1) About Citizens Advice Kensington & Chelsea:
We provide free, confidential and impartial advice and campaign on big issues affecting people’s lives. Our goal is to help everyone find a way forward, whatever problem they face.
Kensington & Chelsea is a borough of extreme contrasts, with both some of the wealthiest and most deprived areas of the country. In North Kensington there are more than 6,000 children and young people living in poverty, with rates of child poverty in three wards higher than both national and London averages. Unemployment and underemployment are significant issues, with more than 5,000 people unemployed, and more than 3,000 people claiming in work benefits. North Kensington is also home to Grenfell Tower, which remains a focus of our work, and HMP Wormwood Scrubs where we have provided advice to inmates for over 30 years.
Last year we fielded over 10,000 enquiries and helped more than 3.500 local people gain almost £2.3 millions of support. We see a particularly high number of enquiries related to cost-of-living issues including claiming welfare benefits, managing their money and debts, and getting housing support.
We have a team of 17 staff, around 30 volunteers and operate with a budget circa £1 million. We are a member of both the national Citizens Advice charity and London Citizens Advice, and we contribute to regional and national research and campaign work to improve people’s lives.
2) About the role
We are looking for a new Chair or Co Chair to lead our established and committed trustee board and help shape a new and exciting phase of our development. We have recently secured five years of core funding from the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea as the lead partner in an Advice Partnership with two other voluntary organisations.
We are also part of the London Citizens Advice Service which has been recently established. We are looking forward to working more closely with other London Citizens Advice services and collectively accessing additional funding streams to expand our offering to our clients.
The Chair(s) lead(s) our Board of Trustees to ensure that we continue to remain a well-run organisation meeting our charitable objectives and doing the best possible work for our beneficiaries, staff, volunteers, and funders.
Key challenges over the coming year that you will play a key role in include:
• Developing the Advice Partnership and deepening partnerships with other Voluntary Sector organisations in the Borough
• Continue to evolve new ways to reach our clients, particularly those who have not traditionally accessed our services but are in need of our support.
• Broadening our sources of funding so that are not reliant on any single funder and are able to expand our services
You will act as a critical friend to the management team, working closely with the CEO and holding them to account where necessary. Your impartiality, fairness and the ability to respect confidences are also very important to us.
3) About you
We are looking for someone with proven leadership and facilitation skills, including experience of chairing Board meetings and committee work.
As chair you will represent our organisation in the community, at public events, and in relationships with funders and negotiating for funds for staffing, premises or equipment, so excellent communication and interpersonal skills, tact and diplomacy are key. Ideally you will already be familiar with some of our work or that of one of a similar organisation, as well as the geography and communities of our borough.
You will need to be able to commit to three to five hours per week, as well as two evenings a month for meetings.
The better we represent our community, the better we can serve it. Each new trustee is an opportunity for us to bring in a different perspective. We particularly welcome applications from people we would like to see better represented in our organisation and sector including from people of colour, LGBTQ+ and disabled people.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of our work, we encourage you to please contact Co-chair Kate Blagden on [email protected]. We are also seeking a trustee to join the board. Please see related advertisements.