Youth Advocate

Job Title: Youth Advocate

Employer: Coram Voice

Contract: Permanent - Full time

Hours: 35 hours per week

Salary: £32,800

Location: Coram Campus, Bloomsbury, London (hybrid working available)

About Coram

Coram is committed to improving the lives of the UK's most vulnerable children and young people.

We support children and young people from birth to independence, creating a change that lasts a lifetime.

Coram is the UK's oldest children's charity founded by Thomas Coram in London helping vulnerable children and young people since 1739. Today, the Coram group helps more than one million children, young people, families and professionals every year by providing access to the skills and opportunities they need to thrive.

About Coram Voice

Coram Voice is part of the Coram group of charities. We are the leading provider of specialist advocacy for children and young people in care and on the edge of care. We support some of the most vulnerable children and young people in society, giving voice to the voiceless and reaching out to those who have missed the support they need. Join us as we work to transform the lives of children and young people by supporting them to uphold their rights and actively participate in shaping their lives.

Voices In Action

The Voices in Action team work with children and young people who face multiple crisis's and may have complex needs including facing school exclusion, homelessness, immigration issues, and involvement in the care system.

About the role

You will:

• Provide specialist advocacy support to vulnerable children and young people through our Voices in Action program.
• Provide advocacy support to young people ensuring their wishes and feelings are listened to in decisions being made about their lives and helping them avoid crisis points and improve life chances.
• Provide support primarily, but not exclusively, around issues leading to school exclusion. Other advocacy support will include working with young people who are in crisis and/or experiencing crisis.
• Support the work of the Voices in Action team to engage children and young people (particularly from Black, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller, communities), schools and other agencies in order that we can reach the children and young people who need our support and inform our policy work.
• You will support the work of the Voices in Action team to co-produce and co-deliver training, workshops and resources for children and young people, and professionals to help reduce school exclusions and other crises.

Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on the role and what we are looking for in a candidate.

Benefits of working with us

We wish to reward and recognise the valuable contributions our staff make to the organisation and offer an attractive benefits package to do so. You can read more about our benefits package on our careers site. These include:

• A highly competitive salary
• A matched pension scheme up to 5% of salary
• Generous leave entitlement, including up to 28 days' annual leave, as well as an additional 3 days of paid leave between Christmas and New Year
• A suite of family-friendly policies
• Flexible and hybrid working
• Access to an Employee Assistance Programme

Recruitment process

Following shortlisting, successful candidates will be invited to attend interview. The interview process comprises of a written exercise and a panel interview with Coram Voice managers and Care Experienced Consultants. Successful candidates will be required to take part in a Warner style interview as part of our safer recruitment processes given the nature of the role.

Internal candidates will need to notify HR of their interest in the post and they will provide further information on the internal application process. When completing your application form, please address the person specification in order to demonstrate how you are suited to the role as please note we do not take CVs.

Closing date: Noon, 11th November 2024.

Interviews will take place on the week beginning: 18th November 2024.

Coram is an equal opportunities employer and we believe a diverse workforce enables us to improve the services to the children and families we help. We are genuinely committed to encouraging candidates from all sections of the community we seek to support. This includes those from, Asian, African, Caribbean and other minority ethnic backgrounds, those that identify as LGBQT+, those with disabilities, those with lived experience of care or homelessness, those with neuro-diversity, and those from other groups who are underrepresented at Coram.

If applicants feel comfortable, we would encourage them to draw on lived experience as well as professional experience in their personal statement as part of their application.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and where appropriate will require the successful applicant to undertake a check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Registered Charity No. 312278.