Policy research assistant jobs

Please note that this role is a permanent position, but we would consider a Fixed Term Contract for an outstanding candidate. Although the closing date is 30th September, we are reviewing and shortlisting applications on a ongoing basis so do apply as soon as possible.
The role is hybrid, so for full time hours would mean 40-60 percent of the time worked from our Bradford offices (2-3 days).
 

CAP celebrates the value of diversity and our aim is for our workforce to be as inclusive as possible as well as representing the communities we serve. With this in mind, we welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from candidates from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. We are committed to continue building an environment that embraces diversity and includes all.

Context:

CAP is a national charity that is driven to help release people from debt, poverty and their causes through partnering with local churches.  We do this by providing a variety of services: CAP Debt Help, CAP Job Clubs, CAP Release Groups and CAP Life Skills.  We also help churches teach basic budgeting and money management skills through our CAP Money course.  Our debt help service involves holding client assets. CAP is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The continued success of our work rests on a bedrock of vital background functions, which includes the finance department.

Purpose:

The finance department is going through an exciting period of transformation. Working alongside the Chief Financial Officer and the Head of Financial Planning & Analysis, this role will help shape the strategy and delivery of excellent forward-facing financial planning, statutory and regulatory reporting, costing and client asset management.

This role will be responsible for identifying opportunities for continuous improvement whilst driving efficiencies across the finance department. Taking ownership of providing potential solutions to enable us to strengthen our core financial processes, from both a systems and process perspective, whilst encouraging thought and challenge around our current ways of working.

This role will take accountability for the oversight and management control of the Finance Operations team, providing outstanding customer service to both our internal and external customers and stakeholders.

Personality:

We are dedicated, enthusiastic and take a professional approach to our work, within a relaxed, supportive environment. 

Reports to: Chief Financial Officer

Direct Reports: 1 x Assistant Financial Accountant, 5 x Finance Assistants

Passion:

We are extremely passionate about providing excellent service to our multitude of internal and external stakeholders. 

Role:

Accountabilities:

• Build and develop a strong finance operations function with robust internal and external controls through active line management and regular training

• Drive the annual statutory reporting process - developing a clear timeline, planning and negotiating with our internal communications team to deliver a high quality annual report for Trustee approval and sign off

• Lead the external audit process, negotiating fees, timetables and take the lead role in all meetings with the Audit Partner and their team. Use judgement to consider whether audit responses should be challenged or accepted. Prepare action plans and report audit findings to the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee.

• Oversee the CASS annual audit process, which includes negotiating fees, timetables and take the lead role in all meetings with the Audit Partner and their team. Use judgement to consider whether audit responses should be challenged or accepted. Prepare action plans and report audit findings to the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee. 

• Develop and deliver comprehensive and insightful regular balance sheet reporting and forecasting (capital expenditure, cashflow, liabilities and reserves) to support the financial sustainability of CAP, highlighting risks or opportunities to enable informed decision making by Executive Team and the Board

• Identify and implement process and system improvements, shaping and improving the effectiveness of the finance operations team. 

• Take the leading role in the finance ledger system replacement procurement, design & implementation

• Provide support to ensure key operational and financial targets are delivered

• Develop, recommend and implement cash and capital management systems and reporting

• Provide assessments of capital expenditure business cases and strategic opportunities to support and influence decision making

• Support the month end and annual accounting processes to ensure accurate reporting of the financial performance

• Advise the Chief Financial Officer on technical areas of expertise, undertaking research as required, in particular financial reporting, VAT and tax.

• Provide financial accounting advice and support to the Head of Financial Planning & Analysis in the preparation of budgets

• Submission of all mandatory external surveys and reports as required by deadlines (ONS, FCA etc)

Manager accountabilities: 

• Manager is proactive in creating a culture of personal development in the team, including but not limited to conducting Annual Appraisals and Development Reviews (AADs), and coaching style catch ups for every direct report

• Manager is a secure and honest leader, able to acknowledge mistakes, lead with vulnerability and build a high trust team

• Manager has excellent written and verbal communication skills and can tailor these to the audience and situation as needed

• Consistently and professionally articulates the needs of the team to wider stakeholders, whether as part of specific projects or business-as-usual tasks

• Manager is able to balance team workloads, boundaries and health using appropriate and effective strategic methods such as LEAN, problem definition and ideation tools

Senior Leadership accountabilities: 

• Strategy. Understands the organisation and industry context, knows how to set strategic plans and execute them well.

• Operational oversight. Delivers on the department’s goals and strategic priorities, knows how to lead the department through change and is constantly looking to improve processes.

• Developing and leading people. Able to lead managers and develop them to deliver on accountabilities. Highly skilled at appraisals and setting targets.

• Promoting healthy culture. Ensuring department work and behaviour exemplifies CAP’s values.

• Collaboration (across departments). Strong in organisational awareness and passionate about cross-collaborative working.

Measurable outputs:

• Budgets (capital and other items)  delivered on time and within budget

• Objectives agreed annually delivered as planned

• Monthly reporting pack delivered to the agreed timetable

• Finance transformation programme delivered successfully

• Successful completion of the annual statutory audit process

• Identification of further improvements needed to financial processes and controls as appropriate

• Delivery of new chart of accounts structure 

• Balance sheet & Cash Flow - annual, monthly and quarterly - including forecasts

• Statutory returns completed on time

• Effective regular 1:1 meetings held with direct reports

Culture:

• Clearly live out and embrace the cultural values of CAP.

• Clearly demonstrate a heart and passion for the charity.

• Sincere acceptance, understanding and practice of the Christian ethos and purpose of the charity.

Other responsibilities include:

• Being willing to pray with staff and fully engaged with our Christ-centred  culture.

• Encouraging friends, family and other contacts to support the charity through the Life Changer program, and other fundraising initiatives.

• Attendance at annual CAP staff conferences.

• Completing all compulsory CAP training within given timescales.

• This role falls within the scope of the FCA’s conduct rules, and you will be provided with training as to how these apply to the role.  It is your responsibility to ensure that you follow these conduct rules.

The above job profile is a guide to the work you may be required to undertake but does not form part of your contract of employment. It may change from time to time to reflect changing circumstances.

Person:

Education:

• Qualified Accountant (CCAB) with Post Qualification Experience

• Degree or professional level education

Experience:

Essential

• At least 3 years experience at a senior level within a finance/accountancy environment

• Senior level financial accounting experience

• Experience of reviewing controls & processes

• Experience of leading the annual accounts & audit process

• Experience of leading teams to meet key objectives or targets

Desirable

• Senior level financial accounting experience in a not-for-profit organisation

• Experience of installing/upgrading accounting systems

• Prior experience of working in a CASS 11 environment 

Skills/abilities:

• A strategic thinker, able to plan and forecast with an exceptional level of organisational awareness.

• Ability to interpret technical accounting regulations into everyday language

• Demonstrable effective influencing skills at a senior level

• Significant understanding of financial control and risk

• Excellent technical finance and accounting knowledge

• Demonstrate strong understanding of business needs and relevant application of accounting standards

• Good strategic insight and understanding of organisational aims.

• Possess a problem solving, analytical mindset with a high level of attention to detail

• Excellent communicator and presentation skills, both verbally and in writing

• Strong excel skills and use of data manipulation tools

• Ability to prioritise and manage own workloads, be organised, have a flexible working style and enjoy working to tight deadlines

• Ability to lead a team in actively promoting the cultural values of CAP

Christian commitment:

• The candidate must be able to give both verbal assent to and practical demonstration of Christians Against Poverty’s Statement of Faith and Core Values.

• Must be able to actively participate in prayer and worship, whether individual, small group or corporately, as an expression of their own personal faith and in line with CAP’s Statement of Faith.

All adults working in or on behalf of CAP have a responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and adults. This includes: 

• A responsibility to ensure a safe environment in which CAP services can be delivered. 

• Identifying children and adults where there may be safeguarding concerns.

• Following the CAP Safeguarding policy in addressing any concerns appropriately.

Location:  Erdington Hospice with expectation to work at Selly Park Hospice
for training and cover

Hours: 37.5 hours per week (No weekends, bank holidays or on call responsibility)

Salary: Clinical Band 6, £36,276 - £43,683 per year (pro rata for part-time)

If you want the opportunity to make a difference to patients with a life limiting illness and would like to work in an innovative and supportive team, we would love to hear from you. The main purpose of this role is to provide physiotherapy input, as part of a Specialist Multi-disciplinary Team, to patients referred for specialist palliative/end of life care. 

You will be responsible for the planning and delivery of holistic care to patients, their families and carers on the physiotherapy caseload, both in the community and in Hospice settings.  You will support with the delivery of our breathless programme, providing education and exercise to patient groups. You will provide evidence-based physiotherapy interventions to patients following the HCPC clinical standards of care and CSP professional Codes of Conduct. 

What we are looking for:

· An honours degree level or equivalent in physiotherapy, Healthcare Professions Council (HCPC) registration and membership of Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP).

· Significant post-graduate experience across a range of physiotherapy specialities.

· A patient-centred and holistic approach with a passion for palliative care.

· Experience in palliative care or transferable skills suited to this specialist field.

· Excellent communication and teamwork skills.

· A UK driver’s licence, business insurance cover and access to a car for work purposes is essential to this role.

What We Offer:

· The opportunity to be part of a compassionate and forward-thinking charity

· Generous benefits package

· Recognition of continuous service for NHS or hospice staff (including pension and annual leave entitlements)

· A culture that values its people’s innovation, input and support,

To view the full job description for this role and to apply for this vacancy please visit our vacancies portal on our website.

The hospice is committed to developing a dynamic and diverse team, representative of the communities it serves. We ask you, therefore, to complete the Equal Opportunities monitoring form to help us in this aim.

We value each person as an individual – whether they are colleagues, patients, family members, carers or supporters, every person matters. We embrace diversity of culture, background and environment knowing it enriches our workplace and our relationships with our local communities. We are committed to building a culture of inclusion and belonging. We would love to hear from you, about what makes you uniquely you and how this opportunity will support you to succeed. 

Senior Programme Manager (Part-time Contract)

The Role:

This is an exciting 15-month contract opportunity for a Senior Programme Manager with experience in participatory/community arts who is passionate about driving impactful change and fostering intergenerational connections within an evolving, inclusive organisation. You will be instrumental in ensuring the seamless continuity and high-quality delivery of our respected intergenerational and care home arts programme during a period of organisational evolution.

At Magic Me, we believe in the power of diverse talent to drive innovation and create a powerful organisational culture. We actively encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, including those from minoritised communities and disabled candidates, as we strive to build a team that reflects the rich diversity of the communities we serve. Although we welcome applications from everyone, we are particularly interested in hearing from candidates who identify as men as well as those from the Bengali community who are currently underrepresented on our team.

We also welcome local candidates with knowledge of Tower Hamlets and surrounding boroughs.

Role Details:

• Location: Bethnal Green, E2, East London. Hybrid working negotiable (the role requires office working for key delivery activities and supporting programme team colleagues).

• Salary: £44,000 per annum, pro rata (equivalent to £26,640 for 3 days per week)

• Reporting to: Creative Director (Co-CEO)

• Contract Duration: 15 Months (January 2026 - March 2027)

• Working Hours: 3 days per week (21 hours)

Who we're looking for:

You are an experienced programme leader, comfortable taking comprehensive ownership of an artistic programme that includes multiple projects across diverse contexts. Driven by a strong passion for co-creation, you bring significant expertise from senior project management or producer roles within the participatory/community arts sector. You excel at cultivating strong, authentic relationships with community and non-arts organisations, artists, and participants. With a proven track record in socially engaged practice and direct line management, you are adept at navigating changing environments and possess excellent communication skills that build and maintain vital connections. Your dedication to Magic Me’s mission and the transformative power of intergenerational arts is clearly evident.

Key responsibilities and deliverables:

• Programme oversight & leadership: Provide oversight of the full year creative programme, ensuring high quality delivery and the effective integration of individual projects. Collaborate on the design and management of the overall programme budget and manage staff and artist capacity.

• Team leadership & mentorship: Line-manage two Project Managers, fostering a supportive environment and prioritizing their development. Provide direct mentorship to a designated Project Manager as part of Magic Me's internal succession plan for the SPM role.

• Project practice & frameworks: Take responsibility for implementing effective ways of working for the Programme Team. Oversee project evaluation and ensure evaluation practice adheres to the ACE Impact & Insight framework.

• Partnership & artist relationships: Nurture key partner and artist relationships and oversee the Project Managers' portfolios of key relationships. Identify, engage, and establish potential arts and non-arts partners and participants for the 26/27 programme.

You can find full details of the role and its responsibilities in the job pack. 

About Magic Me:

At Magic Me, we envision a world without ageism, where everyone can express their creativity and reach their full potential. Our mission is to inspire change through impactful art, fostering connections between generations. For over three decades, we've pioneered intergenerational arts practices, creating innovative projects in Tower Hamlets and leading the way in creative care home work across London and Essex.

Why now is the perfect time to join:

This is a truly exciting moment to join Magic Me as we are embarking on our next stage of evolution, transitioning to a dynamic Co-CEO model. This Senior Programme Manager role is essential in supporting this transition, particularly by nurturing our programme team and contributing to our internal succession plans. You'll be involved in flagship projects and actively participate in strategic discussions to help shape our new three-year strategy.

The Offer:

• Salary: £44,000 per annum, pro rata (equivalent to £26,6400 for 3 days per week)

• Holiday: 25 days and bank holidays (pro-rata) + days between Christmas & New Year.

• Other benefits: 3% pension contribution, flexible and hybrid working negotiable, and weekly 1:1 wellbeing meetings. We may also offer an additional week of leave during August pending results of a recent trial in 2025.

Application process:

Applications are provisionally open until 9am on Monday 20th October, however, we will close the application form as soon as we have received enough applications. We encourage applicants to apply as soon as possible.

• First-stage interviews will take place online on Monday 10th November.

• Second-stage interviews will take place in person at our Bethnal Green office on Monday 17th November.

• The planned start date is the week beginning 5th January 2026.

To apply, head to the "join our team" page on our website complete your application. Please submit an updated CV, our online form, and an equal opportunities form. 

BookTrust – Head of Fundraising

Location: Based in either Farringdon, London or Leeds offices. Hybrid working, with at least eight in person meeting days per month. S[SG1] ome UK travel to meet with prospects, donors and colleagues.

Salary: £75,000 per annum.
Contract: Permanent, full-time.

BookTrust, the charity that champions the power of reading, is seeking a Head of Fundraising in a new senior role to oversee the strategic development and management of their voluntary income, to help them deliver their goals to shape a national reading culture.

BookTrust is the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, reaching over 1.3 million children and families across England, Wales and Northern Ireland each year and delivering evidence-informed programmes that make a measurable difference to children’s reading behaviours. Their work is rooted in the belief that every child deserves the chance to enjoy reading and all the lifelong benefits it brings. In recent years, the charity’s work has focused on helping children from low-income and vulnerable family backgrounds to become regular readers.

The Head of Fundraising will be responsible for stewarding an existing portfolio of major statutory and voluntary funders, and managing BookTrust’s high value and individual giving portfolio. This includes trusts and foundations, statutory funders and corporate partners from the publishing sector and beyond, from Waterstones to Build-A-Bear. The post-holder will build on significant fundraising growth over the last three years, and will work to further grow and diversify fundraising income to meet the goals of the charity’s recently launched 2025-2030 strategic plan.

The successful candidate will be engaging, experienced and have a proven record across high value fundraising (with a preference for major donor/philanthropy, trusts and corporate partnerships), as well as having a good knowledge of Individual Giving.

They will have experience of operating at a senior leader level with a charity, with responsibility for liaising with, and reporting to, the SLT and the Board, and will be able to show demonstrable success in achieving personal and team income targets.  Commercially and politically astute, candidates will also be emotionally intelligent and natural collaborators, willing to work with others on bringing income generation ideas to life in an organisation with a diverse funding model including mixed models of trading and philanthropy.

This is an exciting opportunity to help secure the financial support needed to get even more children reading and fulfilling their potential in life, with strong backing from BookTrust’s leadership and a commitment to supporting the team to growth, thrive and achieve success together.

This role would be ideal for a senior leader who has managed a significant income stream or small multi-disciplinary team who is looking for a broader challenge and a chance to make real impact.

Please download our Candidate Pack for further information [PDF], which includes details on how to apply.

Closing date: Monday 13th October, 9.00 am. 

Benefits Advisor
Salary £27,000 FTE,  17.5 - 21 hours per week, 6.6 weeks holiday   
Remote working with occasional travel for events and meetings in West Sussex
 

Are you a skilled benefits advisor with a passion for maximising income for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities?  

We have an exciting opportunity for someone to join a rapidly growing caring charity with the benefits of flexible family friendly working (from home), generous holiday, pension scheme, travel expenses, laptop and phone provided.  

Reaching Families was established in 2008 to empower, inform and support parent-carers and families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in West Sussex.  We achieve this through the delivery of our services providing information, training and peer support.

Our Benefits Advice Service provides support to parents of children and young people with SEND in West Sussex applying for Carer’s Allowance, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independent Payments (PIP).  Offering 1-2-1 advice sessions on the above benefits, support with claim checking of draft applications, information resources on benefits and other sources of financial support, and training workshops on DLA, PIP and Universal Credit.

We are looking to recruit a skilled and motivated benefits advisor to join our team
The post holder will be responsible for the delivery of advice and guidance on Carers Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment to parent-carers of children and young people with SEND in West Sussex.

Person Specification (essential):
• Proven experience of providing welfare and benefits advice preferably gained with either children or adults with disabilities
• Experience of using CRM databases 
• Experience of using MS Office including SharePoint
• Understanding of challenges facing parents and carers of children with SEND 
• In-depth knowledge of Carers Allowance, DLA and PIP)
• Passionate about improving the life chances of children with SEND and their parents/carers, and families
See attached job description for details and full criteria 

We welcome applications from all members of the community and value diversity in the organisation. Please contact us if you require any reasonable adjustments to be made to the application or interview process due to any disability or health requirements. 

Closing date for applications is 6th October 2025 

Interviews to be held in Littlehampton on 16th October 2025 

To apply please complete the attached application form and share why you feel you fit the role and person specification (see attached documents)