Women's Legal Advisor

Come and join ASAP’s dynamic, small and friendly team!

We are recruiting a Women’s Legal Advisor. This interesting and diverse role sits both within ASAP’s legal and policy teams and involves provision of legal advice, representation at the asylum support tribunal, delivery of training and influencing work with the Home Office.

Key information:

• Permanent contract, following a six months’ probation
• Full-time post (but we will consider requests for working 28 hours a week)
• Hybrid working, so based 2 days a week in our offices in East London
• Salary £41,220 p.a or pro rata equivalent (includes ILW) and other benefits
• Application deadline is 11:59pm on Sunday 1st December 2024 with interviews in London on Monday 9th December 2024

The Asylum Support Appeals Project (ASAP) is a small national charity which was set up in 2004 to reduce destitution by protecting people's legal rights to food and shelter. We have a team of 12 permanent staff members and 45 volunteer solicitors and barristers. 

ASAP delivers three strands of work:

• High-quality legal representation at the Asylum Support Tribunal, for people appealing against Home Office decisions to refuse or withdraw their accommodation and financial support.

• Training, an advice line and online forum to support hundreds of frontline organisations, advice agencies and legal practitioners across the UK who are helping people apply for financial support or accommodation.

• We use our strong evidence base to improve government policies and procedures on asylum support through policy work and strategic litigation.

The Women’s Legal Advisor works across the three strands of ASAP’s work to promote and protect the rights of women within the asylum support system. It is a varied and interesting role spanning legal representation at the Asylum Support Tribunal (AST), the provision of advice on ASAP’s Advice Line, the delivery of training, and influencing work with the Home Office. The post is currently focused on access to support for those experiencing domestic abuse however, the future focus of this project will be one of the first priorities for the new post holder, after induction.

A strong interest and commitment to upholding the rights of women is essential, as is an understanding of the barriers and difficulties that women seeking asylum face. You will work closely and collaboratively with colleagues internally, providing advice and support on issues impacting women in the asylum system. You will work with partner organisations externally, pursuing asylum support policy improvements for women and supporting advice workers to assist women to access housing and financial support. The role is part of ASAP’s policy team as well as our legal team (staff members providing legal representation at the AST and via our advice line). The Head of Legal provides legal supervision to the role, and assistance with legal accuracy of training materials. 

We positively encourage applicants with lived experience of seeking asylum and/or asylum support. You do not have to tell us about your experiences as part of the recruitment process if you do not want to. If you are an expert by experience (a refugee or a migrant with direct, first-hand experience of issues and challenges of the UK asylum or immigration system), you can ask for independent and confidential support for your job application from the Experts by Experience Employment Network.

Come and join our small, supportive team!