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Volunteering Opportunities
Volunteer Adviser
Based in Clay Cross (near Chesterfield) in an accessible building with plenty of free and accessible parking.
What will you do?
complete an introduction to Citizens Advice and training for your role
talk to clients over the phone, video call or face to face to explore what problems they’ve come for help with
find information about the clients’ problems and help them to understand their options
support clients to take action to resolve their problems. This might include drafting or writing letters, making phone calls, or referring the client to another organisation
write a summary of the clients’ problems and what action you’ve taken
look out for problems’ that are common, or are unfair, and write a short report about the problem or a letter to an elected official like an MP, AM or local councillor
Some examples of what you could do
help clients with debts work out a reasonable amount to pay back, and make a phone call to an organisation they owe money to.
explore what benefits a client is entitled to and help them to complete a benefit application form.
help a client who has problems with their landlord to understand their housing rights.
Other roles
If you don’t want to undertake the full training involved to be a full adviser there may be other suitable rolls such as;
form filling -helping clients to complete questionnaires to claim disability benefits such as PIP)
budgeting - helping clients to look at their income and expenditure and find ways to help them save money)
social media -help us to promote our service and awareness of help available (option to work remotely)
research and campaigns (option to work remotely)
What’s in it for you?
make a real difference to people’s lives
learn about a range of issues such as benefits, debt, employment and housing.
build on valuable skills such as communication, listening and problem solving, and increase your employability
work with a range of different people, independently and in a team.
have a positive impact in your community.
And we’ll reimburse expenses too.
If you're training to be a solicitor and you train and volunteer as a local Citizens Advice adviser, you may be able to get up to six months off your solicitor training contract. See Solicitors Regulation Authority for more information.
What do you need to have?
You don’t need specific qualifications or skills but you’ll need to:
be friendly and approachable
be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own
have good listening skills
have excellent verbal and written communication skills
have good maths and IT skills
be able to understand information and explain it to others
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?
Ideally, we ask for 4 hours per week, which can be over one day or spread over two days, for at least 12 months. We can be flexible so talk to us if this doesn’t suit.
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. We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates. We also welcome applications from, LGB and Trans and non-binary candidates. If you are interested in becoming an adviser and would like to discuss flexibility around location, time, ‘what you will do’ and how we can support you please contact us. In some circumstances there may even be an option for home working.
How to Apply
To apply, please download our Application form or you can email Claire at cchatterton@nedcab.org.uk and request a volunteering application form.
If you would like to have a chat with us first please contact our Volunteer Co-orindator, Claire Chatterton, on 07305078145.
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Social Media Volunteer
Citizens Advice North East Derbyshire give free, confidential, impartial advice across North East Derbyshire and Bolsover Districts, covering a wide range of subjects such as Welfare Rights, Debt, Consumer Issues, Employment and Housing.
Help us connect with our community
We are looking for an enthusiastic, creative Volunteer to join our Social Media team and assist us in creating engaging content and promote our service across the region.
If you have a background or interest in online marketing or social media, please get in touch to see how you can help us to help our local community.
We are specifically looking for confident, outgoing people to appear on our podcast and videos highlighting and promoting the work we do.
Learn about our service, and help others access the advice they need.
What will you do?
promote the local Citizens Advice service so that the people understand what Citizens Advice does and how they can get advice, and how they could become a volunteer
create video/audio content for our existing social media channels and help us set up new ones
we are specifically looking to add a creative, outgoing person to our social media team to create and/or appear in online videos, either appearing on screen or creating animations to help get our message out to people
talk to staff and volunteers about their experiences
follow brand guidelines to create engaging content
help us to campaign for changes in public policies and services
initially work from home on your own equipment while keeping in touch with our staff via email, telephone and video messaging
What’s in it for you?
make a real difference to people’s lives
learn about a range of issues that affect our clients such as benefits, debt, employment and housing.
build on valuable skills such as communication, listening, marketing and advertising
increase your employability
work with a range of different people, independently and in a team.
have a positive impact in your community.
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:
be friendly and approachable
be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own
have excellent verbal and written communication skills
have good IT skills and the equipment/software required to communicate with us and produce content
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
Although not essential, any of the following would be an advantage:
experience of using Social Media for promotional purposes
knowledge of different Social Media platforms and being able to identify what would work best for different campaigns
a local knowledge of North East Derbyshire / Bolsover districts to better tap into existing networks
experience of producing engaging promotional materials in either print, audio or video
experience or an interest in hosting and producing podcasts or online videos
How much time do you need to give?
We can be flexible about the time spent and how often you volunteer so please let us know what you can offer. With home working and flexible hours, we hope that this role can fit around you. We do try to meet once a week during the day via video (for about an hour) to keep in touch and make sure everybody is included.
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.
If you are interested in becoming a Social Media volunteer and would like to discuss flexibility around location, time, ‘what you will do’ and how we can support you please contact us.
How to Apply
To apply, please download our Application form or you can email Claire at cchatterton@nedcab.org.uk and request a volunteering application form.
If you would like to have a chat with us first please contact our Volunteer Co-orindator, Claire Chatterton, on 07305078145.
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Trustee
Ensure your charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit
Trustees must make sure that the charity is carrying out the purposes for which it is set up, and no other purpose. This means you should:
ensure you understand the charity’s purposes as set out in its governing document
plan what your charity will do, and what you want it to achieve
be able to explain how all of the charity’s activities are intended to further or support its purposes
understand how the charity benefits the public by carrying out its purposes
Comply with your charity’s governing document and the law
Trustees must:
make sure that the charity complies with its governing document
comply with charity law requirements and other laws that apply to your charity
Act in the charity’s best interests
Trustees must:
do what you and your co-trustees (and no one else) decide will best enable the charity to carry out its purposes
with your co-trustees, make balanced and adequately informed decisions, thinking about the long term as well as the short term
avoid putting yourself in a position where your duty to your charity conflicts with your personal interests or loyalty to any other person or body
not receive any benefit from the charity unless it is properly authorised and is clearly in the charity’s interests; this also includes anyone who is financially connected to you, such as a partner, dependent child or business partner
Manage your charity’s resources responsibly
Trustees must act responsibly, reasonably and honestly. This is sometimes called the duty of prudence. Prudence is about exercising sound judgement. You and your co-trustees must:
make sure the charity’s assets are only used to support or carry out its purposes
avoid exposing the charity’s assets, beneficiaries or reputation to undue risk
not over-commit the charity
take special care when investing or borrowing
comply with any restrictions on spending funds or selling land
You and your co-trustees should put appropriate procedures and safeguards in place and take reasonable steps to ensure that these are followed. Otherwise you risk making the charity vulnerable to fraud or theft, or other kinds of abuse, and being in breach of your duty.
Act with reasonable care and skill
As someone responsible for governing a charity, you:
must use reasonable care and skill, making use of your skills and experience and taking appropriate advice when necessary
should give enough time, thought and energy to your role, for example by preparing for, attending and actively participating in all trustees’ meetings
Ensure your charity is accountable
Trustees must comply with statutory accounting and reporting requirements.
be able to demonstrate that your charity is complying with the law, well run and effective
ensure appropriate accountability to members, if your charity has a membership separate from the trustees
ensure accountability within the charity, particularly where you delegate responsibility for particular tasks or decisions to staff or volunteers
How to Apply
To apply, please download our Application form or you can email Claire at cchatterton@nedcab.org.uk and request a volunteering application form.
If you would like to have a chat with us first please contact our Volunteer Co-orindator, Claire Chatterton, on 07305078145.