1. The Citizens Advice Bureau Service
The CAB Service has a network of over 3,000 advice centres throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 20,000 volunteers work in the bureaux, together with paid staff including bureau managers and specialist advisers. Together they provide the largest advice giving network in the UK.
Citizens Advice Bureaux deal with over 6 million new problems a year, giving detailed information, advice and support to people on every subject. The majority of problems concern benefits, debt and other consumer issues, employment, housing and the law.
Each Bureau is an independent charity, supported by Citizens Advice which is the operating name of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux. Citizens Advice provides a range of services to support bureaux in their work: these include the website which advisers use to give advice, training, field support, quality audits, social policy, press and publicity, parliamentary liaison and information technology.
All Bureaux have to comply with a minimum set of requirements for membership of Citizens Advice. These relate to quality, accessibility, accountability, effectiveness and integrity.
The aims of the service are:
· to provide the advice people need for the problems they face
and equally
· to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives.
The advice given by bureaux is free, independent, impartial and confidential. The service is non-judgmental, offering assistance as appropriate to all clients. It aims to be equally accessible to everyone who seeks or needs its help, regardless of age, class, race, religion, gender, disability or sexuality. All advice workers, whether paid or volunteer, are professionally trained to provide an accurate, quality service and to be supportive to clients.
The CAB service works to:
inform people about the law and how it affects them; about their rights and responsibilities; and about how they may be able to satisfy their needs
advise people on the options available to them and on the potential consequences of different courses of action
support people as they consider and decide what to do, listening to their concerns and helping them move forward
assist people in pursuing their chosen course of action by negotiation, representation and referral to other sources of help needed
influence those responsible for policies and services by bringing to their notice the problems people experience and recommending changes
There are 4 basic principles that guide the work of the CAB service:
· The service is free. Funding for local Bureaux comes from local government, the Legal Services Commission, National Lottery, Primary Care Trusts, Charitable Trusts, companies and individuals. Citizens Advice is funded mainly from central government.
· The service is independent. Funders and providers of premises etc. have no control over the running of Bureaux or the running of the service.
· The service is impartial. Its services are available to everyone and workers must be non-judgmental and non-directive in the advice they give.
· The service is confidential. No information, including the fact of a client's contact with the Bureau, is passed to anyone without the client's express permission.
In addition to an equality and diversity policy, the CAB Service has specific anti-discrimination policies. There are policies on anti-racism, improving the service for lesbians and gay men, positive action for women, people with disabilities, people with HIV/AIDS, Irish people, and people with mental health problems. All these policies require the active support of all Bureaux and all workers.
2. About Hull & East Riding CAB
INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS
HULL & EAST RIDING CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU STRUCTURE
Hull & East Riding Citizens Advice Bureau employs approximately 55 full and part-time paid staff and over 150 volunteer staff. The Bureau delivers its services throughout East Yorkshire from offices based in Goole, Bridlington, Beverley and Hull.
The services of the CAB are as follows:
The East Riding Community Legal Advice Network
The Bureau provides the East Riding Community Legal Advice (CLA) Network for the East Riding. The CLA Network is funded jointly by the East Riding Council and the Legal Services Commission to offer generalist advice in a wide range of topics and specialist advice and representation in debt, welfare benefits, housing, employment and community care.
Working together with our partners, Switalskis, the Bureau offers these services from permanent offices in Beverley, Bridlington and Goole and an extensive network of outreach venues in the East Riding.
General Help and Assisted Information Services
Hull & East Riding CAB offers a range of drop in, telephone and appointment services throughout all three offices and a wide range of outreach venues during week days. This service is supported by various funders and supported by over 150 volunteer Advisers
In addition to the general services Hull & East Riding CAB is currently receiving funding to provide the following specific advice services and is constantly seeking further funding from other sources.
We are currently funded for the following;-
GP Project
In Hull we run various GP Surgeries Advice Project, which are funded by the Hull Primary Care Trust and provides an advice service in GP surgeries. Doctors or practice nurses refer patients for advice on many issues, e.g. debt, benefits, housing etc. The adviser is able to signpost clients to other agencies as necessary.
Debt Advice Work
Debt advice work is carried out at all three offices and funded by various funders
Face 2 Face Debt Project
The Face 2 Face Project is funded by Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) This funding is specifically to provide free face to face debt advice to the most disadvantaged social groups. Hull, Bridlington and Goole offices all provide this service.
3. Notes On Completing The Application Form
There are two parts to the application form. Part 1 asks for personal details and references. Part 2 asks for information about your experience and qualifications for the job. On receipt, the parts will be separated and the short-listing panel will only see Part 2 of the form.
Please note that the short-listing panel will decide whether to short-list you for interview by comparing the information that you give in Part 2 of your application form with the requirements numbered in the person specification. You should complete individual boxes for each item listed on the person specification for both essential and desirable. Requirements which are "essential" (i.e. those qualities which you must have to be able to do the job) and those requirements which are "desirable" (i.e. those qualities which you may have which will help you to do the job more fully). It is essential therefore that you tailor the content of your application form to the requirements listed in the person specification and describe as fully as possible how you fulfil each of these requirements e.g. if a requirement was "a good knowledge of consumer law," an unsatisfactory answer would be, "I have a good knowledge of consumer law". A satisfactory answer from the same applicant would be, "I have a good knowledge of consumer law because I have worked for five years full-time as a consumer advisor, have a diploma in consumer studies and I am a member of the local consumer watch-dog group." In this way, the short-listing panel has the best possible picture of the applicant’s knowledge, skills and experience.
REMEMBER.....
· To read the job description and person specification before you start.
· To complete all of the application form.
· We will not make any assumptions about you or your abilities, even if you already work for the Bureau.
· If you do not tell us, we will not know!
DO.....
· Make sure that you address all the requirements on the person specification, giving as much detail as you can, to show us that you have the qualities that we are looking for. If you fail to address any of the requirements this will result in you not being short-listed for interview.
· If you need additional space to tell us about your employment history, education or training, please do so on extra sheets. Please make sure such sheets are marked with the title of the post and attached to the application form.
· Take a copy of the application form before you send it to us.
· Make sure you return the application form to us on time. To be fair to everyone, we cannot accept applications which are late.
DO NOT.....
· Refer us to your current job description.
· Just say, "I can do the job and will give more details at interview" - we need to know precisely what you have done, when you have done it and where you have done it.
· Leave out any relevant experience or skills/knowledge gained, wherever or however gained e.g. voluntary, domestic and unpaid work can be valuable too.
4. Summary Of Terms And Conditions Of Employment
Salary: Salaries are paid monthly in arrears. Please refer to the Job Description for further details.
Hours of Work: It may be necessary to work unsocial hours. Time off in lieu may be taken by arrangement for hours worked in excess of normal hours, up to a maximum of 7 hours. Your hours of work are 37 hours (or as agreed for part-time appointments) per week.
Holidays: Employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid annual leave in each annual leave year (which includes all statutory holidays) pro rata for part time staff.
Pensions: The Bureau does not currently have the resources to operate an occupational pension scheme.
Sickness Leave: The Bureau will pay sickness pay of 4 weeks full pay and 4 weeks half pay, including Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). Your entitlement to sick pay is not cumulative.
Travel Expenses: The cost of travel on Bureau business will normally be refunded at the public transport rate: where public transport is not available car mileage will be paid at agreed rates, according to engine size.
Probationary period: All posts will have a probationary period of six months.
Trade Unions: Hull & East Riding Citizens Advice Bureau recognises the Unite Union who have sole negotiation rights on Terms and Conditions of Employment. Although union membership is a personal decision, the Bureau would encourage all staff to join the union in order to be able to participate fully in discussions on Terms and Conditions of Employment.
Please note that none of the above is intended to constitute a full or authoritative statement of the Terms and Conditions of Employment and is intended for general guidance only.
Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form
The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) Service aims to provide equal opportunities and fair treatment for all people applying to the Bureau regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief, gender re-assignment, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity.
The service is also committed to ensuring that Bureau workers reflect the community that they serve. In order to monitor the effectiveness of the Equal Opportunities Policies, we would be grateful if you would complete this monitoring form.
We assure you that:
Ø The information provided will not form the basis of any part of recruitment and selection.
Ø The information from the applicant is confidential and will only be used for statistics.
Ø Should you choose not to complete the questions below, this will not affect your application.
Please tick as appropriate.
GENDER Female: o Male: o
RACE Please indicate which ethnic group you belong to
White / Mixed / Asian or Asian British / Black or Black British / Gypsy/ traveller / Chinese or Other Ethnic GroupBritish o / White and Black Caribbean o / Indian o / Black Caribbean o / Gypsy / traveller o / Chinese o
Irish o / White and Black African o / Pakistani o / Black African o / Other Ethnic Group o
Other White o / White and Asian o / Bangladeshi o / Other Black o
Mixed British o / Other Asian o
Other mixed o
DISABILITY
Do you have a disability? Yes o No o
If yes, are you Registered Disabled? Yes o No o
AGE Date of Birth ______
LESBIANS/GAY MEN/BI-SEXUALS
The CAB Service has a specific equal opportunity for lesbians, gay men and bi-sexuals and is committed to positive action to implement the policy.