Advocate for Children and Young People with Disabilities

Job title: Advocate for Children and Young People with Disabilities

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 35 per week

Salary: £25,500 – £29,500 per annum (depending on experience)

Location: Hybrid and flexible – a mix of working from Coram Campus, London, WC1N 1AZ, from home, and visits to young people in the community

About Coram

Coram is committed to improving the lives of the UK’s most vulnerable children and young people.

We support children and young people from birth to independence, creating a change that lasts a lifetime.

Coram is the UK’s oldest children’s charity founded by Thomas Coram in London helping vulnerable children and young people since 1739. Today, the Coram group helps more than one million children, young people, families and professionals every year by providing access to the skills and opportunities they need to thrive.

About Coram Voice

We run a range of children’s rights projects, including providing advocacy for children in care, care leavers, children with disabilities and homeless children, as well as other children and young people in need of the support of Children’s Services.

At Coram Voice we have a wealth of experience advocating on behalf of young people with disabilities, and recently expanded our work with children with disabilities through our Disability Outreach Project. We work side by side with some of the most vulnerable children and young people in society and reach out to those who have missed the support they need. Join us as we work to transform the lives of children and young people, by supporting them to uphold their rights and actively participate in decisions about their lives.

Coram Voice is part of the Coram group of charities that develops, delivers and promotes best practice in the support of children and young people. Our vision is that every child has the best possible chance in life, and we work together to do this from our leafy campus in Bloomsbury.

About the role

You will:

-Provide direct advocacy support to children and young people with disabilities, in and on the edges of the care system. You will hold a caseload, and be committed to championing the rights of these young people, working with a broad range of other stakeholders and agencies to do so.

-Support with developing the quality of services and projects delivered by Coram Voice to children and young people. This includes under Coram Voice’s Disability Outreach Project. It is an exciting time to join this project, which has recently expanded to include educational advocacy in addition to social care focused advocacy.

-You will support in the promotion of good practice across both Coram Voice and external organisations, building equitable and inclusive practice across the sector for children and young people with disabilities.

Our advocates will have relevant experience with children and young people, and may hold a suitable Advocacy Qualification. For the right candidate, we may also be able to offer this post as a Trainee position, and offer support to gain qualifications. The salary offered will reflect the candidate’s experience and skills.

Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on the role and what we are looking for in a candidate.

Benefits of working with us

We wish to reward and recognise the valuable contributions our staff make to the organisation and offer an attractive benefits package to do so. You can read more about our benefits package on our careers site. This includes:

-A competitive salary

-A matched pension scheme up to 5% of salary

-Generous leave entitlement, including up to 28 days’ annual leave, as well as an additional 3 days of paid leave between Christmas and New Year

-A suite of family-friendly policies

-Access to an Employee Assistance Programme

Recruitment process

Following shortlisting, successful candidates will be invited to attend interview. The interview process comprises of a written exercise and a panel interview. Successful candidates will be required to take part in a Warner style interview as part of our safer recruitment processes given the nature of the role. Internal candidates will need to notify HR of their interest in the post and they will provide further information on the internal application process. When completing your application form, please address the person specification in order to demonstrate how you are suited to the role as please note we do not take CVs.

To apply for this role, please click on the 'apply now' button below to complete the application.

Closing date: Sunday 14th July 2024 at 23:59 

Interviews will take place on Friday 19th July 2024, with some flexibility for other dates

Coram is an equal opportunities employer and we believe a diverse workforce enables us to improve the services to the children and families we help. We are genuinely committed to encouraging candidates from all sections of the community we seek to support. This includes those from, Asian, African, Caribbean and other minority ethnic backgrounds, those that identify as LGBQT+, those with disabilities, those with lived experience of care, those with neuro-diversity, and those from other groups who are underrepresented at Coram.

If applicants feel comfortable, we would encourage them to draw on lived experience as well as professional experience in their personal statement as part of their application.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and where appropriate will require the successful applicant to undertake a check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Registered Charity No. 312278.