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About the role

Are you looking for an opportunity to contribute to your local community?

Who we are

Stirling District Citizens Advice Bureau Ltd is an independent charity delivering free, confidential and impartial advice and support to vulnerable people living and working in Stirling District. We specialise in Welfare Rights, Energy, Debt, Employment, Immigration, Housing, and Health.

Our aims

· To provide the advice, information & support to inform, enable & empower people to overcome the problems they face

· To ensure that individuals do not suffer through ignorance of their rights and responsibilities or of the services that are available to them, or through an inability to express their needs effectively; and to exercise a responsible evidence based influence on local & national policy makers

Join our Board

We are actively seeking individuals who may be interested in joining our Board of Trustees in the future.

The Board is composed of volunteers from a wide range of charity, business, legal, media and financial backgrounds.

We are committed to Equal Opportunities and are looking to ensure we are representative and reflective of the communities we serve.

We are particularly interested in speaking to people who have knowledge, understanding and experience in any of the following areas: -

· NHS Management

· Local Government

· Retired Elected officials

· Anti-Poverty work

About you

You’re looking for an opportunity to contribute to the vision, mission and values of a community organisation that provides vital help and support to local people.

You’re inspired by the idea of developing and supporting a valuable public service.

You’re motivated to address the needs of vulnerable people resident in the Stirling District area.

You’ve got the time, energy and commitment to dedicate to developing Stirling CAB’s strategic aims and goals.

If this describes you, then Stirling CAB would love to hear from you.

The Rewards

This non remunerated role is both high profile and respected within the local community. It will offer new challenges, learning opportunities and broaden your networks.

The Citizens Advice network in Scotland is the largest independent advice service in the country. Citizens Advice Scotland is a charity within this network – we act as a national organisation supporting and representing the service as a whole and the interests of citizens. At the heart of the network there are 59 individual citizens advice bureau organisations across Scotland, all operating as independent charities in their own right, and generally focusing on providing support directly to clients. Each of these organisations is a member of Citizens Advice Scotland. Also providing significant added value are the national elements of the service run out of Citizens Advice Scotland, such as the Extra Help Unit. We believe that every citizen should have access to free, impartial and confidential advice that helps them make informed decisions, whenever they need it and however they choose to access it.

Lead a dynamic, agile team to deliver Citizens Advice Scotland’s digital advice content.

You will manage the delivery of high-quality digital advice and the production of content, making sure it is accessible and driven by user needs. You will also contribute to website development in order to meet the advice needs of the public and for the Citizens Advice network in Scotland as a whole.

This role offers you the opportunity to work at the heart of supporting Scotland's largest independent advice network and to make an invaluable contribution to citizen’s lives.

Citizens Advice Scotland is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion. We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies and flexible working arrangements to support all our staff. We are also committed to equality of opportunity for all and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.

*This role is normally based in our Edinburgh office. As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, all Citizens Advice Scotland staff are currently working from home and we would therefore expect the successful candidate would be required to work from home initially. Re-opening our offices will be carefully planned and managed in accordance with the latest Scottish Government guidance and public health advice. Candidates should be prepared to work from home initially, but be aware that attendance at the normal office base will be required in future. We are currently reviewing our home working policy in response to the COVID-19 crisis and ongoing opportunities to work from home can be discussed with the successful candidate at offer stage.

Employee benefits

Citizens Advice Scotland offers excellent terms and conditions, including a total of 40 days leave (including public holidays) and a pension scheme with an 8% employer contribution. We have a flexitime scheme which enables our employees to work flexibly in line with organisational requirements, and as an inclusive employer we are happy to consider other flexible working arrangements where appropriate.

Motherwell & Wishaw CAB is looking for a highly motivated person with the drive and enthusiasm to provide tribunal representation in the area of Welfare Rights for the new North Lanarkshire CAB Tribunal Representation Unit. The Tribunal Representation project aims to provide a holistic service and increase the capacity for tribunal representation across North Lanarkshire through provision of direct representation, referrals to other organisations or second tier support to advisers.

The Welfare Rights Officer will provide tribunal representation at first tier tribunals to anyone seeking support during the benefit review or appeal process and prepare cases for upper tribunal. The work will predominantly involve tribunal representation but also occasional provision of support and advice to CAB and other agency advisers, delivery of training and marketing and contributing to social policy work.

The successful candidate will have a sound understanding of social welfare rights and a successful track record of working with office systems and procedures. They will have excellent teamwork, communication and organisational skills and be computer literate. They will have an understanding of the importance of excellent customer care, have a good awareness of how rights and advice issues impact on the local community and experience of tribunal representation.

Summary of role

The JP Morgan Chase Foundation Specialist Debt Helpline Pilot project aims to open up the high quality, free, impartial advice that the CAB network currently offers beyond our existing clients to a wider demographic and volume of people in Scotland, ensuring that everyone can access debt advice in a convenient way, at the point in their life when they need help. This will enable an early resolution for many individuals. The pilot will explore the extent to which complex debt cases can be handled remotely.

The money advice helpline advisers are the first point of contact with clients who access the service from anywhere in Scotland through a dedicated telephone helpline. They will handle casework related to debt cases presented on the helpline.

The specialist debt helpline service is being run by 6 bureaux, and the money helpline advisers will be part of a distributed team, working collaboratively across bureau boundaries.

We are looking to recruit 2 full time posts, one for CAB West Lothian and one for Haddington CAB.

Main responsibilities

By phone, email and video conferencing the money advice helpline advisers provide an effective, holistic diagnosis of the client’s problems, dealing with emergencies, helping to resolve the enquiry, identifying whether the client is able to self-help, arranging follow up meetings as necessary and handling associated casework. Accurate recording of cases will be an important responsibility of this role.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for someone who has minimum of 6 months experience in delivering specialist money advice and debt solutions for clients. We are also looking for someone who has experience of delivering complex advice on the telephone. Any applicant should have excellent communication and organisational abilities and experience of working to KPI’s.

This is a new and exciting project for the CAB network and is a great opportunity for the right applicant to be involved in the development of a debt advice helpline in Scotland.