Trustee

Organisation Overview 

Citizens Advice Kensington & Chelsea provides free, confidential and impartial advice. We campaign on big issues affecting people's lives.  We aim to help everyone to 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. We also work with St Charles Mental Health Unit supporting those being discharged.  We are part of the Kensington & Chelsea Advice Partnership and as a partnership we have fielded over 14, 000 enquiries across the borough. 

Citizens Advice Kensington & Chelsea has helped more than 3.500 local people gain almost £2.3 million 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 35 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. 

Role Details 

We are also interested in hearing from candidates with relevant experience across skills such as accounting or finance, fundraising, risk/compliance, strategy, legal, change and / or service delivery and people leadership.  We typically look for a minimum of three years’ relevant experience gained in the private, public or third sector. Your experience might also include skills gained through volunteering or your own personal experiences.

Becoming a Trustee is really rewarding, enabling you to give back to the community, as well as a great way to develop your strategic and leadership skills, put existing experience to use and a fantastic opportunity to learn new things from others.  As a member of our Trustee Board, you will share responsibility for deciding how Citizens Advice K&C is run.  Our Trustee roles are performed on a voluntary basis.

·         Strategy: you will work together with our other trustees to set our strategic direction and, with our management team, to deliver the business plan to ensure we continue to meet the evolving needs of our clients, the targets set out by our funders and our charitable objectives.

·         Oversight: you will develop and maintain an awareness of how Citizens Advice Kensington & Chelsea operates and set performance targets to monitor the service we deliver to our clients and our financial position

·         Governance: you will become a trustee and director of Citizens Advice Kensington and Chelsea and attend and actively participate in our quarterly board meetings

·         Risk & Compliance: you’ll work with our other Trustees and team to ensure that we meet our legal and regulatory requirements

·         Advocacy: you’ll act as an advocate for our clients and support our core missions of advice and advocacy

Attendance: Hybrid, but ideally looking for trustees based in West London 

Time commitment: 1-3 hours a week, 2 meetings a quarter. 

This opportunity is available through Reach Volunteering - please apply here.