Job Description
Location: Blended between office and home (England and Wales). Time in office negotiable
Citizens Advice works relentlessly to tackle the major issues affecting people across England and Wales. Our local Citizens Advice see first hand the problems people face day in and day out. The data we gather from these interactions means we’re uniquely placed to spot trends early, understand the root causes of issues, and develop tangible solutions to address them.
This role is in our Families, Welfare and Work team. In recent years, we’ve successfully made the case for increases in housing benefit and the extension of crisis support. Put simply, we know that too many people don’t have enough money to live on. We see this every day in the people coming to us for support, struggling to pay essential bills, and all too often in debt. It’s our job to change that.
Our team works on ways we can improve the welfare state, from changing how benefits are administered to challenging poor policy design that leaves people out of pocket. Our most recent Policy Research Assistant has been working on making the case against cutting disability benefits, including analysing data, writing blogs and reports, and engaging directly with decision makers. We’re now looking for a new team member to take on the next challenge and help ensure better support for those on some of the lowest incomes in the country.
As a member of our policy research function, you’ll be working as part of a dynamic and supportive team - contributing to designing and executing inventive and hard-hitting research and creating influential outputs including blogs, reports, presentations and social media. You’ll also have opportunities to directly influence those with the power to make change happen.
Your development is our priority - we do everything we can to help you to develop the skills you need to take the next steps in your career. For example, we provide an extensive range of internal training courses covering everything you need to succeed in this role and progress to a more senior role, including research, persuasive writing and influencing and negotiating skills.
Creating an environment and culture in which everybody can do their best work is central to our success. As a result, we offer genuine flexibility over when and where you work. Many of our colleagues work non-standard hours and are based in different locations across England and Wales.
Please provide details in your cover letter to evidence the following essential criteria. Please make sure your cover letter provides evidence for the essential criteria succinctly.
- Ability to deliver tasks and projects to specified deadlines and quality standards, with strong attention to detail and accuracy.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Working knowledge of or interest in different research techniques.
- Working knowledge of current policy debates.
Citizens Advice offers confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. Through our national network of charities, we give people the knowledge and the confidence they need to find their way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem.
Do you want to work for an organisation that makes a difference, every single day, to people from all walks of life? The people that turn to Citizens Advice need help overcoming an obstacle in their lives – from debt to evictions to trouble at work – and you can be key to them getting the support they need in the quickest, easiest, and most effective way.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is of strategic importance within the organisation and recognised as integral to all we do as a service.
Central to pursuing our EDI mission is building diverse and inclusive teams in which everyone has a sense of belonging. We believe inclusion is a social justice issue - a principle that underpins our all EDI work. To that end, we particularly welcome applications from people we would like to see better represented in our organisation and sector - people of colour, LGBTQ+ people and disabled people. We follow the social model of disability. We will offer an interview to disabled candidates who indicate they wish their application to be considered under our Disability Confident Interview Commitment where they meet our selection criteria in their application. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances where it is not practicable or appropriate, we may limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates. We will provide reasonable adjustments as needed.
We’re a flexible employer, so this role may suit anyone who’d prefer a flexible arrangement to help their work/life balance, many of our colleagues spend most of their time working remotely. Whilst we prefer a blended approach between a local office, if one is near you, and home we’re open to being flexible on location, occasionally a role may require you to be based in a certain location if that's the case it will be detailed in the advert or job description. This can be discussed in more detail during your interview.
The National Citizens Advice operates from offices in England and Wales, with 4 regional offices based in Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Leeds, therefore all successful applicants must be based within England or Wales.
Please be aware that Citizens Advice is not a sponsoring organisation. Therefore the successful applicant must already possess the right to work in the UK or be able to secure the right to work in the UK independently.
We have been awarded the top charity in Third sectors' employer index, where it's recognised that Citizens Advice is an organization that not only prioritizes the people we serve but also values the wellbeing of its employees.
Citizens Advice seeks to redeploy internal staff who are at risk or under notice of redundancy and will prioritise them in the recruitment process where necessary. If you have been confirmed as at risk or under notice of redundancy please ensure you indicate this in the at-risk box in your application.
Please note, in the event of a high number of applications, we reserve the right to close the application early.
This vacancy closes at 23.59 on the closing date.
For more information about the organisation, our values and benefits please see the following link - Information, values and benefits
Need help with your application, see our useful how to guides on the following page - Guidance notes for applicants