Volunteers

There are volunteer opportunities for advisers, gateway assessors, research staff, administrative support staff and Trustees.

Trustee Vacancy for Chair

We are looking for a new Chair to lead our Board of 12 Trustees to ensure that the trustee board provides long term strategic management of the organisation. The role of Chair of Trustees is voluntary and will include supervision of the Chief Officer.

Citizens Advice Mid Bedfordshire is a small charity that provides information and advice to help people resolve their problems, including benefits, debt, employment, and housing. We provide free and independent advice to help people solve the problems they face, and improve the policies and practices that affect peoples’ lives. We offer a generalist legal advice service, a Help to Claim Universal Credit project and a home visiting service called Outreach. We help more than 2000 clients with 8,000 issues every year.

Citizens Advice Mid Bedfordshire has two offices in Ampthill and Biggleswade covering eight towns and 42 parishes in Mid Bedfordshire. It is a member of the national Citizens Advice charity which means we have access to the services, resources and support provided by national Citizens Advice but as an independent charity, we’re responsible for running our own affairs within agreed standards. We have 10 staff and 50 volunteers.

You’ll need to:

• be available to lead at least six evening Trustee Board meetings a year ,plus a variety of other meetings. This is a total of approximately five hours per month.
• be available to meet with the Chief Officer of the charity monthly at a mutual convenient time
• have a willingness to work as a team and to lead a team
• lead discussions that relate to the running of the organisation
• act in the interests of Citizens Advice Mid Bedfordshire and that of its staff and clients.
• have good independent judgement and knowledge [e.g. running a business / finance / HR / working with volunteers / IT / equality champion] etc. to help lead our charity.
• on occasion, and with full briefing, act as a spokesperson for the charity, at events or when speaking to the media.

We welcome applications from all sections of the community to enable us to have a diverse trustee board that reflects our client demographic..

Experience of the role of trustee and understanding of the Citizens Advice service will be an advantage. We are looking for a person with a wide variety of skills and a diversity of background and experiences.

The post of Chair of Trustees is a voluntary one but all reasonable expenses are reimbursed. The role will provide you with the opportunity to make a difference in your community and utilise your expertise and knowledge.

For more information or an informal discussion about this role of Chair of Trustees, please contact:

Cliff Carter: Email: applications@midbeds.cabnet.org.uk

Volunteer roles

What do volunteer workers do?

Gateway Assessors & Advisers

• Interviewing – You will learn interviewing techniques, how to listen, and then talk to clients and ask questions to make the issues clear.
• Giving information – Training will enable you to access information from our computer systems and reference books.
• Giving advice – Your job is to give the client all the courses of action available to them so they can decide what to do
• Giving practical help – Completing forms, making telephone calls, writing letters. You will also be trained in calculating benefits, tax and debts.
• Case recording – You will be shown how to record your interviews to enable another advice worker to carry on further work for a client should they return for more help.
• Research and Campaign – Identify issues where clients have been unfairly treated.

What do volunteers gain ?

• Rewarding and stimulating work that is so varied it can never be boring
• The opportunity to update skills and learn new ones
• A comprehensive training programme is provided which will be tailored to individual needs
• Job specific IT training
• Help for those wishing to re-enter the job market by :
  • providing experience in a caring supportive environment
  • a reference for future employers

What we ask from a volunteer adviser

• Are you prepared to honour our committment to impartiality ?
• Can you agree to observe our strict rules of client confidentiality ?
• Will you carry out the Citizens Advice’s policy on anti-racism ?
• Are you willing to undertake extensive training ?
• Are you prepared to attend our monthly staff meetings ?
• Are you prepared to keep yourself up to date with new information ?
• Are you available to volunteer for 10 hours each week ?
• Are you willing to be flexible in the days that you work ?
• Are you willing to continue to attend courses after your initial period of training is over ?

How to find out more

If you are interested in joining our friendly team then please contact Jenny Hedges,  Manager Citizens Advice Mid Bedfordshire , by email: recruitment@midbedscab.cabnet.org.uk