent relationships with major donors

· is positive, proactive, hard-working, innovative and ambitious

· is numerate, analytical, organised and has attention to detail

· is friendly, approachable and collaborative

· happy working in a small but dedicated team

· happy to travel regularly when required for donor and team meetings

Essential Criteria:

· excellent interpersonal skills

· experience of developing positive relationships with donors

· proven success in securing major donations

· experience of prospective donor identification and initial approach

· outstanding communication skills, both spoken and written

· experience in budget management

· good attention to detail

· excellent personal organisation and time management

· experience of working efficiently and effectively on their own as well as in a team

· understands the arts sector

Closing date: Midday on 23rd June 2025

Interviews: First round interviews will be held online on w/c 30th June 2025

Second round interviews will be held w/c 7th July 2025

We are looking for an experienced and passionate Senior Programme Officer to work as part of our National Programmes Team.

This is a 25 hour a week fixed term position until July 2026

Imagine being part of an organisation whose common purpose is to help those who are severely impacted by mental illness. We believe that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity – and that’s why equity is one of our core values. We draw on the expertise, unique perspectives and lived experience of our people – regardless of who they are or their background – to help us become inclusive and anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider that reflect the diverse communities we support as a mental health charity.

Mental Health UK brings together the heritage and experience of four charities from across the country who’ve been supporting people with their mental health for nearly 50 years.

With our local service delivery and national expertise in supporting people whose lives are affected by mental health problems, we have been able to mark a significant footprint in the areas that deeply challenge our mental health and stability.

We provide support and services for some of the biggest societal challenges that pose a threat to people’s mental health, including money problems, navigating through the system to get the right support, understanding mental health, loneliness and isolation, and resilience in young people.

The Mental Health UK programmes team is responsible for the delivery of high-quality programmes and projects that: meet the aims and objectives of Mental Health UK’s 2025-2030 Strategy, strategically align with the needs and expectations of our four founding charities, deliver for all stakeholders including funding partners and beneficiaries.

We design, deliver and measure the impact of our projects and services, ensuring that they meet the needs of people living with mental health problems and have a positive impact on the lives of individuals and communities across the UK.

One in four people in the UK have experienced a mental health problem. At Mental Health UK, we won’t stop until everyone has the tools they need to live their best possible life.

How you will make a difference

As Senior Programme Officer, I will support the Head of Commercial Insight & Development to ensure Mental Health UK delivers high quality projects and programmes that:

• Meet the aims and objectives of our 2025-30 strategy.
• Are strategically aligned with the needs and expectations of our four founding charities.
• Deliver for all stakeholders, including funding partners and beneficiaries.

In this role, I will support the Head of Commercial Insight & Development to identify opportunities to grow and expand our existing programmes. I will work with the Communications and Marketing Team to identify opportunities throughout our programmes to demonstrate our impact as an organisation.

I will oversee the day-to-day delivery of projects within Mental Health UK’s portfolio, supporting colleagues across Mental Health UK and the four founding charities to ensure outputs are delivered on time and to budget, and outcomes are achieved as planned.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion 

Diversity is important to us and we appreciate difference through difference, inclusiveness and belonging. It gives us a deeper understanding of the world, our society and the diverse communities we’re working with. By including everyone, we are able to draw on the unique experiences and expertise of our people to help shape and enrich our workplace and improve our services. One way we are doing is through our valued staff networks which play a critical and highly valued role in keeping us focused on creating a diverse, inclusive and engaged employer.  We recognise and support staff networks and support groups for our ethnically diverse and LGBTQIA+ colleagues. We are also proud to have been awarded Disability Confident Employer status and are a signatory to the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter. 

We aim for our workforce to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve; for those who work for us to feel heard, valued and feel they belong; and for our work to help tackle wider mental health inequalities. We therefore actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including applicants with lived experience of mental illness, those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual and any other gender identity not expressed here (LGBTQIA+); people who are neurodiverse, have a health condition, or a disability or hidden disability and people from an ethnically diverse background - regardless of your age, religious or spiritual belief, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, political view or socio-economic status.

Becoming a truly anti-racist organisation 

We have an ambition of become a truly anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider - and in our efforts to influence policy and wider societal factors impacting on mental health set out in our anti-racist statement . We have designed a multi-year anti-racist programme of work contained in our Race Equality Action Plan which demonstrates our intention to hold ourselves accountable and be judged on our progress on becoming a truly anti-racist organisation. You can read more about our progress here.