Independent Sexual Violence Advisor Jobs in London, Greater London

We have an exciting opportunity for an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor to join the team in London, working 37.5 hours a week.

If yes, then we'd love to hear from you…

Do you want to make a difference every day? Do you want to contribute to change & improvement for those who need it?

Do you have resilience & adaptability? Can you work effectively with a focus on customer service and care?

What we offer:

At Victim Support we believe in attracting & retaining the best people and offer a competitive rewards & benefits package including:

• Flexible working options including hybrid working
• 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays, rising to 33 days plus Bank Holidays
• An extra day off for your birthday & options to buy or sell annual leave
• Pension with 5% employer contribution
• Enhanced sick pay allowances, maternity & paternity payments
• High Street, retail, holiday, gym, entertainment & leisure discounts
• Access to our financial wellbeing hub & salary deducted finance
• Employee assistance programme & wellbeing support
• Access to EDI networks and colleague cafes
• Cycle to work scheme & season ticket loans
• Ongoing training & support with opportunities for career development & progression

About the Role:

You may be a qualified IDVA or a Domestic Abuse Outreach Worker wanting to work alongside professionals in a multi-agency environment, although we will consider applicants from other fields providing you are able to demonstrate comprehensive knowledge and understanding of both domestic and sexual violence.

This role involves both face to face and virtual support in a hybrid model of working. There is an expectation that you will do a mixture of working from home, our office in Old Street.

As a Independent Domestic Violence Advocate you will:

• Implement effective ways of working with victims and those supporting them to increase safety and reduce harm.
• Provide a high-quality, front-line service to victims of domestic and sexual abuse, delivering a premium service prioritised according to risk, primarily focusing on victim/survivors aged 16+
• Work within a multi-agency framework consisting of the MARAC and local partnership responses to domestic and sexual abuse to keep safety central to all services for victims of domestic and sexual abuse.
• Have excellent communication skills, a proactive approach and the confidence to be able to influence the way in which this service is delivered are key.

You will need:

• Have a knowledge of help-seeking barriers and support needs of victims of domestic and sexual abuse (in heterosexual or same-sex relationships).
• Have a good understanding of domestic and sexual abuse including the impact of abuse on victims and their children.
• Understand the principles of risk assessment, safety planning and risk management for victims of domestic and sexual abuse and their children.
• Understand safeguarding issues, and the legal responsibilities surrounding these issues.
• Direct service delivery to victims of domestic and sexual abuse or other vulnerable people.
• Have excellent communication, negotiation and advocacy skills, both written and verbal when interacting with a range of agencies and individuals. Understand and be committed to equal opportunities and diversity issues in policy and practice.
• Have a strong crisis management skills and the ability to deal with stressful and difficult situations.

Please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for further details.

About Us:

Victim Support (VS) is an independent charity providing a range of specialist services to people who have been affected by crime across England and Wales. We work towards a world where there are fewer victims but who have stronger rights, better support and a real influence in the Criminal Justice System. Everyone at VS is driven by our Vision Ambitions and Values to play their part in making a difference for those who experience crime and traumatic events. Working for VS gives you the opportunity to play a key role in a national charity providing high quality services to victims and witnesses and being a vital force for change.

Victim Support are committed to recruiting with care and to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Background checks and Disclosed Barring Service checks may be required.

Victim Support strives to represent the diverse communities we serve and are passionate about creating an environment where all staff and volunteers feel respected and heard. Being a diverse organisation with an inclusive culture is integral to us being able to meet our aim of ensuring that anyone who is a victim of crime gets the support they need.

As part of our commitment to the Race at Work Charter we particularly welcome applicants from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. VS is also a Disability Confident Employer and we provide a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for candidates that are disabled and meet all essential criteria for a role.

If you have a disability, a learning difficulty such as dyslexia or a medical condition which you believe may affect your performance during any aspect of our selection process, we'll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to perform at your best.

How to apply:

To apply for this role please follow the link below to the Jobs page on our website and complete the application form demonstrating how you meet the essential shortlisting criteria.

We look forward to hearing from you.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early, if we receive enough suitable applications to take forward to interview prior to the published closing date.

If you have already registered & started an application, then we will contact you to advise of the amended closing date wherever possible.

Job Title: Domestic Abuse Helpline Advisor

Location: Homeworking with a requirement to occasionally work at Head Office (Vauxhall, London)
Salary: £28,104 per annum, inclusive of London Weighting allowance if applicable
Contract type: Full Time, Permanent 

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

This is an opportunity to join Refuge as a Domestic Abuse Helpline Advisor to provide high quality practical and emotional support to survivors of domestic abuse and other forms of violence and abuse, including those at the point of crisis.

Helpline Advisors are responsible for providing high-quality, empowering, emotional and practical support, assistance and information to women and those supporting them, who contact the Freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge. Helpline Advisors deliver one to one support to women and those supporting them to ensure that they are provided with a safe, supportive and welcoming service, enabling women to understand their rights, make decisions and increase their options. The job involves working across multiple platforms including phone and live chat, to inform survivors of the full range of civil, criminal and practical options that might increase their safety.

Please note that this post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.

As part of this role, you will be required to participate in an out-of-hours rota that includes evenings, weekends and night shifts.

Closing date: 09:00am 1 April 2025
Interview Dates: Week beginning 14 April 2025

Refuge is the UK’s largest provider of specialist services, and we are proud to be a leader in our field and an employer of choice, with leading edge systems for supervision, quality management and development.

Refuge offers a variety of exciting opportunities to learn, develop and grow in your career. We recognise the value everyone brings to the organisation to achieve our aims and are dedicated to developing and rewarding our staff. More details of our benefits can be found in Job Information Pack.

Job Title: Domestic Abuse Helpline Advisor

Location: Homeworking with a requirement to occasionally work at Head Office (Vauxhall, London)
Salary: £16,862.40 per annum, inclusive of London Weighting allowance if applicable
Contract type: Part Time, Fixed Term until 31 March 2026

Hours: 22.5 hours per week

This is an opportunity to join Refuge as a Domestic Abuse Helpline Advisor to provide high quality practical and emotional support to survivors of domestic abuse and other forms of violence and abuse, including those at the point of crisis.

Helpline Advisors are responsible for providing high-quality, empowering, emotional and practical support, assistance and information to women and those supporting them, who contact the Freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge. Helpline Advisors deliver one to one support to women and those supporting them to ensure that they are provided with a safe, supportive and welcoming service, enabling women to understand their rights, make decisions and increase their options. The job involves working across multiple platforms including phone and live chat, to inform survivors of the full range of civil, criminal and practical options that might increase their safety.

Please note that this post is restricted to women due to the nature of the role. The Occupational Requirement under Schedule 9 (part 1) of the Equality Act 2010 applies.

As part of this role, you will be required to participate in an out-of-hours rota that includes evenings, weekends and night shifts.

Closing date: 09:00am 1 April 2025
Interview Dates: Week beginning 14 April 2025

Refuge is the UK’s largest provider of specialist services, and we are proud to be a leader in our field and an employer of choice, with leading edge systems for supervision, quality management and development. 

Refuge offers a variety of exciting opportunities to learn, develop and grow in your career. We recognise the value everyone brings to the organisation to achieve our aims and are dedicated to developing and rewarding our staff. More details of our benefits can be found in Job Information Pack.

The Youth Endowment Fund

Communications and Digital Marketing Officer

Contract: 2-year fixed term (potential to extend)

Location: Central London or Hybrid*(see below)

About the Youth Endowment Fund

We’re here to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to put this knowledge into practice.

In recent years violent crime has risen significantly. Homicides, assaults, robberies and offences involving weapons have all seen sustained growth. We have also seen large increases in violent crime involving children and young people. This is a tragedy. Every child captured in these numbers is an important member of our community and society has a duty to protect them.

The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) is a charity with a £200m endowment and a mission that matters. We exist to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence across England and Wales. We do this by funding great initiatives, finding out what works and working for change.

Key Responsibilities

YEF is entering a new phase of growing scale and ambition. There is more urgency and scope than ever for us to contribute meaningfully towards preventing violence amongst children and young people. Communicating with, informing and persuading our growing audiences about the vitality of our mission will require being innovative, hands-on and prepared to speak out with humanity and boldness.

The Public Affairs and Communications Team is crucial for effectively communicating and promoting YEF's ideas to a wider audience and driving demand for the evidence about what works to prevent violence amongst children and young people. We can only hope to achieve our mission if those working in our sectors hear from us about what works, trust our research and put our guidance into practice. We need policymakers, politicians and people in charge of services to listen and act, but also youth-workers, police, social workers, headteachers and young people to believe in our movement for change on the ground. We want to continue being a leading voice in the national conversation about preventing violence.

​Your job will be essential to this. You will support the Public Affairs and Communications team to communicate our work as thoughtfully, impactfully and creatively as possible through engaging media communications and PR campaigns, video-led social media content and strategic digital marketing.

Your responsibilities will mostly fall under the following three areas:

​Digital Marketing, Social Media and Video

• Editing, updating and maintaining content on the website, and collaborating with relevant staff teams to ensure content is up to date.
• Supporting with monthly digital content generation for YEF social media channels, including the planning and creation of short videos and boosting engagement for the YEF podcast.
• Supporting with segmented email marketing and newsletter content.
• Monitoring and evaluating our performance across digital platforms in order to expand the number of unique site visits to key website and social media pages, including the Toolkit, YouTube and LinkedIn. ​

Communications, Media and PR

• Drafting, managing and distributing stakeholder communications across public affairs and media for new YEF publications and outputs.
• Identifying and generating monthly media opportunities through outreach with journalists and collating media, publication and journalist lists.
• Managing the @hello organisational inbox and other communications streams.
• Managing the distribution and development of the case study template and supporting with the successful launch of the grantee storytelling programme. ​

Team Support and Administration

• Organising and note-taking for weekly team meetings and tracking the timely completion of minutes and actions.
• Identifying and generating new public speaking and audience engagement opportunities for Director of Public Affairs and Communications. ​

About you​​

• You don't want your days to pass without making a difference. You want to play a significant part in a charity that is making a difference. ​
• You are interested in applying research to understanding and solving social problems affecting people in British society. ​
• You are passionate about telling human stories that use creative writing, design, photography and videography to engage diverse audiences. ​
• You have experience of using WordPress, Mailchimp or other digital marketing tools, this can be used strategically to get people outside of an organisation to pay attention to and engage with its work. ​
• You have experience creating social media assets (using software such as Canva or Adobe Illustrator) and increasing audience engagement on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. ​
• You are a team player who works in an organised, communicative and selfless way. ​
• You are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. You believe and act in a way that celebrates and encourages a range of experiences, backgrounds and values. ​
  ​

You may ideally have, but they are not essential:

• Experience of working for an organisation that works with, or on issues affecting, children and young people. ​
• Digital marketing and communications experience in an organisation whose audiences include youth workers, teachers, the police and policymakers. ​
• Short-form video production and editing skills, particularly in service of TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. ​
• Experience of working with journalists, publications and online platforms on bringing content, media and PR campaigns to life. ​​

While it’s not a criteria, we’re especially interested to hear from applicants who have lived experience of violence affecting children and young people.

​

It’s also important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background.

All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process. In line with the Equality Act 2010, however, the organisation may employ positive action where candidates from underrepresented groups can demonstrate their ability to perform the role equally well.

Hybrid Working

The office is based in Central London. Those living in and around London are expected to be in the office a minimum of 2 days per week. If you live outside of London and work remotely, you’ll be expected to work from the London office 2 days per month. As part of our commitment to flexible working we will consider a range of options for the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at the interview stage. 

​To apply

Please click on the "Apply for this" button and submit your CV, your completed monitoring form and ensure your covering letter answers the following three questions below.

Application Questions

1. Can you share an example of a creative idea you have worked on that helped secure press coverage?
2. Describe a time you had to increase engagement on a social media platform for a campaign or client. What strategies did you employ, and what were the results?
3. Why is preventing violence amongst children and young people important to you, and how can storytelling help to achieve this goal? ​

​Please submit your application by Monday 24th March at 9:00 am

​Interview process

This will be a one stage interview process. Interviews will take place the week of 31st March 2025

​We do not sponsor work permits and you will be required to provide proof of your eligibility to work in the UK.

​Benefits include

• £1,000 professional development budget annually
• 28 days holiday plus Bank Holidays
• Employee Assistance Programme – 24hr phone line for free confidential support
• Volunteering days - 4 half days per year
• Death in service - 4 times annual salary
• Flexible hours. Core office hours 10am – 4pm
• Financial support including travel and hardship loans
• Employer contributed pension of 5% ​

Your data

Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area. The people we are looking for do not discriminate and we believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background.