Caledonia Housing Association Group – Board Member opportunities

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Board Member of the Caledonia Housing Association Group. This position is non-remunerated and, although Board meetings are held in Perth, they can be joined virtually so location is open.

As a successful registered social landlord, we pride ourselves on providing high quality housing and services. Our strong and clear purpose, to provide “Homes and Services that make life better”, defines what we do and why we exist. In the current environment, with a cost-of-living crisis and rising food and energy costs, continuing to support our communities by providing access to quality, energy-efficient and affordable social rented homes and ensuring our tenants have access to financial support and help has never been as important.

We are a large organisation that owns and manages more than 7,800 properties across 8 local authority areas, and we employ nearly 200 staff. As a Board member you will have a key role providing the leadership and strategic direction to ensure the organisation continues to grow and develop.

We are looking to appoint people who share our vision and values and are passionate about ensuring people have access to good quality affordable homes and services.

We recognise that a broad and diverse Board composition provides the range of skills and experience key to the high standards of governance which are critical to our continued success.

To complement the existing Board profile, we are keen to hear from people with experience in human resources and organisational development, audit and finance, legal services, IT and digital development, housing and social policy. But we also want our Board to reflect the diversity of the communities and lived experiences of those people we provide housing for and would welcome people with wider knowledge and interest in our work to apply.

There is no requirement to have had any previous Board experience - what is important is a desire to make a difference for our tenants and being prepared to contribute to discussions and decision-making that will help shape our future.

This is an important time to join the Caledonia Housing Association Group as we continue to build new homes and invest in our services, existing homes and communities to provide the support our tenants need. We hope that you are encouraged to apply for this rewarding and personal development opportunity.

This is a hybrid role that will allow autonomy and a blend of home working and office working across one of our three central offices in Dundee, Perth or West Dunbartonshire.

Do you want the opportunity to effect real change in an organisation with a strong social purpose?

Caledonia Housing Association- Housing Association of the Year award and Social Housing Developer of the Year 2021 - operates across 8 local authorities; tackling inequality and housing needs across the Highlands, Tayside, Perthshire and Dunbartonshire.

Our vision is to provide “homes and services that make life better”. In the People team, this means working directly with managers and staff across the group to attract and retain people with the right skills and mindset to make a difference; placing our customers’ needs at the heart of everything we do.

Benefits

• We promote work-life balance and operate a flexi-time system
• Generous contributory pension scheme, up to 12% employer contribution
• Health benefit of up to £300 per year
• Annual Leave entitlement starting at 33 days per year pro rata (increases with length of service)
• Confidential counselling service and in-house mental health first aiders
• Rewarding volunteering opportunities

As an inclusive employer, we’re open to having a conversation with you about flexible working.

About the role

We are seeking an enthusiastic and forward-thinking HR Business Partner to join our passionate and hard working team – recipients of the Terrific Team of the Year Award at the 2020 CHeRries awards and HR Business Partner of the Year at the HR Network National Awards 2021.

With your established HRBP background, you will possess exceptional coaching and influencing skills that enable you to build trust and influence positive outcomes across a range of HR matters. You will work collaboratively with all members of the people team to contribute to the design, development and delivery of the People strategy and associated projects.

Diversity is something we celebrate and we want you to be able to be yourself at work and feel you’re in a strong position to help employees across Caledonia to transform people’s lives for the better.

Come and join us!

This is a hybrid role that will allow autonomy and flexibility with home working and office working at our locations in Dundee, Perth or West Dunbartonshire

Come and join us!

A great opportunity exists to have a lead role supporting our climate change plans and our journey to net zero.

This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and strategic thinking individual who is passionate about all aspects of sustainability and has the drive to support our teams embed sustainability across the organisation.

We are a registered charity and one of Scotland’s leading providers of affordable high quality housing.

What we do is incredibly important, with a vision to provide “Homes and Services that make life better”.

We are a growing organisation and operate across 8 local authority areas, while we own and manage in excess of 7,000 homes and employ approximately 200 staff.

In 2021 we were awarded Housing Association of the Year and Social Housing Developer of the Year.

We recently launched an ambitious and transformative new Business Plan which reflects the vital importance of our climate change commitments. This involves developing the plans and actions that highlight what we need to do as a landlord, employer and business to become a net zero organisation.

About the role

We are looking to appoint a Climate Change Coordinator to join our Strategy and Improvement Team.

Working closely with the Caledonia Executive Management Team, the Climate Change Coordinator will have an important role in developing, coordinating and implementing transformational programmes to achieve our net zero commitments. This will involve research, analysis and development of plans and targets that will lead to operational and organisational change and a demonstrable reduction in carbon emissions.

This role is for someone who enjoys a challenge, thrives on working collaboratively and building partnerships with staff, customers, and other key stakeholders, with a track record in influencing change and making a difference.

Benefits

As a Caledonia employee you will enjoy a fantastic range of benefits including:

• Ongoing investment in your personal development with access to internal and external training qualifications

• Hybrid and flexible working as part of our “Agile for Everyone” Charter

• Annual Leave entitlement starting at 33 days per year (increases with length of service)

• Generous contributory pension scheme

• Assistance with travel costs

• Health benefit of up to £300 per year which includes a gym membership, fitness equipment or health insurance

• Wellbeing services offering support and confidential advice for you when you most need it including counselling and in-house mental health first aiders

• Volunteering opportunities

As an inclusive employer, we’re open to having a conversation with you about flexible working.

Following the continued success of our Volunteering project, we are seeking to recruit a Volunteer Co-ordinator on a fixed term contract until June 2022.

The post holder will continue to support and develop the role of volunteers at our Sheltered Housing schemes across Dundee and Perthshire to work with other older people to encourage the development of activities and opportunities for social interaction that promotes good health and wellbeing.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated individual with excellent communication and management skills; preferably with experience of working with Volunteers and partnership working and who enjoys working with older people.

This post is supported by the Association and the Reshaping Care initiative which seeks to develop community capacity to re-shape care for older people in Scotland.

About Caledonia Housing Association

Caledonia Housing Association Group, with over 6,500 homes owned and managed, is one of Scotland’s leading providers of high-quality affordable homes for people in housing need. We are committed to providing “Homes and Services that make life better”. We achieve this by ensuring that Associations in the Group continue to be well-managed, financially strong and positioned to provide excellent outcomes for our tenants and other customers. Providing high quality homes and services that are affordable, sustainable and valued by our customers is a key aim.

A major feature of our work is developing innovative approaches to ensure that we deliver on our customer service and value for money aims through the efficiency and effectiveness of our business.

The Role

Being part of our Board is an excellent opportunity to be involved in making a real difference to our customers and communities. This is an exciting time for us as we continue with our innovation and digital transformation to make sure we are putting our customers first.

Caledonia Housing Association is currently seeking new Board members who are keen to make a difference and have a real interest in the provision and management of social housing that has a positive impact on lives and communities. To complement the existing Board profile, we are particularly keen to hear from people with skills and experience in social housing, social work and community care, human resources, and voluntary and community groups.

There is no requirement to have had any previous Board experience - what is important is a passion to make a difference and being prepared to contribute to discussions that enable positive and collective decision-making.

We are particularly keen to hear from under-represented groups and tenants of Caledonia Housing Association.