Vacancies & Opportunities

Trustee Board Member

Hours: The ability to attend meetings at least six times a year

Location: County Durham

Duration: Ongoing

Salary: Unpaid with expenses paid

Trustee Role Description

Our trustees play a vital role in making sure that Citizens Advice County Durham achieves its core purpose. They oversee the overall management and administration of the charity. They also ensure that Citizens Advice County Durham has a clear strategy and that our work and goals are in line with our vision.

Board members have a collective responsibility. This means that trustees always act as a group and not as individuals.

Who we are and what we do

Our values We’re inventive. We’re not afraid of trying new things and learn by getting things wrong. We question every idea to make it better and we change when things aren’t working. We’re generous. We work together, sharing knowledge and experience to solve problems. We tell it like it is and respect everyone. We’re responsible. We do what we say we’ll do and keep our promises. We remember that we work for a charity and use our resources effectively. 3 things you should know about us

1. We’re local and we’re national. We have 6 national offices and offer direct support to people in around 265 independent local Citizens Advice services across England and Wales. 2. We’re here for everyone. Our advice helps people solve problems and our advocacy helps fix problems in society. Whatever the problem, we won’t turn people away.  3. We’re listened to – and we make a difference. Our trusted brand and the quality of our research mean we make a real impact on behalf of the people who rely on us.

 How Citizens Advice County Durham works

Citizens Advice County Durham delivers both local general advice services for the people of County Durham as well as national and regional specialist advice services. We specialise in Debt, Benefits, Energy, Employability and Health, but cover aspects of the whole adult advice spectrum.

As well as providing advice, we also campaign for change to ensure that people are not adversely affected by legislation. Both nationally and locally we have been able to provide a data-driven voice to convince authorities to make changes to avoid people being worse off in the future.

Based in Pity Me, Durham, we have over 130 paid staff and 200 volunteers. We have local presences in all the major population areas of County Durham as well as outreaches in the smaller towns and villages. We help over 28,000 people a year with their problems which is more than 5% of the entire population of County Durham.

We also work with and in partnerships across County Durham, leading work for the “Advice in County Durham” partnership as well as the “Reaching Out Across Durham” (ROAD) programme to help people get back to the workplace by removing barriers stopping them.

More details are available from our website: https://www.citizensadvicecd.org.uk/about/

Overview of Citizens Advice

The Citizens Advice service is made up of Citizens Advice – the national charity – and a network of around 300 local Citizens Advice members. This role sits our network of independent charities, delivering services from over 600 local Citizens Advice outlets over 1,800 community centres, GPs’ surgeries and prisons They do this with: 6,500 local staff over 23,000 trained volunteers Our reach means 99% of people in England and Wales can access a local Citizens Advice within a 30 minute drive of where they live.

What will you do?

• complete an introduction for your role
• maintain an awareness of how the local Citizens Advice is operating
• read papers for board meetings and attend six meetings per year
• work on specific projects with other trustees or staff within the local Citizens Advice to further the strategic objectives of the local Citizens Advice
• take an active discussion during board meetings and work with other trustees to:
• set policy and strategy direction, set targets and evaluate the performance of the local Citizens Advice
• monitor the financial position of the local Citizens Advice ensuring that it operates within its means and objectives, ensuring that there are clear
• ensure that all the finances and supporting financial control systems of the local Citizens Advice are in order including that full financial records are kept for all transactions, that money is only spent for the purpose given, and that proper financial controls are in place to safeguard the organisation’s resources
• monitor the financial position of the local Citizens Advice ensuring that it operates within its means and objectives, ensuring that there are clear lines of accountability for day to day financial management
• seek the views of all sections of the community and monitor how well the service meets the needs of the local community
• ensure that the service plans for the recruitment and turnover of staff and volunteers
• review its own work and how effectively it operates including action for improvement

What’s in it for you? 

• make a positive impact for people in your local area by ensuring the local Citizens Advice is sustainable and meeting the needs of the community
• meet people and build relationships with trustees, staff and other volunteers
• build on your governance, leadership and strategy skills
• increase your employability

And we’ll reimburse expenses too.

What do you need to have?

You don’t need specific qualifications or skills but you’ll need to:

• understand and accept the responsibilities and liabilities as trustees
• have knowledge about local government, IT and fund raising.
• be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own
• have good listening, verbal and written communication skills
• be able to exercise good independent judgment
• have good numeracy skills to understand accounts with the support of the treasurer
• be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection
• be willing to undertake training in your role

How much time do you need to give?

Trustee boards usually meet in the evenings and you’ll likely need to attend six meetings annually and you may need to meet with volunteers and staff occasionally within the local Citizens Advice. We can be flexible about the time spent and how often you volunteer so come and talk to us.

Valuing inclusion

Our volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and we particularly welcome applications from disabled people, people with physical or mental health conditions, LGBT+ and non-binary people, and people from Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.

Contact details

 If you are interested in becoming a trustee and would like to discuss flexibility around location, time, ‘what you will do’ and how we can support you please contact John Scollen – Chair of the board of Trustees on John.Scollen@citizensadvicecd.org.uk

Alternatively if you would like to join our fantastic board of trustees please send your CV to recruitment@citizensadvicecd.org.uk

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DRO Administrator

Hours: Full and part time roles available

Location: Citizens Advice County Durham, DRO Unit, Armstrong House, Abbey Woods Business Park, Durham, DH1 5GH. Hybrid working will be considered following completion of office based training.

Duration: Fixed term – Jan 31st 2023 / Oct 31st 2022

Salary: Salary £18,574 FTE – part time actual salary will be pro-rata amount

As one of the UK’s leading charities we pride ourselves on being confidential, non-judgemental and impartial. We currently have an exciting opportunity for an administrator to join our Debt Relief Order Unit (DRO). The job role involves the processing of a high volume of incoming and outgoing post, liaising directly with clients and Local Citizens Advice on the telephone, inputting and maintaining client data onto our CRM system and other administrative duties in line with office systems.

If you:

• Can demonstrate excellent communication skills (role entails a high level of contact with clients via telephone and letter).
• Can manage your time effectively with a keen eye for detail
• Can complete tasks to the highest quality
• Can monitor and maintain your own standards ensuring work is accurate.

 Then we want to hear from you!

Whilst working for us you will be a part of our amazing team, you will have a fantastic opportunity to achieve great things. You will definitely get the best feeling at the end of a day after you have helped many people in need. We’d like you to have the best career opportunities working for us, supporting you every step of the way.

Please note we do not accept CV’s, to download an application pack visit: www.citizensadvicecd.org.uk/about/vacancies

Interviews to be held: on as and when basis

What we offer: There’s lots! Including: a competitive salary, pension scheme, 25 days holiday, childcare voucher scheme, excellent training and development opportunities and much more!

At Citizens Advice County Durham we collect diversity monitoring information to better improve our services and support our research in a way that you can’t be identified. By providing these details we can monitor the diversity of applicants. Please click here to complete our diversity monitoring form. When you apply, we collect your personal information through your application form, interview or references so we can process your application. Please click here to read our full privacy policy and to better understand why we ask for certain information, how we use it and how we store it.

 

Download application pack

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Help to Claim – Universal Support Adviser

Hours: 30 hours per week

Location: Citizens Advice County Durham.

Duration: Fixed term until March 2023

Salary: £22,757 FTE (pro-rata)

Citizens Advice County Durham have been awarded further funding to run “Help to Claim: Universal Support” service for a further year up to March 2023. The service offers end-to-end support to help service users make a new Universal Credit claim and be ready for their first payment.

We are actively seeking to recruit an adviser with good IT skills to support clients to make and complete their new Universal Credit claim via telephone, video calling and web chat channels.

You’ll have the ability to interview clients using sensitive listening and questioning skills to get to the root of the issues and empower clients, whilst maintaining structure and control of conversations. As well as being committed to the aims and principles of the Citizens Advice Service.

 If you:

• Have excellent telephone and communication skills.
• Have an ability to use sensitive listening and questioning skills to get to the root of the issues and empower clients, whilst maintaining structure and control.
• Can manage your time effectively with a keen eye for detail and aim to achieve relevant targets
• Can complete tasks to the highest quality
• Can monitor and maintain your own standards ensuring work is accurate.

Then we want to hear from you!

 Whilst working for us you will be a part of our amazing team, you will have a fantastic opportunity to achieve great things. You will definitely get the best feeling at the end of a day after you have helped many people in need. We’d like you to have the best career opportunities working for us supporting you every step of the way.

Please note we do not accept CV’s, to download an application pack visit: www.citizensadvicecd.org.uk/about/vacancies

Closing date: 19.08.2022

Interviews to be held: w/c 22.08.2022

What we offer: There’s lots! Including: a competitive salary, pension scheme, 25 days holiday (pro rata), excellent training and development opportunities and much more!

At Citizens Advice County Durham we collect diversity monitoring information to better improve our services and support our research in a way that you can’t be identified. By providing these details we can monitor the diversity of applicants. Please click here to complete our diversity monitoring form.

When you apply, we collect your personal information through your application form, interview or references so we can process your application. Please click here to read our full privacy policy and to better understand why we ask for certain information, how we use it and how we store it.

 

Download application pack

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Healthier & Wealthier Telephone and Generalist Adviser

Hours: 37 hours per week

Location: Spennymoor and Bishop Auckland

Duration: Fixed term until 31st March 2023

Salary: £22,338 - £23,594 dependent on experience

Healthier & Wealthier Telephone and Generalist Face to Face Adviser

A great opportunity has arisen in our Healthier & Wealthier team and at our Bishop Auckland office to provide full in-depth advice to local clients, many of whom face multiple issues and additional challenges and barriers.

Healthier & Wealthier is a busy service for GP patients registered with practices in County Durham.  The service offers full in-depth telephone advice, sometimes over the course of more than one call, and often for people who couldn’t or wouldn’t have accessed advice for themselves without a referral from a healthcare professional.  To varying degrees cases can involve benefits, housing, hardship, caring, bereavement, debt and income, energy, family or almost anything else.

As a generalist adviser in our Bishop Auckland office you will offer in-depth face to face advice to clients covering all of the advice enquiries (benefits, housing, employment, etc.)

We’re seeking to recruit an experienced generalist adviser, with a focus on delivering both telephone and face to face advice to clients with full in-depth advice and possibly ongoing casework to, many of whom face multiple issues and additional challenges and barriers.

The successful candidate will:

• Be confident giving full and detailed advice by telephone and in person, helping clients who may have multiple or complex issues, additional health problems or impairments, or difficulties with communication
• Have an excellent telephone manner and be able to deal equally well with clients and healthcare professionals
• Enjoy working independently and flexibly in a busy team environment, in collaboration with colleagues but without constant supervision

Please ensure you read the full job description and person specification before applying.

To request an application pack please contact: recruitment@citizensadvicecd.org.uk

Closing date for applications: 22.08.2022

Proposed date for interview: w/c 29.08.2022

Please note we do not accept CV’s, to download an application pack visit: www.citizensadvicecd.org.uk/about/vacancies

 What we offer: There’s lots! Including: a competitive salary, pension scheme, 25 days holiday, excellent training and development opportunities and much more!

At Citizens Advice County Durham we collect diversity monitoring information to better improve our services and support our research in a way that you can’t be identified. By providing these details we can monitor the diversity of applicants. Please click here to complete our diversity monitoring form. When you apply, we collect your personal information through your application form, interview or references so we can process your application. Please click here to read our full privacy policy and to better understand why we ask for certain information, how we use it and how we store it.

Download application pack

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