Paid staff vacancies
LOCAL ADVICE WORKER VACANCY
ROLE PROFILE
Working alongside a team of paid staff and volunteers, you will provide high quality advice on a wide range of issues (e.g. benefits, employment, housing, consumer, immigration.) via phone, email, webchat, video conferencing and face-to-face.
- Location: Carlisle/Penrith
- FTE Salary: £29,196 per annum (based on 37.5 hours)
- Hours: 22.5 – 37.5 hours per week
- Reports to: Projects Lead
- Start date: June/July 2025
- FTE Annual Leave: 25 days per annum, plus Bank Holidays
- Workplace Pension: 8% Employer contribution
- Application deadline: 9am, Tuesday 13 May 2025
- Interviews: 27 & 28 May 2025 at Broadacre House, Carlisle
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for the above vacancy, please complete all of the following steps by 9am on Tuesday 13 May 2025:
1. Complete the Application Form
Citizens Advice Carlisle & Eden – Application Form
2. Complete the Online Exercise
On submission of the application form, a short online exercise will be sent automatically to your nominated email address.
3. Send an up-to-date copy of your CV
Please send an up-to-date copy of your CV to recruitment@ca-ce.org.uk
4. Complete our anonymous Diversity Monitoring Form
Anonymous Diversity Monitoring Form
MAIN DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Advice & Casework
▪ Deal with clients via phone, video, email, webchat and face-to-face
▪ Provide advice on a full range of enquiry areas, including benefits, employment, housing, consumer, and immigration (this is not an exhaustive list)
▪ Empower clients to take action to resolve their problems
▪ Where necessary, act on a client’s behalf. This might include negotiating with third parties, writing letters, making telephone calls, or referring clients to other organisations
▪ Prepare and present cases to the appropriate statutory bodies, tribunals and courts
▪ Ensure that all work conforms to Advice Quality Standard
▪ Ensure that all work conforms to the Citizens Advice Carlisle & Eden policies and procedures
▪ Maintain accurate case records for the purpose of continuity, information retrieval, statistical monitoring and report preparation
▪ Work cooperatively with colleagues and encourage good teamwork, clear lines of communication and common practices within the organisational team
▪ Work within professional boundaries, in order to maintain a safe working relationship, whilst observing confidentiality at all times
Service Development
▪ Assist with the development of the service locally, regionally, and nationally
▪ Recommend improvements to organisational services and systems
Research and campaigns
▪ Assist with our Research and Campaigns work, by providing information about clients’ circumstances and issues that are common/unfair
▪ Provide statistical information on the number of clients and nature of cases and provide regular reports to the management team
▪ Keep up to date with local, regional, and national Research and Campaign issues and inform other staff, as necessary
Professional development
▪ Attend relevant internal and external meetings, as agreed with the line manager
▪ Identify your own learning and development needs in conjunction with your line manager and undertake appropriate training
▪ Keep up to date with legislation, case law, policies and procedures
▪ Continue to meet the competences required to undertake the role
▪ Undertake training, as necessary, to meet organisational demands and the needs of clients
Administration
▪ Maintain local information systems
▪ Use IT for record keeping, statistical recording and report production
▪ Take ownership for monitoring own workload whilst ensuring quality and consistency
Public relations
▪ Liaise with statutory and non-statutory organisations and represent Citizens Advice
Carlisle & Eden, as appropriate
▪ Build and maintain close working relationships with relevant external agencies
▪ Ensure that stakeholder experience of Citizens Advice Carlisle & Eden is positive
▪ Publicise the work done by Citizens Advice Carlisle & Eden, as and when necessary
Other duties and responsibilities
▪ Abide by health and safety guidelines and share responsibility for own safety and that of colleagues
▪ Work flexibly and be prepared to undertake other reasonable duties and responsibilities, as directed by your line manager or management team
▪ Be prepared to work at our offices in Carlisle and Penrith, and any location within reasonable daily travel
PERSON SPECIFICATION
- Knowledge and/or experience of the work undertaken by Citizens Advice
- An understanding of and commitment to the Aims and Principles of the Citizens
Advice service, including our equality and diversity policies
- An understanding of and commitment to Citizens Advice’s Research & Campaigns work
- An understanding of the issues associated with dealing with clients, many of whom are vulnerable
- Ability to undertake the training required to become a Citizens Advice General Adviser
- Willingness to undertake training, in order to respond to organisational demand changes and changing client need
- A commitment to continuous professional development
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Excellent numeracy skills
- Ability to deal appropriately with a range of people via telephone, digital channels and face-to-face
- Ability to work both as part of a team and independently, with minimal supervision
- Ability to manage workload effectively whilst maintaining a healthy work/life balance
- Ability to give feedback objectively, be receptive to constructive feedback and be willing to challenge attitudes and behaviour where necessary
- Good attention to detail, with a proven ability to monitor and maintain own standards.
- Proven ability of using IT in a work setting. For example, in the provision of advice or the preparation of reports/submissions
Volunteering Opportunities
If you’d be interested in volunteering for Citizens Advice Carlisle & Eden, there is information available at: www.cac-e.org.uk/volunteering/