Volunteer peer advisor jobs
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About the role
We are seeking an experienced and qualified immigration advisor to oversee the strategic direction of our casework and systemic work for the coming year.
The Unity Project (TUP) supports people who are facing poverty and homelessness because their immigration status allows them ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF). We believe NRPF should not exist and we are working to end it. Until then, we seek to minimise its impact by supporting people to make the ‘change of conditions’ (CoC) application to access public funds. As part of this work, we continually develop new casework approaches to make CoCs more accessible to more people. By taking a strategic approach to our casework, we have opened up new routes for people to move through the process, and achieved greater recognition of groups with particular needs. We have also supported numerous strategic legal challenges which have prompted significant changes to the immigration rules and guidance related to CoCs.
In this cover role, you will lead The Unity Project’s strategic work to improve the accessibility of the CoC process. You will be responsive to changes in the external context and identify strategic priorities to focus on in our casework. You will hold our strategic external relationships, in particular with law firms, advice agencies and Home Office representatives, and you will oversee our strategic litigation support. You will share our expertise with the sector through second-tier advice, training workshops and peer support forums. Our strategic work is rooted in direct casework, and so this will also be part of your role. You will be responsible for TUP’s casework provision for applicants who submit their own CoC applications independently, and you will support with other strategically significant cases as required.
About The Unity Project
Who we are
The Unity Project is a small charity that supports people with ‘Change of Conditions’ (CoC) applications required for access to public funds.
Why we exist
We want everyone living in the UK to have equal access to the welfare system. We exist to challenge the 'no recourse to public funds' (NRPF) policy in order to end it and, until then, minimise its impact.
Our values
We aim to be:
- Representative of and accountable to people who are navigating or have navigated the systems we want to change.
- Sustainable, so we can continue our work as long as it is needed.
- Trauma informed, recognising the impact of prior traumatic experiences and promoting an organisational culture which is safe, transparent, collaborative and responds empathically to each individual’s needs.
- Rooted in community, as we believe that strength comes from relationships of solidarity and mutual support.
- Equitable to all who give their time to the project.
- Tenacious, innovative, reflective and adaptable in our casework.
Benefits
- Salary - £46,849 pro rata
- Flexibility - We work together in person on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Beyond that we can be flexible about how you meet your hours.
- Annual leave - 35 days inclusive of bank holidays, plus a regular Christmas closure period (subject to board approval)
- Pension - 5% employee contribution, 8% employer contribution
- Clinical supervision - All staff have access to monthly clinical supervision
- Wellbeing - All staff have a personal wellbeing budget to spend as they need
- Professional development - We organise regular all-staff training sessions to address needs identified by the team, and every staff member has an individual training budget for their own professional development. We aim to support all staff to grow and shape their roles in line with their career aspirations.
- Immigration support - On a case by case basis, we may be able to offer legal assistance with the immigration applications necessary to sustain this employment in compliance with UK immigration law.
- Working environment - We are a small and friendly team of staff and volunteers. We believe that effective opposition to the hostile environment is rooted in our relationships with each other and our community.
Please submit your CV and cover letter (no more than two pages) by midday on Sunday 8 March 2026. Read the person specification thoroughly and address in your application all the points which are marked assessed at Application stage. Your cover letter should be personal and distinct. Avoid reliance on AI and do not simply restate your CV.
We use an anonymised recruitment process. Names and basic demographic information will be redacted from applications before shortlisting. Please do not include this in the body of your cover letter.
We plan to hold interviews in the week beginning 16/03/26. We will discuss accessibility requirements in advance.
Questions or issues? Our contact email is at the end of the person specification.
Registered Charity
1 - 5
We want everyone to have equal access to the welfare system. We challenge the ‘no recourse to public funds’ policy and work to minimise its impact.
Thank you!
RASASC Guildford - Making a difference to the lives of those affected by rape and sexual abuse
Position: Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA)
Hours: Full time
Salary: Competitive salary dependent on and reflective of experience, qualifications and training. Starting range (for 35 hours/FTE) from £28,598
Location: Based in Guildford and covering Surrey
Accountable to: ISVA Team Leader
DBS check: Yes
Closing on: Tuesday 24th February
This is a new opportunity to join our Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) team.
We are committed to equal opportunities, and we warmly encourage applications from all sections of the community particularly applicants from diverse groups.
RASASC is a registered charity which has been providing support to survivors of rape and sexual abuse of all genders (both recent and non-recent) and young people aged over 13, from across Surrey since 1992.
We provide an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) Service. ISVAs support survivors to help them overcome the abuse they have suffered and to rebuild their lives. This service also includes supporting the survivor to seek justice through the judicial system, should the survivor wish.
We also provide one-to-one counselling, group work, youth counselling, a support line, and a family support programme.
Volunteers are an important part of the work we do. Volunteers staff our support line and many of our qualified counsellors work on a voluntary basis with survivors of rape and sexual abuse.
ISVA
ISVAs are survivor-focused advocates, who support survivors of recent and non recent rape and sexual abuse to enable them to access the services they need in the aftermath of the abuse they have experienced. An ISVA provides individual support and this will vary from client to client.
This role is based at the RASASC Guildford office and will work across Surrey. The ISVA must have a full driving licence and use of a car that can be used for work purposes.
You will be part of a dedicated, experienced, and friendly team. The ISVAs meet fortnightly for peer support and work collaboratively with each other to share knowledge. Each ISVA has a lead area of responsibility in addition to your caseload supporting a range of clients.
You will be provided with monthly clinical supervision and attend monthly one-to-one meetings with the ISVA team leader.
We welcome applications from all candidates but are particularly looking for those who can demonstrate the experience listed in the essential criteria of the person specification, and especially from those who can evidence the desirable skills and/or have an existing ISVA qualification.
Job Description
• To support survivors of rape and sexual abuse.
• It is the responsibility of the ISVA to impartially advise the client on all options open to them, such as the Criminal Justice System, SARC, sexual health clinic and other local services.
• The ISVAs are expected to balance a caseload that includes survivors progressing through the criminal justice process as well as survivors that have decided not to report, or who are no longer in the criminal justice process.
• The ISVA will be based at Guildford RASASC but will be expected to travel throughout Surrey.
• The ISVA is expected to carry out other duties from time to time which are broadly consistent with those in this document, as the job description cannot cover every issue which may arise within the post.
Key Tasks
• The ISVA will provide a survivor-focused, independent service, distinct from the role of a crisis worker or counsellor.
• Undertake risk assessment and support needs analysis with survivor and develop a support plan for the survivor.
• To provide advice and support across a wide range of issues, such as housing, health and education, that will help to support the survivor and ensure their ongoing safety in the aftermath of the abuse.
• Manage caseload and maintain necessary case files and records including monitoring information as required under funding conditions and by RASASC.
• To provide expert advice and support in relation to issues and the impact of rape and sexual abuse on this client group to other members of the ISVA team as well as the wider RASASC team.
• The ISVA will be required to undertake accredited training specifically designed to support them in delivering this service. This training is currently delivered virtually but subject to change, possibly face to face in Rugby or Manchester over six modules. Each module is taught over two consecutive days to minimise the amount of time ISVAs are away.
• Fulfil relevant monitoring processes as requested by the ISVA Team Leader or the Fundraising Manager.
• to attend monthly one to one supervision with team leader and monthly clinical supervision
Personal Specification
Experience:
Essential
• Excellent interpersonal skills and communication skills
• Excellent organisational skills and a proven ability to prioritise workload, including time management skills
• Experience of working with vulnerable people
• Knowledge and understanding of child and vulnerable adult protection procedures and information sharing protocols
• Handling confidential information
• Ability to work on your own and as part of a small team in a busy and challenging environment
• Full driving licence and car that can be utilised for work purposes.
Desirable
• Case Management skills – ability to accurately maintain records
• Crisis management skills – including risk management
• Knowledge and commitment to multi-agency partnership working.
• Experience of delivering presentation/training.
• Experience of working with survivors of rape and sexual abuse and an understanding of the variety of issues affecting survivors
In return, we can offer you 25 days annual leave (pro rata for part time hours, eight public holidays (pro rata for part time hours) contributory pension scheme and reimbursement of travel expenses at 45p per mile.
Application
We are committed to equal opportunities, and we warmly encourage applications from all sections of the community particularly applicants from diverse groups.
1st Interviews will be held on Thursday 26th February, and should you be short listed you will be invited to interview on Tuesday 10th March or Thursday 12th March at our offices in Guildford.
If you are interested in joining our team or if you have any questions about the role, please do give us a call as we would love to hear from you – contact Sally Hutton or Yvonne Keanne at our RASASC Guildford office for more details or please complete the application form.
This recruitment will close by Tuesday 24th February
How to Apply: Please download the application form from our RASASC Guildford website
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
and provide dementia support, holding a small caseload if required. The successful candidate will join the team with one other Dementia Adviser and you will lead on all group activities being delivered as part of the Age Well contract.
What you’ll focus on:
- Making sure all groups are high quality and meet the standards and goals set out in our Service Specifications.
- Manage our Group Support Volunteers who will support you in the delivery of groups.
- You will recruit and train new volunteers to ensure all groups are properly advertised and staffed
- You will work from home and in the community, running groups, visiting people at home, promoting our service at events, and occasionally giving talks about dementia.
- Identifying people’s needs and the services they may wish to access, give advice about how to live well with dementia and support the improvement of their sense of wellbeing
- Collate statistics and evidenced based outcomes to meet our targets including case studies and evaluation
- Engaging with a variety of professionals from health, social care, voluntary and community sector.
- Build relationships to ensure referrals into our service, and you have knowledge of services and support available for people with dementia and carers.
About you
- Ability and interest in supporting people to maintain their independence, improve their sense of well-being, and help them take more control of their lives
- Good communication skills, adapting to a wide range of audiences and delivering presentations
- Understanding of dementia and the needs of those living with dementia and their carers
- Able to network effectively and collaborating with other professionals to achieve a positive outcome for people
- Good IT skills, including experience working with databases and virtual meeting software (Teams/Zoom)
- Ability to organise own work to ensure it is accurate, meets quality targets, deadlines and reporting requirements
Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime. At Alzheimer’s Society, we’re the UK’s leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding groundbreaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be. Together with our supporters, we’re working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives. Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.
Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society. We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society. Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people.
Our hiring process
During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply. Please also contact Alzheimer’s Society Talent Acquisition Team via [email protected] for application support or any adjustments you might need. To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique
perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice. We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice. We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a DBS check at the relevant level.
Giving back to you
Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential.
Thank you!
This is an exciting opportunity for someone with excellent strategic, analytical and leadership skills to join Impetus as an Investment Director and support us in our mission to transform the lives of young people.
The Investment Director (ID) is a key member of the Investment Team, playing a leading role in identifying, assessing, and supporting portfolio partner charities and other non-profit organisations to deepen their impact and scale their outcomes. This role works closely with other Investment Directors and Investment Managers to deliver external facing support to portfolio partners as well as internal projects to support the development of the investment model and portfolio strategy.
Investment Directors use strategic thinking, analytical rigour, and senior relationship skills to support a portfolio of amazing organisations that, together, will help shift the life chances and outcomes of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK.
About the Investment Team
The Investment Team is responsible for selecting portfolio partners, managing our charity investments and supporting our portfolio partners to improve and scale their impact.
The Investment Team also leads the Impetus Leadership Academy, a leadership development programme to support talent from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK youth sector to progress into senior leadership roles.
The team is made up of 18 people, including former teachers, charity chief executives, charity impact leads, management consultants, social investment portfolio managers and impact consultants.
The team is led by a Portfolio Director who sits on the Senior Management Team. The Portfolio Director has 5 direct reports: a Deputy Portfolio Director, three Sector Leads (who lead our work in School engagement, School attainment and Employment Sectors) and an Impact Lead. Sector Leads line manage 6 Investment Directors. Investment Directors line manage Investment Managers (currently 5). Investment Directors and Investment Managers tend to primarily focus on a sector but might have mixed portfolios, depending on need, experience and interest.
The Investment Team has a good track record of role progression. All four Leads and a number of our Investment Directors were promoted from within the team.
The team is passionate, rigorous, determined, creative and warm. We come from a range of backgrounds and bring a broad mix of perspectives. We care deeply for our colleagues, our portfolio partners and the young people we serve.
About this role
We believe that all young people deserve to succeed in school and in work, whatever their background. As we enter a challenging time with rising inflation and a likely recession, our work feels more vital than ever before. We are pleased to be able to expand our team to support our growing portfolio of charity and non-profit partners, in order to reach and impact more lives. The role of Investment Director presents an exciting opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the charities we serve, the team itself and the whole of Impetus.
Key responsibilities
Finding high potential charities and non-profit partners for our portfolio
- Identifying potential charitable organisations for investment
- Leading in-depth due diligence process within the scope of a grant round, to assess and build partnership foundations with potential partners – covering leadership and governance, and their impact, scale, and partnership potential;
- Modelling from first contact of origination, our approach to engaged and trust-based investment management support;
- Developing and presenting high quality investment propositions to our Investment Committee.
Managing partnerships with portfolio partners
- Managing relationships with partner Chairs and CEOs
- Agreeing Service Funding Agreements, including appropriate annual investment milestones to allow for a clear assessment of re-investment potential at end of phase
- Regularly monitoring and assessing partner progress / risks against milestones and making evidence-based recommendations on progression or exit to Leads, Portfolio Director and the Investment Committee
- Escalating key risks on performance, leadership and safeguarding
- Conducting annual partnership review with Sector Leads and partner CEOs
- Working with Impetus Finance colleagues to ensure timely distribution of grant payments, in line with Service Funding Agreements.
Supporting portfolio partners
- Providing direct support to CEOs and senior colleagues on key strategic topics, using a mix of at least monthly one-to-one meetings and group facilitation to:
- clarify theory of change,
- define long term ambition,
- develop growth strategy
- achieve a step change in the delivery and performance management of outcomes,
- strengthen leadership (individual and collective) and governance capabilities,
- develop path to scale,
- build financial resilience;
- Scoping and project managing pro bono capacity-building projects (in addition to providing direct management support). Ensure projects are delivered to a high standard and contribute to charity progression;
- Identifying engagement opportunities for our donors and supporters with portfolio partners that are aligned with the partner’s activities and do not distract or undermine their core work;
- Collaborating with the Impetus Philanthropy team to support the development of additional funding opportunities for portfolio partners, enhancing their ability to deliver impact at scale;
- Effectively leveraging the support of investment managers to advance the objectives developed for each portfolio partner that is managed by an Investment Director.
Support to Impetus
- Developing expertise about “what works” in the sector through cultivation and use of expert input and engagement as well as investigation into key research and evaluative literature;
- Contributing insights and learning from portfolio work to inform Impetus’ strategy, model and delivery;
- Contributing to internal priorities and working groups (e.g. team strategy discussions, digital improvement initiatives, or equity, diversity, and inclusion)
- Contribute towards Impetus’ public affairs and philanthropy objectives through input into case studies, research and policy campaigns, donor reports and fundraising events
- Sharing the learning from our work across the team, across the organisation and externally working within Impetus strategy and agreed forums
- Engaging in Impetus pro bono, communications, and advocacy events, and engage portfolio partners appropriately in these events.
- Where appropriate, line-managing and supporting Investment Managers on the team to grow and develop, and achieve their project, role and team objectives.
Person specification
Essential
- A commitment to Impetus’ mission.
- Senior level responsibility and a strong track record of building trust-based relationships with senior stakeholders, advising them on key strategic decisions, and challenging them in a respectful and collaborative manner.
- A talent for strategic thinking around complex issues.
- Strong financial acumen and analytical skills.
- Understanding of impact measurement and evaluation fundamentals.
- Tenacity and initiative.
- Ability to flex personal style to needs of charity and leadership.
- Growth mind-set to seek out and act on feedback.
- Proven ability to work independently, and to exercise good judgment.
- Strong planning and time management skills.
- Interest in partnering closely with charities that are doing what it takes to get better.
- A commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
If you don't tick all these boxes, but still feel that you fit the profile, please apply anyway.
Desirable
- Experience in the non-profit (charity or social enterprise) sector, through work, as a pro-bono volunteer or Trustee capacity.
- Experience in consulting, investment management, senior charity management, or other in-depth grant making and advisory work.
- Knowledge and expertise in UK education or youth employability sectors.
- Board experience in private, public or third sector.
- Understanding of or experience with commissioning impact evaluations.
Registered Charity
51 - 100
Impetus transforms the lives of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds by ensuring they get support to succeed in school, in work and in life.
