Work with us

As a volunteer administrator you’ll help to make sure Citizens Advice Brent runs as smoothly as possible. This can include:

• Creating and updating records
• Word processing
• File management
• Updating information
• Sending and responding to emails, phone calls and faxes
• Processing incoming and outgoing post
• Producing summaries and reports
• Stock control of leaflets and materials
• Maintaining and developing our admin systems
• Helping to arrange events
• Taking notes and minutes at meetings
• Training other volunteers and sharing your expertise.

Assess problems and give advice.

Statistics show Brent has among the highest levels of deprivation in London or indeed the whole country, that we have extreme housing problems and that many people are in badly-paid and temporary work. We know it anyway, from our clients and from the queues that form every day. We can’t always see everyone in the queues and too often we can only give them a brief interview. We need more advisers; the people of Brent need more advisers. Come and join us.

Volunteer advisers receive full training in the skills needed to help people deal with their problems and learn how to find the information the client needs from our extensive database. Volunteers are supported and supervised as they begin to give advice and will get feedback and development opportunities throughout their time with Citizens Advice.

There are a variety of roles leading up to giving full advice. Advisers do some or all of this:

• finding out the key points of a client’s problem
• finding out what a client’s problem is and helping them understand self-help information so the client can act for themselves
• helping a client with debts to work out a reasonable rate of repayment and supporting them to negotiate this with creditors
• interviewing a homeless client to find out what their housing options are and helping the client decide their next steps
• interviewing a client that has been sacked and finding out whether they have lost their job unfairly or not.

You don’t need specific qualifications or experience to train for the role. You’d need:

• an ability to understand complex information
• be polite and good at listening
• to be familiar with using keyboard skills and searching the internet
• to be able to input data accurately
• a good level of literacy and numeracy
• to be open minded and not judge clients
• to enjoy helping people.

By using evidence that Citizens Advice gets from our clients, you could help bring about changes in local and national policies and services which can benefit everyone – even those who have never used a local Citizens Advice before. As a campaigner you may be involved in:

• evidence gathering
• reporting
• working with other Citizen Advice centres and local organisations
• media campaigning
• lobbying

We need Law students to support our casework team!

Are you a law student or graduate doing or recently completed the GDL, LPC or BVL and interested in gaining practical case management and interviewing skills? Volunteering for Citizens Advice Brent is for you!

You will be able to

• Take part in interview sessions
• Be responsible for the follow up to interviews
• Draft letters and appeals
• Call clients and other external organisations e.g. the Triribunal Service, Department of Works & Pensions and the Home Office to check progress or negotiate decisions on a case
• Gain experience in dealing with cases from start to finish.

More and more people are coming to us looking for help with Employment Support Allowances and Personal Independent Payments. The forms are long and look complicated the first time you see them. Our Form-Filling Assistants work through forms like these with the clients, explaining the questions and eliciting the answers.

• Can you read long-winded and complicated statements and questions and relay them in plain English?
• Do you have good legible handwriting?
• Can you communicate well with people from diverse backgrounds?
• Are you patient and determined?

Then you could be the Form Fillers our clients need.

Not all clients need advice – some just need help to find the right information. Others need support to use digital services. Our information assistants provide exactly that, helping clients to use things like tablets and mobiles, PCs and kiosks. In doing so, they help build the skills and confidence of clients to find information online and use digital services like vehicle tax renewal, finding a rented property and claiming benefits. They do some or all of these activities:

• explaining the service to members of the public
• supporting clients with using self-help services including tablets, kiosks and PCs
• helping clients to identify the correct leaflet, self-help resource or service provider
• identifying when clients need to be referred for more help
• signposting clients appropriately to suit their needs following agreed protocols
• recording client numbers and issues.

Specific qualifications and experience aren’t required to take on the role. You need to be:

• competent in using IT to complete forms and conduct transactions online
• polite, friendly, open and approachable.

Looking at the queues outside our office, you might not think we need to raise our profile. But we do need to help people in Brent know how they can use our services, we need to promote local and national Citizens Advice campaigns, we need to recruit more volunteers and we need a high profile to get the funding to maintain our services and extend them to meet the needs we see every day.

As a PR/marketing volunteer you’d help to:

• produce promotional materials
• build relationships with our local media and share local stories
• adapt and edit national Citizens Advice material
• identify and write up case studies of our clients – and our volunteers
• write content for our website
• manage our Twitter and Facebook accounts and handle our social media engagement.
• arrange events, displays and talks to promote Citizens Advice Brent.

Help manage reception and provide information.
As a receptionist, you’ll manage ‘front-of-house’. You’ll work with other volunteers, and you’ll be supported and managed by the advice session supervisor and the administration team. You will

• greet our clients and other visitors
• ensure clients know what is happening and how long they have to wait
• explain the services on offer
• give clients leaflets, lists and self-help materials
• take records of the number of client visits and how long they wait to be seen
• keep the reception area tidy
• enter information into computer systems.

You don’t need specific qualifications and experience but you’d need to:

• be polite when talking to people
• have basic computing skills
• have an understanding of, and commitment to, confidentiality
• be friendly and approachable.

We currently have several exciting opportunities for volunteers to join our experienced Trustee Board, which is responsible for the governance of our charity. The Board is seeking new trustees who have the potential to help define the direction of the organisation and support our staff and volunteers in the way it is run.

We are particularly looking for individuals with experience or an interest (or both) in the following areas:

• Communications
• Marketing
• Social media and IT

This is a fantastic opportunity to contribute your ideas, skills, and experience at a time when our services have never been more needed.

We want the Trustee Board to reflect Brent’s diverse community, and therefore encourage applicants from all backgrounds and ages to apply – including recent graduates, stay at home mums, individuals on a career break, experienced professionals, and retirees. We welcome applications from those who live and/or work in Brent, and particularly from underrepresented groups.

About Citizens Advice Brent

Citizens Advice Brent have been operating in Brent since 1939. Since then, we have helped close to a million people and in the last year alone we dealt with over 15,000 issues and generated over £2.5 million income for Brent Households. We give people the knowledge and confidence they need to find their way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem we help people find a way forward.

• 90% of our clients said we helped them find a way forward
• 80% of clients said their problem was resolved following our service and
• 90% of our clients would recommend us.

Main duties and responsibilities of Trustees:

Each individual member of the Trustee Board has a responsibility to contribute to the effective discharge of the Board’s duties. They can do this by:

• Maintaining an active understanding of what Citizens Advice does
• Actively contributing to setting policy and strategic direction, defining goals, setting targets and evaluating performance
• Actively using their knowledge, experience and professional or community networks to support the organisation’s development
• Monitoring whether the service complies with its governing document, whether it meets Citizens Advice standards and how well the advice needs of the local community are being met.
• Monitoring the financial position and ensuring operation is within means and objects, and that there are clear lines of accountability for day-to-day economic management.
• Supporting the development of the organization through participation in agreed projects and sub-groups
• Actively seeking to further the strategic objectives of the organisation, and always acting in the best interests of Citizens Advice Brent.
• Alerting the Chief Officer to funding opportunities and using any personal contacts that might assist in generating funding or partnerships for the organisation
• Maintaining confidentiality about any sensitive or confidential information received in the course of duties as a trustee.
• Identifying experience and skill sets relevant to the wider Board activity and using them to support the goals of Citizens Advice.

Personal skills and qualities:

Each individual member of the Trustee Board brings skills and qualities to the Board. They add to the collective knowledge and experience by being:

• Committed to the goals and aims of Citizens Advice Brent
• Constructive about other Trustees’ opinions in discussions (and in response to staff members’ contributions at meetings)
• Able to maintain confidentiality on sensitive and confidential information
• Understanding of the importance and purpose of meetings, and being committed to preparing for them adequately and attending them regularly
• Able to analyse information and, when necessary, challenge constructively
• Able to make collective decisions and stand by them
• Able to communicate effectively and willing to participate actively in discussion
• Willing to gain knowledge of local needs and resources
• Committed to equality and diversity
• Willing and ability to act in the best interests of the organisation
• Able to understand and accept their responsibilities and liabilities as trustees and employers
• Able to think creatively and strategically, and exercise good, independent judgement
• Able to work effectively as a member of a team
• Willing to comply with charity law and actively seeking to understand any changes in the law.

Additional information:

• Meetings are held every two months in the early evening in person.
• The role requires 4-8 hours work per month at a minimum; sub-group or committee work and other activities may require a considerably greater time commitment.
• Trustees are expected, where possible, to attend workers’ meetings, away days and other activities that support the work of Citizens Advice Brent.
• Trustees are expected to attend the annual AGM in September or October.
• Trustees are expected to join at least one subcommittee or sub-groups (at present the sub-groups are: Personnel and Finance.
• Trustee Board members are elected at the AGM and are expected to serve for a period of five years.
• This is an unpaid position and only out of pocket expenses can be reimbursed to Trustees.