Welfare right advisor jobs in Manchester

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

The Senior Advice Worker – SEND will be the specialist and subject expert in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and kinship care. You’ll provide 1:1 advice directly to kinship carers on all issues that impact on their caring role.

You will often be supporting kinship carers in high crisis. It will be part of your job to calm a situation quickly and support people to communicate what they need so you can provide personalised in-depth advice.

You’ll provide advice by phone, video calls and email, but you’ll also need to be able to respond to text, WhatsApp and online chat and other channels as we develop the service.

You’ll specialise in providing advice and information to enable kinship carers to support children with SEND needs, including speech, language and communication difficulties, social, emotional and mental health challenges, specific learning difficulties, and autism.

This will include advice and casework to support kinship carers to navigate the education system, understand Education, Health and Care Plan processes and access support from schools, children’s services and CAMHS.

As subject expert, you’ll provide expert input to the development of written information and resources and the development and delivery of specialist training for kinship carers.

Key responsibilities include:

• Respond to enquiries through a range of incoming channels. This includes taking calls on our advice line, as well as responding to enquiries submitted through our website, via internal referral or other channels.
• Provide high quality advice and information to kinship carers on their rights, entitlements and responsibilities in relation to welfare benefits, local authority allowances, support from children’s services, relevant legal orders, sources of educational, parenting and legal support and other issues that may be required.
• Assess vulnerability and risk to prioritise and respond to kinship carers’ issues in a timely manner.
• Research individual cases and identify possible courses of action.
• Address all safeguarding concerns in line with policy.
• Facilitate access to our advice service for people with diverse needs, e.g. by using appropriate translation services or assistive technology.
• Adapt communication style to respond appropriately to differing needs.
• Provide advice in a format that is manageable and understandable for the individual kinship carer.
• Apply agreed Kinship models of practice as appropriate, e.g. taking a trauma-informed approach.
• Provide specialist advice and casework on SEND-related issues. This may involve:
  • providing additional advice or support to enable a client to take action
  • undertaking follow-up action on behalf of the client to move the case on, e.g. negotiating with third parties
  • taking on complex casework to pursue significant outcomes for the client or strategic impact for all kinship carers

• Proactively update colleagues across Kinship on relevant updates in the SEND landscape, providing guidance to teams.

• Work closely with training colleagues to develop, create and occasionally lead training sessions to support kinship carers to navigate the SEND system.

Essential requirements include:

• Minimum of 2 years’ recent experience of delivering in-depth advice work on complex social welfare legal issues (e.g. benefits, housing, education or social care) to members of the public.

• Experience of giving both telephone and written advice.

• Either significant knowledge of and expertise in the SEND system and SEND-related issues, with the ability to develop expertise in kinship care advice; or, Significant knowledge of and expertise in kinship care advice, with substantial knowledge of SEND-related advice issues and the ability to become an expert in SEND advice for kinship carers.

• A demonstrable knowledge of relevant sources of advice and information. 

• Knowledge and evidence of good understanding of safeguarding issues and good practice.

• Proven understanding of the importance of confidentiality and a non-judgmental approach.

• Experience and confidence in development of resources

• Experience of effective management and supervision of staff, projects and/or services.

• Experience using Case Management Systems and/or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms.

What we offer you:

• Flexible working - we understand how important it is to balance family and work life.
• ​30 days annual leave, plus bank holidays (1 April to 31 March) pro rata (3 to be taken at Christmas shutdown)
• Employee Assistance Programme (24/7 confidential advice line and counselling)
• Charity Worker Discounts.

Key dates:

• Application deadline: Monday 20 April 2026, 12pm
• First interview: w/c 4 May 2026 (online)
• Second interview: w/c 11 May 2026 (if required)

How to apply:

Please apply for the role of Senior Advice Worker - SEND by sending a CV and answering the questions below. The deadline is 12pm on Monday 20 April 2026. Any applications arriving after the closing date will not be considered for shortlisting unless there are exceptional reasons. Please ensure you have read the application timelines.

Please provide a cover letter answering the following 4 questions (up to 250 words per answer):

1. Give an overview of how your experience, qualifications and training equip you for the role of Senior Advice Worker - SEND.
2. Explain why you want to work for Kinship.
3. What are the key skills and personal attributes that you would bring to the role?
4. What do you see as the most significant advice issues confronting kinship families navigating the SEND system?

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. 

Who we are

Every year, thousands of people in the UK face court alone. Often through no choice of their own, people must represent themselves at a moment that could have life-changing outcomes. This includes loss of access to children or homelessness. At the same time, people facing court alone may find themselves up against a party with legal representation. They are instantly at a disadvantage and overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenges they are up against. We supported unrepresented litigants in the civil and family courts in England and Wales over 45,000 times last year.

We provide a safe space with volunteers who listen to each client’s individual story. Last year, over 1000 volunteers helped people to get their thoughts in order, problem-solve and decide next steps, source relevant and reliable legal information, explain complex procedures, complete court forms, and clearly present statements.

At a time when legal support is increasingly limited, we have a vision that no one should have to face court alone.

To make this vision a reality, we have a focused communications strategy to ensure the charity has the brand, reach and impact it needs to connect with unrepresented court users and engage supporters.

Who we're looking for

Ambitious, professional, committed and friendly. That describes us. If it also describes you and you have a passion for designing and iplementing volunteer training programmes, then we’re keen to hear from you.

We’re looking for a Triage Project Lead to join our team on a 6-month contract. You’ll be leading on a project to improve the way in which we triage our clients across our services, with a focus on supporting survivors of domestic abuse better, by enabling our volunteers to identify them earlier in the process and respond accordingly, incorporating a trauma-informed approach.

The role

The Triage Project Lead will be based in the service department, and you’ll be supported by the Head of Service Delivery. 

We’re open to applications from professionals with experience of designing and implementing effective traiging processes who are able to work remotely, and undertake some travel to our offices across England and Wales.

To apply, please send your CV and a cover letter about why you're the right person for the role via Charity Job.

Please note, that we have two roles advertised, both of which are short-term contracts and could be held by the same person, running the projects consecutively. You may wish to apply for both positions, and if that is the case please only complete one application, detailing clearly in the application that you are applying for both roles.

Who we are

Every year, thousands of people in the UK face court alone. Often through no choice of their own, people must represent themselves at a moment that could have life-changing outcomes. This includes loss of access to children or homelessness. At the same time, people facing court alone may find themselves up against a party with legal representation. They are instantly at a disadvantage and overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenges they are up against. We supported unrepresented litigants in the civil and family courts in England and Wales over 45,000 times last year.

We provide a safe space with volunteers who listen to each client’s individual story. Last year, over 1000 volunteers helped people to get their thoughts in order, problem-solve and decide next steps, source relevant and reliable legal information, explain complex procedures, complete court forms, and clearly present statements.

At a time when legal support is increasingly limited, we have a vision that no one should have to face court alone.

To make this vision a reality, we have a focused communications strategy to ensure the charity has the brand, reach and impact it needs to connect with unrepresented court users and engage supporters.

Who we're looking for

Ambitious, professional, committed and friendly. That describes us. If it also describes you and you have a passion for designing and iplementing volunteer training programmes, then we’re keen to hear from you.

We’re looking for a Training Project Lead to join our team on a 4-month contract. You’ll be leading on a project to improve our volunteer training programme, with a focus on supporting survivors of domestic abuse and incorporating a trauma-informed approach throughout the training package. 

The role

The Training Project Lead will be based in the service department, and you’ll be supported by the Head of Service Delivery. 

We’re open to applications from training professionals who are able to work remotely, and undertake some travel to our offices across England and Wales.

To apply, please send your CV and a cover letter about why you're the right person for the role via Charity Job.

Please note, that we have two roles advertised, both of which are short-term contracts and could be held by the same person, running the projects consecutively. You may wish to apply for both positions, and if that is the case please only complete one application, detailing clearly in the application that you are applying for both roles.