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Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Thank you for your interest in joining the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), the UK’s leading professional body for health visiting.
This is a rare and exciting opportunity to join a growing, forward-looking organisation at a pivotal time. With a strong and expanding membership, iHV is working to strengthen the health visiting workforce and shape the future of child and family health across the UK.
As Policy Manager, you will play a key role in influencing national policy across priority areas including early years, prevention, public health, child protection and workforce. Your work will directly support iHV’s mission to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for babies, children, families and communities and spread excellence in health visiting.
Working closely with our clinical team, members and partners, you will develop evidence-based policy positions and help ensure frontline expertise informs decision-making at the highest levels.
You will be joining a collaborative, passionate team in a fast-paced environment where no two days are the same – and where your work will make a real and lasting difference. For full information, please view our recruitment pack.
Key responsibilities:
- Lead the co-development of evidence-based policy positions with iHV’s clinical team, members and partners.
- Monitor policy developments and identify opportunities to influence change.
- Produce high-quality briefings, consultation responses and reports.
- Build relationships with stakeholders across government, charities and the health sector.
- Gather, synthesise and apply frontline insight to inform policy development – including the production of iHV’s high-profile ‘State of Health Visiting’ survey and report.
- Work closely with the Systems and Digital Manager, applying digital and data expertise to leverage digital tools and emerging technologies (including AI) to strengthen evidence-gathering, inform policy development, and improve organisational effectiveness.
- Support delivery of policy elements of iHV projects and organisational priorities.
- Represent iHV at meetings and contribute to sector discussions.
About you:
We are looking for the following essential skills and experience:
- Strong understanding of UK policy-making processes and child and family health/ early years policy – ideally informed by experience working within or closely with government or public sector organisations.
- Exceptional writing skills, with a proven ability to produce authoritative, high impact briefings, reports and policy documents that are clear, persuasive and tailored to diverse audiences.
- Highly developed analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex information and evidence from multiple sources and translate this into clear, practical and actionable policy recommendations.
- Ability to collate, synthesise and critically assess diverse sources of insight, including frontline practitioner perspectives, quantitative and qualitative data, to inform robust policy development.
- Experience developing or contributing to evidence-based policy outputs (e.g. briefings, reports, consultation responses).
- Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills, with the ability to work effectively and collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders and partners.
- Strong organisational and project management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities, coordinate inputs and deliver work to deadlines.
- Confident verbal communication skills, with the ability to contribute effectively to meetings, events and external discussions, presenting complex ideas clearly.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Research and Policy Manager - Welfare
Date posted: 6 July 2026
Salary: £67,752 per annum with excellent benefits
Contract type: Permanent
Hours per week: 37.5 hours per week (part time over 30 hours considered). All staff are required to work in person for a minimum of two days per week, in line with our hybrid working policy. The post-holder may be required to undertake some work outside normal working hours.
About the Health Foundation
Health is our most precious asset. Good health enables us to live happy, fulfilling lives, fuels our prosperity and helps build a stronger society. Yet good health remains out of reach for too many people in the UK, and health and care services are struggling to provide access to timely, high-quality care.
The Health Foundation is an independent charitable organisation with a mission to build a healthier UK. We work to achieve this by generating high-quality research and analysis; developing practical solutions to the biggest problems in health and health services; engaging, convening and building coalitions to build understanding, inform debate and drive action; and developing the long-term capability needed to transform health and care.
Our values
We expect everyone who works with us to be committed to our values and to share our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation. Our values are impact, evidence, integrity, and collaboration. You can read more about them in our five-year strategy. We also expect everyone to share our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation and to help deliver our EDI Strategy.
About the role
This role will lead our agenda around the role of welfare to support the working age population to maintain good health and support people with long term health conditions or disability when they are unable to work or participate. The Commission for Healthier Working Lives identified a number of issues with welfare support which effectively disincentivise people from accessing and staying in work and the purpose of this role is to make the case for change and point to potential solutions.
The post holder will have a strong understanding of the current welfare agenda, and particularly what this means for people with long term health conditions and disability. Working with the Senior Fellow, you will identify the opportunities to shape better policy, providing decision makers with the evidence and clear recommendations. As well as conducting your own analysis, you will help commission policy research projects from internal and external experts and provide oversight for these projects.
Developing your own profile as an expert, you will also lead or support drafting of external outputs, speak at external events and grow and maintain external stakeholder relationships. The role provides a real opportunity to have a voice to influence the future shape of health and welfare policies and practice.
To find out more about the role and what we are looking for, please read the job description.
How to apply
Our priority is to find the right individual for each opportunity. We are dedicated to building an inclusive workplace that values diversity and invite you to find out more.
If you would like to apply, please submit your CV and answer the application questions below. Please try to limit your response to each question to no more than 300 words.
- What interests you most about this role and how do you think your experience would help The Health Foundation to influence change in the welfare system?
- Tell us about a time when you built relationships with a range of stakeholders to achieve a shared objective. How did you establish credibility, manage different priorities or perspectives and what was the outcome?
Our commitment to equality, inclusion and diversity
We are committed to an inclusive hiring process, where every candidate has the chance to showcase their unique skills and experience in an accessible and supported environment, to ensure that we can make the best appointment for each opportunity on merit. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage those from underrepresented groups in this field to apply to us. We have identified three key areas to improving diversity. Our aim is to achieve a more balanced representation across our organisation, with a particular focus on increasing the number of women in leadership, enhancing the representation of people from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds and welcoming more people with disabilities. As part of this commitment, we strongly encourage applications from these groups.
Apply to join our team and let's work towards building a more diverse and inclusive workplace together. If you require any support through this process, please contact us. Help us work together to make the recruitment process and potential future employment more accessible and enjoyable for you.
Closing date: Sunday 26 July 2026 23:59
Interview dates: Week commencing 10th August 2026
Thank you!
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Salary: £45000-£49000 p.a DOE
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
Reports to: Senior Insight Manager
Direct reports: There is potential for line management responsibility for an Insight Officer to support their development, oversee elements of their work, and help to ensure high standards of research quality and delivery.
Location: Harlow, Essex. Easily commutable from London Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale Station. We offer a free minibus service to/from Harlow Town Train Station as well as free parking and EV charging on site.
Extra Information: Open to conversation on hybrid, flexible and compressed working arrangements. The team works a minimum of two days a week from the office.
About the role:
At the Motability Foundation we fund, support, research and innovate so that all disabled people can make the journeys they choose. We oversee the Motability Scheme and provide grants to help people use it, providing access to transport to hundreds of thousands of people a year. We award grants to other charities and organisations who provide different types of transport, or work towards making transport accessible. We also carry out ongoing research, in partnership with disabled people and key stakeholders in the industry, to inspire innovations that continue to champion accessible transport for all.
This role will support the Senior Insight Manager in delivering policy research and insight as part of the new insight function. This role sits at the intersection of research and policy, ensuring that evidence is not only generated, but interpreted and mobilised effectively to inform forward-looking organisational positioning.
What you will be doing:
As Policy Research Manager, you’ll play a central role in building and mobilising the evidence needed to influence policy and public debate on mobility, disability and welfare reform. Working closely with colleagues across Insight, Policy and Public Affairs, you’ll help to ensure that the Foundation has a robust, timely and compelling evidence base to support advocacy, engagement with decision-makers, and external partnerships.
Key responsibilities will include:
- Developing clear and persuasive evidence narratives that demonstrate the social value and impact of the Foundation’s work, drawing on research, evaluation findings and wider policy evidence
- Scoping, developing and oversight of rapid evidence reviews and insight summaries to inform policy positions, responses to consultations and support external engagement
- Delivering forward-looking policy analyses using futures and foresight approaches (including horizon scanning and trend synthesis), assessing potential implications for disabled people and organisational positioning.
- Acting as the lead for policy-relevant research on welfare reform and related priority areas, synthesising internal and external evidence to inform organisational responses
- Supporting coordination with Motability Operations on shared policy and research priorities
- Supporting relationships with external partners including Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs), think tanks and public research bodies, including representing the Foundation to contribute an evidence-informed perspective
- Supporting dissemination and engagement activity, including roundtables, briefings, thought pieces and events that help shape debate and explore innovative policy solutions
- Working collaboratively across the organisation to move our evidence and insight from reactive to proactive, strengthening our influence over time
Your experience:
You’re curious, motivated and motivated by public impact. You enjoy turning complex evidence into clear messages that resonate with different audiences, and you’re keen to see research used to influence real-world decisions. You understand what makes for good enough evidence to influence policy making.
You’re comfortable working across organisational boundaries and with external partners, and you bring energy, judgement and confidence to conversations about policy, evidence and social value.
You’re likely to thrive in this role if you:
- Enjoy synthesising research and data into compelling, accessible insight
- Are motivated by social purpose and improving outcomes for disabled people
- Have a strong interest in public policy
- Have a strong understanding of how evidence can be used to influence decision-making
- Are proactive, organised and able to respond quickly to emerging issues
- Are confident representing an organisation externally and contributing to policy discussions
- Like working collaboratively and building trusted relationships across teams and sectors
If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience, we'd still encourage you to apply.
Requirements
We recognise that candidates may come from a range of backgrounds. We’re particularly interested in people with strong potential who are keen to develop their skills in a purpose-driven environment.
Must haves:
- Experience conducting or coordinating research, evidence reviews or analysis in a policy, public affairs, research or related setting
- Familiarity with government policy-making processes, consultations and/or parliamentary engagement
- Ability to synthesise complex information into clear, concise written outputs
- Understanding of how research and evidence can be packaged and used effectively to inform or influence public policy
- Experience working with or alongside external organisations such as think tanks, charities, DPOs, academic or public research bodies
- Strong written communication skills and confidence contributing to external briefings, reports or events
- A relevant degree or postgraduate qualification in a social science, public policy or related discipline, or equivalent work experience
Nice to haves:
- Experience working on disability, welfare, transport or social policy issues
- Experience supporting advocacy or public affairs activity using evidence
- Experience designing or managing rapid evidence reviews or insight products
- A recognised professional research qualification such as the MRS Advanced Certificate, or equivalent professional research training.
Benefits
Who are we?
We are building a future where all disabled people have the transport options to make the journeys they choose.
We fund, support, research and innovate so that all disabled people can make the journeys they choose. We oversee the Motability Scheme and provide grants to help people use it, providing access to transport to hundreds of thousands of people a year. We award grants to charities and organisations who provide different types of transport, or work towards making transport accessible. We also carry out ongoing research, in partnership with disabled people and key stakeholders in the industry, to inspire innovations that continue to champion accessible transport for all.
Why choose us?
We want working for the Motability Foundation to be the best career move you’ve ever made. When you join the Motability Foundation you will join a group of people who are supportive, innovative and motivated to improve the lives of our beneficiaries.
We value everyone’s unique qualities and celebrate having a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture where everyone feels safe to be their authentic selves. This is embedded into our values, Collaborative, Respectful and Evolving.
We bring our people together through our People Forum, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Forum, Social Squad and our Wellbeing Champions and our employee Spotlight Awards help us recognise the excellence and dedication of our staff.
We are proud to be recognised as Disability Confident Leader, have attained Platinum Level Award for Investors in People and are members of the Business Disability Forum.
A career with Motability Foundation can offer you so much more than earning potential, we pride ourselves in offering some fantastic benefits. Some of these include:
- 26 days annual leave, plus the option to buy/ sell up to five days.
- One wellbeing day for extra flexibility.
- Pension scheme - Up to 20%, including a 10% non-contributory contribution and matched contributions up to 5%.
- Life Assurance of four times your salary.
- Private healthcare through BUPA for you and your family, along with a Medicash Health Plan.
- Employee assistance programme: GP appointments, eye tests, flu vaccinations, sick pay and free gym and yoga sessions.
- Enhanced Parental Leave, including Adoption Pay.
- Free parking, EV charge points and a minibus service to/from the town centre and train station.
- Fresh fruit, breakfast snacks, and a Dress for Your Day dress code.
- Learning and development opportunities to help you grow.
Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, and we aim to be an employer of choice for candidates with disabilities.
As a Disability Confident Leader, we have committed to ensuring that disabled people and those with long term health conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential. We want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to perform their best when interviewing and when working with us, so if you require any reasonable adjustments that would make you more comfortable, please let us know so that we can do our best to support you.
To help us create an inclusive workplace we are committed to offering to interview every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances, we may need to limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates. re
Registered Charity
101 - 500
We are building a future where all disabled people have the transport options to make the journeys they choose.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.