Main Purpose:

Stirling CAB seeks to develop a Veterans Housing Advice Service (VHAS) to respond to the COVD19 / cost of living crisis legal impact area of housing to prevent homelessness by the provision of advice, advocacy, casework support and heritable representation, across all of Stirling District working closely with ( & adding value to) the Stirling CAB Armed Service Advice Project.

The impartial and independent advice, information, casework support and representation offered for Veterans will focus on access to legal housing /homelessness advice to overcome the practical barriers caused by the COVD19 pandemic/cost of living crisis and giving holistic and sustained support to overcome these. VHAS will be available at a range of easy access locations for the target group throughout Stirling Local Authority area. Training on legal housing/homelessness prevention issues & 2nd tier legal consultancy support will also be provided to Stirling CAB staff & volunteers and Veteran stakeholders.

VHAS will be accessible across the total architecture & outreach footprint of Stirling CAB advice services, to build its capacity & increase seamless access to heritable social justice for local Veterans.

Our plans are mature with 26 established trusted local CAB access points – recovery cafes, libraries, food banks and strong established Armed Services Advice Project (ASAP now in year 15), trusted links with local Veteran stakeholders. ASAP will be the main referral point to VHAS & these projects will work closely together.

Specific duties:

• Immediate on the spot legal advice and casework support (up to and including type 3), to local Veterans, to empower, enable and inform decision making to those seeking to overcome COVD19 driven legal housing/homelessness difficulties. The particular focus will be to overcome the practical barriers – separation and financial issues, housing & heritable, mental & physical vulnerabilities, and legal issues that often inhibit security of tenure.
• Support to local Veterans experiencing COVD19 legal impact in heritable legal contexts – small claims, summary cause, heritable and the Debtors (Scotland) act 1987 and any other suitable areas as required, in relation to housing related matters
• Diagnostic legal advice and refer unrepresented local Veterans to an appropriate agency to take on their cases as required.
• In Court Heritable representation to local Veterans in court when deemed necessary
• Representation for local Veterans interests at housing/homelessness case conferences and hearings.
• Liaison for local Veterans with the Sheriff Clerks Department of Stirling Sheriff Court and the Tribunal Service and to maintain and develop effective working relationships with other relevant stakeholders
• The provision of proactive and preventative impartial Legal advice awareness sessions to the wider Veteran Community to raise the profile of the legal issues and remedies surrounding the impact of the COVD19 pandemic /Cost of Living crisis in relation to housing /homelessness and raise awareness of the legal processes to overcome the practical barriers that often impair forward transition
• Liaison with other agencies such as local authority departments, social work, homelessness teams other RSL’s, DWP and to work with these agencies to inform and develop a seamless service for local Veterans via VHAS
• Work with the aforementioned agencies in the pursuit of an upstream preventative approach for local Veterans to mitigate the problems that lead to legislative action
• To develop the front-line capacity of Stirling CAB to facilitate informed, enabled and empowered decision making in relation to the process of sustained transition from the negative impact of the COVD19 pandemic/cost of living crisis in relation to security of tenure for local Veterans
• The provision of a second-tier legal consultancy service to Stirling CAB employees/volunteers engaged in the process of supporting local Veterans with improved seamless access to heritable social justice
• The provision of legal training to Stirling CAB employees/volunteers engaged in the process of supporting local Veterans with legal security of tenure enquiries driven by the impact of the COVD19 pandemic/cost of living crisis.
• To develop and maintain referral procedures with the Sheriff Court, Veteran stakeholders & other agencies
• To fully participate in the monitoring of the service and to keep adequate records of advice or representation offered as well as all referrals made to and from VHAS
• To routinely use the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Impact Hub to record the demography & impact on beneficiaries using ONS4 Well being survey.
• To routinely gather quantative (CASTLE) & qualitative statistics on the local Veteran community, case studies, client & stakeholder testimony to evidence the impact of VHAS

Organisational Responsibility:Directly line managed by the Stirling District Citizens Advice Bureau CEO

Project Delivery

The Veterans Housing Advice Service worker covers Stirling District, working closely with the Stirling CAB Armed Services Advice Project and access to advice on the frontline is essential and the worker would construct their availability and geographic location to maximise opportunity for the Veteran community engage with the minimum of obstacles.

Appointment to this post is conditional on two satisfactory references and a current PVG certificate.

Money Advice Scotland is Scotland’s money charity. Our mission is to be the driving force towards financial wellbeing for the people of Scotland.

We believe we will achieve this by supporting the money advice workforce, empowering citizens to get help and support, and advocating for fairer policy.

About the role

Over the past four years, the Workforce Wellbeing Project (formerly the Adviser Wellbeing Project) has given us the unique opportunity to document the experiences of staff within the free money advice sector and support their wellbeing through research, training, and community building.

The Workforce Wellbeing Officer (WWO) will be a creative and passionate communicator who can incite engagement and discussion on wellbeing topics in an inclusive way; acknowledging the sensitivity of wellbeing topics and the need to break down barriers – personal and organisational – which affect how wellbeing is addressed and supported in the workplace.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our team of paid and volunteer staff to further develop our Debt Advice service across Clackmannanshire Citizens Advice Bureau. We have been delivering a valuable, high level service to the community of Clackmannanshire for over 50 years. We have accreditation in Type iii advice by Scottish National Standards for advice providers (SNSIAP) in the areas of Housing, Debt and Benefits.

Clackmannanshire Citizens Advice Bureau, based in Alloa, is an independent and innovative advice organisation providing holistic advice to the residents of Clackmannanshire across 6 locations in the county. We average 26-30 paid staff and 21 volunteers who provide a wide range of services across our 20 projects.

We offer additional working benefits such as 5% employers pension contribution, free membership of an employer health plan, free ebike loans, annual performance related salary increases, flexible working scheme including some home working and flexible starts finish times and the ability to buy and sell annual leave.

We are looking for a highly motivated and conscientious individual who wants to be part of a nationally accredited information and advice service.

The Debt Adviser will provide specialist debt advice up to Scottish National Standards Type iii, to clients referred through general services and partner agencies.

This will include complex debt case management, maintaining consistent working practice and quality assurance of debt cases ensuring that policy and practice meets all legal & regulatory requirements including the Financial Conduct Authority.

Enthusiasm, strong social awareness, good communication skills and an excellent team player are prerequisites for this demanding position. Significant experience in advice work, good organisational skills and an eye for details are essential. Consideration will be given to highly experienced exceptional individuals with experience as Generalist Advisers who can undertake Debt Advice training.

This post specifically exists to ensure the delivery of a high quality Debt Service within Clackmannanshire Citizens Advice Bureau. It will involve providing support to staff and volunteers who also deliver the service. This post supports the learning and development of a high quality service by ensuring provision of formal/informal training to staff/volunteers in conjunction with our General Services Supervisor.

We are looking for an enthusiastic, dynamic and motivated person to join our team. The Session Supervisor has day to day operational responsibility for the delivery of a high-quality generalist advice service within Airdrie Citizens Advice Bureau. The Session Supervisor is responsible that the quality of advice delivered is in line with the Scottish National Standards and Citizens Advice Scotland’s Membership standards.

This post also supports the learning and development of a high-quality service by providing formal training to volunteers and staff as and when required.

The successful applicant will be encouraged and supported in their personal development by the Bureau Manager.

Employee benefits

Airdrie Citizens Advice Bureau offers excellent terms and conditions and is an inclusive employer considering flexible working arrangements where appropriate. For more details of some of the other benefits on offer to our employees, please contact us for more information.

Core Duties

• Provide supervision and support for advice workers, particularly in relation to advice enquiries, CASTLE data entry and enquiry entry.
• Support advisers to produce accurate, legible and complete client records.
• Contribute to building and supervising an effective team, understanding the importance of continual improvement of the service.
• Undertake advice work as and when required.
• Implement effective Triage Service
• Support and maintain uniform advice standards and contribute to their development. Ensure that advice work undertaken complies with CAS Quality Audit standards, Scottish National Standards.
• Actively implement the Aims and Principles of the CAB service, together with its other policies.

Essential Criteria

• Delivery of advice and information services to clients.
• Ability to work without supervision
• Basic training skills
• Ability to deal with staff, volunteers and the public in a calm, caring and competent manner
• Ability to analyse and interpret complex information
• Ability to prioritise own work and that of others, meet deadlines and manage workload in a pressured environment
• Ability to give and receive feedback objectively and sensitively and a willingness to challenge constructively

Desirable Criteria

• At least 2 years’ experience of supporting others in advice provision
• A working knowledge of CASTLE for the purpose of recording client cases
• Commitment to ongoing training
• Working within the voluntary sector
• Experience of supporting vulnerable clients