QSA JOB PACK Fair Funerals campaign officer

Transcription

1 QSA JOB PACK Fair Funerals campaign officer Who is Quaker Social Action? Quaker Social Action (QSA) is a charity and a limited company, founded in 1867, which addresses poverty and social exclusion. We are based in Bethnal Green. We support over 3,000 people each year directly, as well as reaching hundreds more professionals each year through our training and campaigning activities. Our award-winning projects meet practical needs: Furniture Homestore sells affordable, donated furniture to people on low incomes in east London. Funerals Down to Earth practically supports people on low incomes struggling with funeral costs - this work inspired us to run the Fair Funerals campaign. Finances Made of Money offers a creative and reflective approach to financial education, targeting families and women in refuges. A national training programme shares our approach with professionals across the UK. The team runs a locally focused training project called Moneytalk Camden North and a separate project called Adds Up is developing financial capability within the criminal justice sector. Fulfilment This Way Up offers coaching and mindfulness to people on low incomes wanting to move on from a difficult experience and build up resilience for a more positive future. Foundations Move On Up is a housing project for young adult carers due to begin later in We are not a religious charity but Quaker values of equality, simplicity and compassion sit at the heart of our work. What is the role of the Fair Funerals campaign officer? Fair Funerals is the only campaign in the UK dedicated to tackling the issue of funeral poverty. Therefore, this role offers the opportunity to be part of a pioneering initiative that has already made great inroads into this niche issue. There is an exciting breadth to the campaign, given that it has a public awareness raising remit, a consumer champion role engaging with the funeral industry and a public affairs function lobbying government for change. The role of the campaigns officer is to support the Fair Funerals manager in pushing forward on all of these agendas. The brief is varied, including the opportunity to engage with all areas of the campaign as it develops as well as undertaking the critical administrative tasks that underpin the campaign. Our campaign needs to be setting the agenda and also to move fast to respond to issues that affect funeral poverty, so there will lots of priorities to balance and to plan ahead for, requiring excellent organisational skills. The rewards will be in having a varied workload, within a friendly work environment and making a direct contribution to the charitable aims of QSA. We want to find an excellent team player and someone who is motivated by our work and our mission.

2 Job description Purpose of the role Working within the UK s only funeral poverty campaign you will raise awareness of this issue within low income households and highlight positive steps that can be taken to improve the situation. Supporting the campaign manager you will: Help push the funeral industry for greater price transparency and fairer, simpler practices to increase access to affordable funerals; Support public education work and, alongside other civil society organisations, raise people s awareness of, and resilience to, funeral poverty; Seek to improve the state s response to people exposed to funeral poverty. Main duties GENERAL SERVICE DELIVERY 1. Assist the Fair Funerals campaign manager, ensuring we measure our impact and gauge our success; 2. Support the development of an evidence base around the extent, impact and implications of funeral poverty; 3. Understand the rationale for QSA s work on funeral poverty, which grew from the QSA Down to Earth project; 4. Understand the work of the campaign to date in engaging government, the funeral industry and developing public education responses to the issue of funeral poverty. PUBLIC EDUCATION To raise awareness of funeral poverty within low income households and highlight positive steps that can be taken 1. Compose content and promote key messages about funeral poverty to key audiences, across a range of media including the website, social media, and other external/traditional media outlets; 2. Work with and develop the skills of our campaign spokespeople with the aim of securing media coverage; 3. Support our relationships with other organisations, networks and communities working to improve the support of those experiencing funeral poverty; 4. Engage Quakers in this work and support them to share it within their communities; 5. Be the first point of contact for enquiries about the campaign. ENGAGING WITH THE FUNERAL INDUSTRY To push the funeral industry for greater price transparency and fairer, simpler charging practices, thus increasing access to affordable funerals 1. Build understanding of the funeral industry, its key players, trade bodies and interests; 2. Understand the funeral industry s business model, particularly their practices around setting and advertising prices, affordable funeral packages and debt management; 3. Oversee the day to day operations and marketing of the Fair Funeral pledge, and be the primary point of contact for enquiries; 4. Undertake and support internal consumer research of funeral industry practices; 5. Establish and maintain strong working relationships with people within the funeral industry.

3 ENGAGING WITH GOVERNMENT To improve the state s response to people exposed to funeral poverty 1. Build an understanding of government mechanisms that relate to funeral poverty including the DWP Social Fund funeral payment and local authorities burial and cremation services; 2. Clearly understand where the system fails to support people, listening to evidence from Down to Earth and other interested parties; 3. Organise and administer meetings of the Funeral Poverty Alliance, and be a first point of contact for members; 4. Produce briefings for parliamentarians and policy makers; 5. Support a programme of work to influence change within key government departments and local authorities; 6. Engage with others working in this field, working together and/or contributing to aligned campaigns. GENERAL COMMUNICATION & EXTERNAL LIAISON 1. Support overall media engagement, creating content and securing coverage for the campaign; 2. Respond to external enquiries about the campaign; 3. Liaise with local and national organisations and networks; 4. Represent the campaign at events and meetings; 5. Oversee and grow our list of contacts and maintain our databases accordingly; 6. Support the fundraising and communications team by contributing to fundraising applications and reports as appropriate. ORGANISATION 1. Work within the policies and procedures of QSA; 2. Attend meetings within and on behalf of QSA as appropriate; 3. Receive line management, supervision and appraisal from the Fair Funerals campaign manager; 4. Any other duties, as appropriate to role, as agreed by the QSA director.

4 Person specification EXPERIENCE Working in an influencing environment - e.g. campaigning and/or lobbying in a paid or voluntary capacity; Developing content and copy for external publication across a range of media platforms; Engaging the media to secure positive coverage (desirable); Administrative experience, particularly the use of databases and website content management (desirable); Professional or voluntary experience in non-profit organisations, and in diverse and multi-cultural environments (desirable). ABILITY To be able to talk about death, funerals and finances with delicacy and tact; Ability to communicate information persuasively and in a manner suitable to a wide range of audiences, verbally and in writing. SKILLS Good administrative and IT skills e.g. use of databases, Microsoft Office suite; Good organisational and problem solving skills; Excellent interpersonal skills listening, diplomacy and sensitivity; Strong written English communication skills and editing ability. KNOWLEDGE Awareness of other national social justice campaigns and the tactics used for success; An understanding of the current financial support available to people experiencing a bereavement (desirable); How government and parliament works, including how legislation is made (desirable); OTHER Commitment to and understanding of, the role of equal opportunities and diversity, in the workplace; A willingness to work within a Quaker ethos, as clarified by the vision and mission of QSA: QSA s vision is We want a just world, where people put people first. We fulfil this through our mission: To enable people on low incomes in east London, and beyond, to seek solutions to the issues affecting their lives. To do this we will listen to and respond to the needs of the community, by running practical, sustainable and collaborative projects. We will share our work with others when it is clear that it has the potential to bring benefits to communities outside of our own.

5 Main terms and conditions of employment 1. QSA uses the local government pay scales for salaries. Your salary will be on NJC scale point 27-30, which starts at 27,105 for a full time post of 36 hours. All appointments are made at bottom of scale. 2. This is a part-time post of 21 hours per week, giving a starting salary of 15, The campaign is time limited so this is a fixed-term appointment and will run until 31 December The role is to be worked over 3 days, which can be negotiated with the Fair Funerals manager. Some evening and weekend work is possible, on occasion, but is not a regular part of the role. 5. This post will be based at the QSA office in Bethnal Green. 6. The period of notice will be 1 week during the probationary period and 1 month on its completion. 7. A full-time staff member is entitled to 25 days holiday per year with the leave year running from January to December, plus bank holidays. Part time staff are entitled to pro rata entitlement, based on number of the days worked per week, so you will receive three fifths of this entitlement. 8. This post is subject to a 6 month probation period. After the successful completion of your probationary period, staff are entitled to join the QSA pension plan. This is an additional 6% on top of salary paid into the QSA group personal pension or other chosen pension scheme. 9. QSA has a union recognition agreement with Unite although staff are welcome to join any trade union. How to apply If you have any questions, please call and ask to speak to our director, Judith Moran. If you decide to apply, please send the following two documents to info@qsa.org.uk: 1. a copy of your CV, highlighting the experience you have that is most relevant to this role 2. a supporting statement, of no more than 3 sides of A4, outlining how you meet our person specification We also invite you to complete our online equality and diversity monitoring form: Closing date is 10am on Monday 3 October If you do not hear from us by the end of Wednesday 5 October 2016, please assume you have not been shortlisted. Interviews for the shortlisted candidates will be held on Friday 14 October We are hoping the new role can start mid-november, negotiable depending upon notice periods. Thank you for your interest. We look forward to your application.