Could you be our new Scottish-based Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer?

Are you looking for your next policy challenge? Do you want to grow your experience and have a hand in shaping the future of end of life care in Scotland? Would you love to work with Hospice UK the UK’s leading hospice care charity?

Hospice UK is looking for a hands-on and creative Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer to drive its strategic aims in Scotland.

What we need

Based in Scotland but working to a hybrid pattern you’ll be reporting to the country Policy and Advocacy Manager. You will identify routes to positive change, influence decision makers, support development of policy positions and build new professional partnerships. Your work will be focused on the interests of people at the end of life and their families and carers, alongside our member hospices, as we work towards our vision of hospice care for every person in need.

This is a vitally important role helping Hospice UK drive our vision and shape the strategic direction of hospice and end of life care in Scotland, at a time when death, dying and bereavement has never been higher on the public and political agenda. In particular we will be looking for someone to develop our relationships with key individuals within Scottish Government.

You’ll also have responsibility and freedom to explore how we develop our influencing and advocacy work in Northern Ireland.

This is a full time role, initially on a fixed term contract of one year.

What can you bring?

We are seeking a confident self-starter who is able to bring order to the complexity of the continuing development and delivery of our policy presence in Scotland and Northern Ireland, creating opportunities to achieve our policy and advocacy ambitions. You’ll need to show that you are self-motivated, resilient, creative and energised by working with a lot of different people at all levels of seniority

You will already have gained some experience in policy and/or advocacy, and can show a track record of contributing to and achieving positive change. You’re probably bursting with ideas, as well as having great judgement and can show your ability to deal sensitively with your stakeholders.

More details of the role can be found in the job description and person specification available on our website.

About us

Hospice UK is the leading charity supporting hospice care throughout the UK. Our vision is hospice care for every person in need and our mission is to enable hospice care to transform the way society cares for the dying and those around them.

Hospice care supports approximately 300,000 people with terminal and life-limiting conditions in the UK each year, with tens of thousands of those in Scotland. Hospices also have an important role in supporting families, especially in providing bereavement support.

Our strategic goals for 2017 - 2022 are to:

• Extend our reach and enable hospice quality care to be delivered in any setting
• Tackle inequality and widen access to hospice care
• Work with communities to build capacity and resilience to care for those at the end of life
• Empower a strong, dynamic and responsive hospice sector

Location

There is a strong preference for candidates to be based in Scotland, however the team and organisation prides itself on being flexible and trusting, so other options would be considered. The role is hybrid so can be as home-based as you want, but there’s an opportunity to have a hospice-based desk too, depending on where you live.

The head office of Hospice UK is in London. The post will have full web-based connection to Hospice UK, regular access to your line manager who is based in Scotland and daily contact with your colleagues through email, face to face events, and internet based video calls and telephone.

Airdrie CAB is looking for a highly motivated solicitor with the vision and enthusiasm to lead the legal arm of Airdrie Citizen’s Advice Bureau, and to develop and expand the organisation for the greater good of residents throughout North Lanarkshire.

Airdrie Citizens Advice Bureau created the legal practice unit in September 2015 to provide qualified legal representation across North Lanarkshire for those who are vulnerable, suffering hardship, and need access to professional legal services.

The Principal Solicitor is responsible for management of the legal practice ensuring compliance with the Law Society of Scotland’s regulations, and will seek to expand and develop the legal practice unit. The Principal Solicitor will manage a team including qualified legal member of staff, specialist lay advisers, and administrative support staff. The Principal solicitor will also develop and provide second tier support and training to CAB and partner agencies across North Lanarkshire.

The Principal Solicitor will report to Airdrie CAB Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors, and should be willing to partake in CAB’s training program.

Skills Required:

The successful candidate should have experience in civil litigation, with experience of housing law (repossession, homelessness, eviction, disrepair, domestic abuse in housing – nor criminal), social welfare law, and judicial review being desirable; having court experience is essential. An understanding of wider social issues such as debt, benefits, and fuel poverty would be desirable in this post. Knowledge of the voluntary sector and successful delivery of projects will be advantageous.

The successful candidate will hold an unrestricted practicing certificate from the Law Society of Scotland and be at least 3 years PQE. Being able to drive would be of benefit, but not essential.

Experience of Scottish Legal Aid and its quality assurance framework is desirable.

They will have excellent communication skills, with the ability to provide accurate legal advice and legal concepts plainly and in a way that is easy for clients to understand.

The successful candidate will have excellent planning skills and business development skills, or a willingness to learn and develop such skills.

A social conscience, with a desire to help those most vulnerable in society is essential.

The Donaldson Trust (“Donaldsons”) is Scotland’s leading charity for neurodiversity. We pride ourselves on our person-centred approach and expertise, recognising the importance of tailored, flexible support services so we can truly meet the individual needs of neurodivergent children, young people and adults.

Our 2019 strategy sets out our ambition to become the national body for neurodiversity in Scotland and we are on a journey to excellence with the purpose of promoting and encouraging neurodivergent people to realise their potential. The newly created role of Director of Services carries strategic significance to our organisation and will impact significantly on the future direction and focus of our organisation.

Playing a crucial role in supporting neurodivergent children, young people and adults, our new Director of Services will ensure Donaldsons continues to provide relevant quality services that meet both current and future needs. Embedding best practice, you will ensure our services ultimately deliver the best outcomes for those we support whilst building both our sustainability and reputation. As an active member of the Executive Team, the Director of Services will work collaboratively and directly contribute to the development of strategies and operational plans that ensure the achievement of Donaldsons’ key priorities.

An inspiring, solutions-focused and forward-thinking leader, you will bring relevant experience in developing, delivering and growing person-centred services coupled with knowledge of the local authority funding environment and national policy, driving service development and funding. Perhaps more importantly, our new Director of Services needs to bring a strong desire to embrace innovation and encourage both internal and external stakeholders alike to think differently in relation to how neurodivergent children, young people and adults are supported more effectively.

Our vision is to be the most respected organisation for the services offered to neurodivergent people in Scotland – if you want to be part of this please review the full role profile provided below or contact Douglas Adam at Livingston James, our retained recruitment partner, via donaldsons@livingstonjames.com to learn more.

Donaldsons is an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status or pregnancy and maternity.

The Scottish Episcopal Church seeks to appoint a full-time Head of Safeguarding to provide strategic leadership, oversight and advice in the development and implementation of safeguarding policy in the Church. The postholder will lead a small team, manage casework, assist in the delivery of training and liaise across the church with bishops, clergy and congregations in safeguarding matters as necessary.

Applicants should have comprehensive understanding of contemporary safeguarding law, policy and practice, an appreciation of its application in the context of a voluntary or faith organisation, practitioner experience of case management and risk assessment, and an ability to build and sustain long-term working relationships.

Crisis is the national charity for homeless people. We know that homelessness is not inevitable. We know that together we can end it.

We have an exciting opportunity within Crisis’ Best Practice team in which you will be instrumental in identifying and promoting the solutions to homelessness.

As Peter, the manager of the team says ….

This role will give you the opportunity to make a real difference. You will work with amazing colleagues and have the opportunity to influence national approaches to homelessness. For example, over the last few years our team has:

• Worked with the police to support them to move from an enforcement to support approach toward rough sleepers
• Helped the DWP to introduce a homelessness toolkit for work coaches to help them identify clients at risk of homelessness, and to get them the right support
• Published a guide to homelessness prevention demonstrating 75 ways or ending homelessness
• Provided grant funding to smaller charities to enable them to develop and test new approaches

Your specialism will be to develop the solutions to ending homelessness through a housing led approach. Housing led, or what is known as ‘rapid rehousing’ is an approach to ending someone’s homelessness by moving them into their own home as soon as possible.

You will lead on developing Crisis’ understanding of new and emerging solutions to homelessness and to proactively create opportunities to test these and promote learning, especially (but not only) in Scotland.

About the role

Scotland has made huge strides in tackling homelessness, but more needs to happen and we know the best way of ending homelessness is by preventing it from happening in the first place. Crisis are pleased to support the change planned by Scottish Government through proposals for a new Homelessness Prevention duty outlined in the Programme for Government 21/22.

We know, however, that we can’t prevent all cases of homelessness, so when people do lose their home, they need a rapid response to find somewhere safe and secure to live. This means mainstream accommodation – in houses and flats in ordinary communities.

By protecting all households from homelessness through the law, and by using effective rapid rehousing methods, we can ensure no one is left living in emergency accommodation. With sufficient housing, legal reform, and other bold policy choices, rapid rehousing will be crucial in ending homelessness.

As a Best Practice Lead based in Scotland with a focus on housing led approaches, you will work to identify good practice already happening and show how services can be designed to ensure that a housing-led system provides stable, appropriate accommodation and any necessary support as quickly as possible to people who are homeless or at risk of it.

About you

To be successful in this role you will have great networking skills and be good at making relationships across different sectors. You’ll be inquisitive and passionate about change and seeing homelessness ended, with a drive and energy to shape the role to do this.

You’ll understand how local authorities and wider public bodies work and be able to build connections and rapport with individuals working there. You’ll understand housing and homelessness systems and the current legal frameworks that underpin them across the UK, but especially in Scotland. You’ll know how services can be designed to make sure that those who need help can get it and how to listen to the voices of those who use it.

We believe diversity is a strength and our aim is to make sure that Crisis truly reflects the communities we serve. We are actively working towards our organisation being a place where everyone can thrive and make their best contribution to our mission of ending homelessness for good. We know that the more perspectives, voices and experiences we can bring to this work, the better. We particularly welcome applications from people who have lived experience of homelessness. ​​​​​​​

Working at Crisis

As a member of the team you will have access to a wide range of employee benefits including:

• Interest free loans to purchase a train season ticket or a bike or for a deposit to secure a tenancy
• Mandatory pension scheme, with an employer contribution of 8.5%
• 25 days’ annual leave which increases with service to 28 days
• Alongside our excellent staff benefits, we will support your ongoing development to build your skills, experience and career.

When you join us you will have the opportunity to join our staff diversity networks, which aim to champion issues across the organisation, enable staff to be their authentic and best selves and contribute to making Crisis a truly diverse organisation.

Do you want to be part of an incredible advanced nurse practitioner team delivering paediatric palliative care in CHAS?

An opportunity has arisen for a dedicated individual, passionate about palliative care, to join our committed and welcoming team. We are seeking an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) who can autonomously assess, prescribe and evaluate care for children with complex needs.

Working within a supportive team comprising of ANPs, doctors, independent prescribers and a lead specialist pharmacist you will play a key role in the care of children across Scotland with palliative care needs through excellent multi-agency working with colleagues in other settings across Scotland.

The day-to-day work involves being part of a CHAS multidisciplinary team, providing leadership and assisting in coordinating the provision of comprehensive holistic evidence based advanced nursing care to children resident in our hospices.

CHAS does not hold clinical responsibility for children who are not resident at a CHAS hospice. However, increasingly families are being offered choices of place of care at end of life and CHAS may be part of that support. You will have the opportunity to be part of a collaborative team around the child approach.

ANPs have been part of our clinical team since 2017. This unique blend of advanced nursing and medical care has enhanced the support for children with very complex medical conditions and has given them increased access to paediatric palliative care.

We are committed to growing and developing the team and currently have nurses completing the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice program and are in the process of recruiting more nurses to commence the course in January 2023. You will have the opportunity to act as an assigned supervisor of practice for trainees and offer objective assessment of the practitioner’s attainment of knowledge, skill and critical development, which is pertinent to Advanced Clinical Practice.

About CHAS:

• We support around 400 children with palliative care needs and their families every year.
• There is an excellent nursing team and family support team across hospice and community offering outstanding holistic care

In return for your commitment we offer:

• A welcoming environment where all staff matter
• A competitive salary package which includes access to a CHAS or NHS pension scheme.
• Excellent training and continued professional development opportunities
• Clinical supervision
• A healthy work/life balance with 35 days annual leave, increasing to 40 days after five years’ service (pro rata)

Working hours are divided across four days with some weekend working and participation in an on call rota, with medical support, according to the demands of the service.

Neighbourhood Watch Scotland is undergoing a period of transition and is seeking an ambitious and collaborative director to champion, lead and develop the role of Neighbourhood Watch Scotland as a key partner within Scotland’s Community Safety Sector. This newly created position seeks to add strength to the current team and bring a fresh approach to the strategic direction and delivery of our values and outcomes.

A key requirement of this role will be a progressive style which will contribute and drive us through this period of transitional change. You will have the ability to inspire and motivate our members, influence decision makers and work with community focused partners thus facilitating a holistic approach to community safety and engagement.

Neighbourhood Watch Scotland - youtu.be/CXZdlsgSMoE

"Thank you so much ….. I picked up my keys to my new house last Friday and I’m delighted with it. It feels like a lovely, cosy family house and I couldn’t have got a better start to the year”

Ross-shire Women’s Aid is a domestic abuse specialist service comprising a Refuge, Community Outreach Support and Prevention Services. We support women, children and young people make the transition towards a safer and happier future.

The board are seeking to appoint a new General Manager to lead the organisation and provide strategic direction to its staff, volunteers, and supporters. You will have effective and comprehensive leadership, management, and communication skills, with experience of leading high performing teams. You will be a confident communicator and ambassador for RWA.

If you have a strong empathy with this area of work; if you value integrity, compassion and teamwork; if you want to work in an inclusive and nurturing environment; if you have a feminist understanding of domestic abuse and knowledge of the causes and impact of this then this could be the next career challenge for you.