Head of communications and events jobs in strawberry hill, greater london

About UP

Unlocking Potential deliver high performing therapeutic programmes and education provision for children and young people with SEMH needs. We work in collaboration with families, communities, and other partners to ensure that children and young people access the interventions they need to thrive.

Mission

We work collaboratively with communities to enable children and young people with social, emotional, and mental health needs to unlock their full potential

Values

Trust

We build trust by being honest, transparent, and accountable in the way we work with children and young people, staff, and partners and by providing services and programmes whose outcomes are measurable and evidenced based.

Collaborative

Relationships are at the heart of our work. We prioritise communication and collaboration with partners, families, and communities, believing that by working together we create more effective and holistic outcomes for children and young people.

Empowering

We co-create opportunities for our children, young people, parents/carers and staff to actively participate in decision-making that influences change. We promote the voices of children and young people in our organisation and the wider community.

Nurturing

We provide a nurturing approach based on safety and space for creativity, exploration, and growth. We support and care for our children, young people, and staff to realise their potential.

Impact

We are committed to measuring our impact through a data driven method to develop our programmes and make a greater difference to the lives of children, young people, and their parents and carers.

Overview

We will be launching our new programme from September 2025, initially as a pilot working with families across Wandsworth, with aims to be able to expand and continue beyond this.

We are seeking an experienced and passionate Family Support Manager to play a pivotal role in establishing our new Family Support programme. Your initial focus will be leading on the development of the service, implementing policies and procedures, building referral pathways, and recruiting a team of skilled Family Support Workers.

Once the service is established, you will manage a high-quality programme providing support and guidance to families facing complex challenges. Your role will involve overseeing a team of Family Support Workers, case management, fostering effective collaboration with internal and external multidisciplinary teams, and leading the service under a shared vision to ensure the well-being of children and their families.

Using a restorative approach, you will develop strong relationships to support families and empower them to take an active role in their own support plans and interventions, helping them build resilience and make informed decisions. A commitment to safeguarding excellence will be at the heart of everything you do.

This role would be an exciting opportunity for a qualified Social Worker or an experienced professional with a background in setting up and developing family support services. It offers a genuine opportunity to shape a new service and build an impactful team to make a real difference in the lives of children, young people, and their families.

About the role

We are delighted to have received three-year funding from the Aviva Foundation to fund this brand-new Grants Officer role based in London.

You’ll be part of our Programmes team supporting kinship carers in London to access grants which will help reduce financial stress. This could be grants to buy things like white goods and uniforms or accessing Buttle grants to support children growing up in kinship care.

As Grants Officer you’ll talk to kinship carers, discuss their needs, their priorities and then write charitable grant applications on their and their family’s behalf. 

You will oversee and deliver the grants process, including co-ordinating the purchase of items (such as children’s clothes, beds or washing machines), collecting receipts for items as required by the funders and liaising with all teams to ensure timely receipt of funds within the charity and to the kinship carers.

Building relationships with funders is core, sharing the impact of the grants and insight about the lives of kinship families in London. You’ll work closely with Programmes, Peer Support, Training and Advice colleagues who work with kinship families in London.

You will also create and run online and face-to-face workshops and clinics, helping kinship carers to understand how to apply for other grants, thereby encouraging resilience and confidence to apply for grants themselves.

You will be a proactive and persuasive relationship builder, able to create partnerships with a range of organisations and peer support groups that support kinship families.

You’ll build trusting and respectful relationships with kinship carers who you will work one-to-one with in community settings. And you’ll build relationships with a range of grant giving organisations across London.

We’re looking for someone who can really deliver impact and demonstrate how embedding this role into the community helps to unlock funding and support for kinship carers at a local level.

The type of person we’re looking for

Kinship carers are at the heart of all we do. This role could be the difference between a kinship carer being able to dress their child for school properly, being able to buy a fridge, take a first holiday to the seaside… or going without.

We are looking for someone who is really organised and who is able to capture and present information clearly in a persuasive grant application. The successful applicant will be compassionate, empathetic, and organised. We are looking for someone who understands the needs of kinship families.

Key responsibilities include:

• Delivering our new grants service across London.
• Meeting performance targets and KPIs as directed.
• Working with kinship carers and their families across London to gather information to complete and submit grant applications.
• Administering grants we secure for our kinship carers and carry out all the necessary administration related to grants.
• Undertaking research to identify funders and build excellent relationships with local grant making charities in order to increase support for kinship families.
• Delivering grant workshops at peer support groups sharing information about locally available grants and providing advice and support on making a successful application.
• Running face-to-face grant clinics within peer support groups or community venues in London, working directly with kinship carers to write and submit requests for grants.

Essential criteria includes:

• Experience of speaking to vulnerable people on the telephone, face-to-face and online, and gathering information with empathy and understanding.
• Experience of working with socially excluded or marginalised people and their families in face-to-face and community settings.
• Experience of running online and face-to-face workshops. 
• An understanding of budgeting, managing money, income and expenditure.
• Proven understanding of the importance of confidentiality and a non-judgmental approach.
• Evidence of awareness of safeguarding issues and good practice. 
• Experience of organising and prioritising a busy workload without close supervision.
• Proven clear understanding of the need to keep grants records and communication with kinship carers and funders up to date.
• Excellent research and writing skills. 

How to apply

In place of a cover letter, you will be asked to answer the following four questions, alongside providing your CV. Please keep your answers to a maximum of 250 words.

1. Tell us why you’re interested in working for Kinship in this role and what experience you bring that would make you successful? This is an opportunity to tell us about you, your experience and your values.
2. This role requires writing persuasive and accurate grant applications for kinship families. What steps did you take, and how did you ensure the application was compelling and met the funder's criteria?
3. This role requires balancing administrative tasks (like tracking grants and recording data) with direct support work. How do you prioritise your workload and ensure deadlines are met without compromising service quality?
4. Please describe your experience of supporting vulnerable individuals or families in a community or face-to-face setting. What approach did you take to build trust and gather information sensitively?

Key Dates

• Application deadline: Tuesday 6 May, 5pm
• Interview: Online – Monday 12 May

About Kinship

We are Kinship. The leading kinship care charity in England and Wales. We’re here for kinship carers – friends or family who step up to raise a child when their parents aren’t able to.

We are made by and for our community of kinship carers. Like family, relationships run deep. And we hear their experiences; for too long they have been isolated without the help they need.

We support, advise and inform kinship carers. Connecting them so they feel empowered. Because a child needs the love and warmth of a thriving family.

We develop research, campaigns and policy solutions. Creating positive change across society. Because for kinship families, love alone is not enough.

Through our work we harness frustrations to fuel passion for change. And tough experiences to inspire ideas that transform lives.

And as we see momentum building, we keep using evidence to demonstrate the value of kinship care. Helping kinship carers navigate challenging circumstances. Believing in a child’s potential.

Join us. Together, let’s commit to change for kinship families.

Within our Marketing & Commercial department sits the Digital team. Responsible for Battersea’s digital output, our goal is to drive innovation and impact online. We manage Battersea’s website, and lead its digital products, campaigns and advertising – all to increase awareness of Battersea’s work and engage people with the need to support our dogs and cats. 

As Website Coordinator, you will support the whole Digital Products team in our ambition to create sector-leading user experiences across our website and suite of digital products. We are looking for someone skilled in proactively identifying opportunities for enhancing our Digital Products and effectively coordinate the implementation of these improvements. 
 

What we can offer you:
In return for your commitment to our cause and to recognise the value of our employees, Battersea offers a range of benefits to support the wellbeing of our employees. These include:

- 28 days of annual leave (plus 8 days paid public holidays) per year
- Discounted gym memberships and cycle to work schemes
- Employee Assistance Programme and access to Wellbeing Resources.
- Generous pension contributions – up to 10% employer contribution
- Free healthcare cash plan, where you can claim for a range of treatment including dental, optical, physiotherapy, chiropody and acupuncture every year.
- Annual interest-free season ticket loans

We are also committed to providing learning and development to our employees. During your time with us, we provide support for your professional and career development, including access to digital and in-person training programmes, leadership and management training, mentoring and much more.

Our hybrid working model:
We operate a 50% onsite hybrid working model, with our office-based staff splitting their time between site based and home working. This enables our office-based staff to balance the benefits of home working with onsite collaboration and maintaining a connection to our cause.

Diversity and inclusion:
We are committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive experience for all staff, volunteers and trustees and those hoping to join us. We operate an anonymised shortlisting process and actively seek to ensure our process is fair and equitable for all.

We understand the value of diverse voices, perspectives, and experiences to help us deliver even more for our dogs and cats, and we welcome applicants from all sections of the community.

As a Disability Confident Committed Employer we will ask about any adjustments you may need at application and/or interview stage, and if you are offered a role with us, we’ll talk to you about any workplace adjustments you may need to help you perform at your best. 

More about us:
At Battersea, we aim to never turn away a dog or cat in need of help. We give each one lots of love, expert care and get to know their characters and quirks so we can find them a new home that’s just right for them. Join us and help us be here for every dog and cat, wherever they are, for as long as they need us.

We will be interviewing for this position on a rolling basis, so we would recommend applying early. We will close the vacancy once it is filled.

To apply for the role, please click the button below. 

Age UK Westminster is delighted to offer a new role within our successful Information and Advice Team, with a focus on supporting Westminster residents from Global Majorities, gaining skills and knowledge to develop your career in I&A.

The successful applicant will benefit from working within an experienced and friendly team. Full training, including completion of Level 3 Information and Advice certification, will be provided. If you are fluent in one of the following languages, Arabic, Somali or Bengali, and would like to  work with us to enable our team to better support non-English speaking Westminster older residents to access our Information and advice service, this could be the role for you.

This is a real opportunity to build a career in Information and Advice. Join us to make a real difference to the older residents of Westminster.

Closing Date: 30th April