Refugee Support Interpreter Volunteer Roles
This role is an opportunity to get experience of working in a busy office environment supporting a legal advice service. Through providing vital administrative support, responding to enquiries, arranging client meetings and coordinating interpreters, you will help our expert legal advisers to deliver specialist legal advice and representation to refugees and survivors in complex cases. Through this role, you will get experience of working in a legal advice organisation and an understanding of its administrative and support needs. As the role develops, there may also be the opportunity to gain basic knowledge of Legal Aid procedures and client care.
Main tasks and activities
- Providing general administrative support such as copying, scanning, filing documents, data entry and generating reports from client databases;
- Basic reception duties including answering the phone, taking messages, opening and distributing post, and monitoring our email inboxes;
- Maintaining signposting list and providing information about alternative services where we cannot assist;
- Booking client appointments and interpreters, and maintaining interpreter register;
- Assisting the Legal Administrator and/or Billing Coordinator with preparing files for billing or transfer to another provider.
Skills and experience needed
- Understanding of, and commitment to, the objectives of Asylum Aid;
- A demonstrable empathy for our vulnerable clients, including asylum seekers, refugees and survivors of torture and trafficking;
- Punctual, reliable and self-motivated with a positive, ’can-do’ attitude;
- Basic understanding of the challenges facing our clients and of the UK asylum system
- High degree of accuracy and attention to detail
- Experience of working with spreadsheet computer programs (e.g. Excel) and databases
- Confidence with IT skills
- Excellent organisational skills
- Strong communication skills – written, verbally on the phone and face-to-face
- Ability to work well as part of a team and form effective working relationships
- Understanding of the importance of confidentiality and respect for client confidentiality
- Ability to complete tasks independently once given a clear brief
What you will get out of the role:
- Greater understanding of the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees;
- Knowledge of the UK asylum process and associated legal systems;
- Experience of working in a busy legal advice service;
- Basic awareness of Legal Aid eligibility and procedures;
- Experience of taking calls and responding to enquiries from vulnerable and often distressed clients;
- Stronger administrative skills;
- Ability to process large amounts of data and prioritise or categorise it;
- An ability to multi-task between competing priorities.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
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!
About the role:
The Counter-Trafficking team at HBF is a small but very busy team; it works with people who have been trafficked for all forms of exploitation and supports them in their involvement in the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), asylum and criminal justice systems. The Counter-Trafficking programme provides access to vital ongoing contact and safeguarding support for clients to ensure that they are kept safe and that their risks from others are minimised. The team takes a holistic approach which is tailored to the specific needs of clients, who have experienced human trafficking for sexual exploitation, forms of forced labour and/or criminal exploitation, amongst others. As a Counter-Trafficking volunteer, you will be trained to take an active role in the administrative and casework load of the team, and to help to provide pastoral support for our clients. This includes online filing, collating case materials (legal, clinical and other) to provide client chronologies, supporting the process of counter-trafficking assessments and other appointments, meeting remotely and in person with clients and engaging in tasks required to support the team. This is a fast-paced role, vital for the proper functioning of the team. You will be exposed to very traumatic information, but you will have careful, friendly supervision from a positive staff team in all aspects of your work.
Main tasks and activities:
• Entering client data into our CMS database.
• Supporting Counter-Trafficking team staff with organising and booking client appointments.
• Collating legal and other case materials, writing up clients’ chronologies and drafting letters.
• Follow up calls with clients and/or professionals involved in cases.
• Meeting remotely or in person with clients alongside Counter-Trafficking team staff members.
• Taking clear and comprehensive notes at meetings with and about clients.
• Researching and collating key data and information for clients and the staff team.
• Attendance and minute taking at various professionals meetings.
• Administrative tasks as required by the team.
Skills and Experience Needed:
• Understanding of, and commitment to, the objectives of the Helen Bamber Foundation.
• A demonstrable empathy for our clients, including asylum seekers, refugees and survivors of torture and trafficking.
• Awareness of the challenges that our clients may face.
• A high level of understanding of the duty of confidentiality when considering the sensitive information that the Counter-Trafficking team handles.
• A respect for the principles of diversity and human rights.
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Strong time management and prioritisation skills.
• Willingness to learn quickly and ability to adapt in a fast-moving environment.
• Comfortable using Office 365 (in particular Outlook, Word, Excel). Desired:
• Experience of working with asylum seekers, refugees and survivors of trafficking.
• Fast touch-typing and document formatting skills.
• Experience with client management database programs and spreadsheet software.
• Experience organising client documents, producing chronologies and histories.
What you will get out of the role:
• Experience of using trauma-informed methods of working with survivors.
• A better understanding of the legal systems relating to the National Referral Mechanism, the asylum system and refugee procedures in the UK.
• A stronger understanding of law enforcement and the criminal justice system as it relates to survivors of trafficking.
• An understanding of the multi-disciplinary care that survivors of trafficking require, including working with therapy, medical, housing and welfare and advocacy teams.
• Confidence in using interpreters to communicate with clients.
• Stronger and faster administrative skills.
• Ability to process large amounts of data and prioritise or categorise it.
• Experience of writing clear content and reports.
• An ability to multi-task between competing priorities.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Our system keeps your personal information hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
Area Lead (Multiple- locations)
This is an exciting opportunity to volunteer as part of a team to support the vital work of the UK Field Operations at Care4Calais, responding to the various needs of the hundreds of refugees we support through the difficult process of claiming asylum in the UK. We are currently seeking Leads in the following areas, Essex, Buckingham, Bedfordshire, Scotland, Reading, Central London, West London, North London, Gatwick, North East England, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Manchester.
As an Area Lead, you will act as a point of contact between non lead volunteers and the Care4Calais UK Operations team. Working mainly via Facebook/Whatsapp groups, Google Drive, and Zoom, your primary function is to motivate, inspire and support volunteers to take actions. These actions include distributions of essential aid to asylum seekers, joining in and organising social activities, and befriending and supporting asylum seekers to access key services. You will be available to answer questions and provide support to volunteers, and to drive the group forward to achieve maximum impact and effectiveness. You will be provided with full training including Induction, Safeguarding, Distribution, Boundaries, and develop skills in volunteer management, fundraising, advocacy, and a deeper understanding of the UK Immigration process. These skills have led to many volunteers obtaining paid roles in the sector.
In addition, you will represent Care4Calais in your region and support the team to identify and develop local partnerships. You will acquire an in-depth understanding of Care4Calais policies and procedures and ensure they are adhered to for all local operations. You will also be responsible for keeping the UK operations team informed of activities in your area, as well as feeding back to your group any UK-wide information and updates, promoting strong communication, best practice sharing and rapid action.
Responsibilities
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Attend induction, ongoing training and keep up to date with resources and procedure to ensure you can carry out the role effectively and efficiently.
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Able to work independently and manage your time effectively
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Supporting asylum seekers with a range of tasks including onwards referrals, signposting, emotional support
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Attend regular team meetings and contribute effectively
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Following safeguarding procedures and reporting safeguarding incidents appropriately
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Maintaining communication with the management team throughout your role, available for regular check-ins to ensure the best service is provided to our clients.
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Liaising with other professionals including local services and Migrant Help
Person Specification
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Organised and accurate with information, with an eye for detail.
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Excellent communication skills and the ability to communicate with people who do not have English as their first language, working alongside interpreters to ensure clients understand the process
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An understanding of the traumatic experiences that our clients have been through and the emotional resilience to cope with this
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Ability to be a self starter and motivate others, solution focussed and able to work off ones initiative.
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Dedicated to justice and the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, and a commitment to Care4Calais’s values
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Professional and dedicated to ensure that the best interests of the clients and Care4Calais are represented at all time
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Ability to use spreadsheets, Google Workspace, messaging platforms and secure databases.
Desirable Criteria:
Care4Calais is dedicated to cultivating a diverse and inclusive work environment and recognises that this is invaluable to our ability to serve the communities we support.
We therefore welcome and encourage applications from diverse backgrounds including from Black, Asian and Minority-Ethnic communities, people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, and people with lived experience of the UK immigration system.
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Proficiency in one or more of the languages spoken within asylum seeking communities, such as but not limited to: Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Dari, Kurdish Sorani, Tigrinya, Amharic.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.