Job Title: / Advice CentreManager
Service: / Child Law Advice Line, CCLC
Reporting to: / Acting Head of Corporate Services
Accountable to: / Group Chief Executive
Supervisory responsibilities: / Legal advisers and volunteers (Colchester)
SalaryRange: / £25,000 - £32,000 per annum

Coram is a progressive and responsive children’s charity which draws upon a distinguished history and reputation for contemporary practice in creating better chances for children. With some 150 staff, a distinctive headquarters near King’s Cross and service delivery teams across England, Coram strives to be a credible, respectful, professional, dynamic and committed organisation where these values infuse all that we do to promote resilience for children.

Coram Children’s Legal Centre is part of the Coram group of charities dedicated to promoting the rights of children through legal advice, information and practice. It has been operating as a specialist children’s legal service from its bases in Colchester and London for 30 years.

CCLC is the provider under contract to DfE of the Child Law Advice Line (CLAL) and on-line information resource hub supporting some 150,000 children and parents every year ensuring that they can self-advocate and access justice in the arenas of family law (including contact and residence), education (including special educational needs) and immigration in particular.

This role provides the operational and contractual leadership and managementto the online and telephone legal advice service based in Colchester ensuring the resilience and sufficiency of information, of systems and data, of customer service and of reporting.

It will suit a self-starting manager with extensive advice line experience, looking to extend their impact at national level and passionate about ensuring legal access for children.

Purpose of the Role:

To manage and develop the operation of the national Child Law Advice line and digital advice infrastructure and reporting

Main Duties & Responsibilities:
  • To manage and be directly accountable for theeffective delivery of the Child Law Advice Line in accordance with DfE contractual requirements and annual objectives.
  • To train, supervise and deploy legal advisers to ensure robust and sufficient legal advice by telephone fulfilling call handling requirements and monitoring and measuring issues and resolutions utilising the specialist database systems as required
  • To demonstrate team leadership and model customer service by handling calls on the lines personally as part of the rota maintaining CPD/professional skills and supporting optimum efficiency and effectiveness
  • To develop the sustainability and sufficiency of service including by ensuring the development volunteers to support the advice line and other CCLC functions to achieve progressive improvements in effectiveness and efficiency and meet operating targets.
  • To manage and develop CCLC’s digital advice services enquiring the continuous updating of appropriate information tools to meet the needs of enquirers and contractual requirements
  • To ensure rigorous validation of the sufficiency and appropriateness of legal advice via/with the supervising family law solicitor and liaising with colleagues delivering other specialist advice lines and services (migrant children, national education law line and .national advice line for children in care) to ensure robust and consistent standards and integrated systems
  • To manage the budget of the advice line in accordance with financial procedures and contractual guidelines to maximise income and benefit
  • To provide regular reports to the Chief Executive and the Department for Education of performance against plan and contract, ensuring full compliance with key performance indicators and attending review meetings when required and to utilise/analyse this to provide trends analysis and to inform and plan service development.
  • To ensure the rigour and compliance with relevant legislation, policies and procedures in respect of data compliance, access/equality and safeguarding, utilising both risk management and escalation processes as required.
  • To work closely with the Commercial team including fundraising,marketing and communications to ensure visibility and access to the service and to maximise funding.
  • Working with the Coram IT team to ensure systems integrity and sufficiency and to plan and develop integrated approaches across the group
  • To represent the advice services/CCLC as delegated and where authorised including attending contract meetings, developing partnerships and referral pathways.
  • Any other duties within competence as agreed.

Person Specification

Job Title: / Advice Centre Manager
Service: / Coram Children’s Legal Centre
Reporting to: / Acting Head of Corporate Services
Accountable to: / Group Chief Executive
Supervisory responsibilities: / Legal advisers and volunteers (Colchester)
Knowledge and experience
  • Working knowledge of the law as it affects children and young people in England
  • Substantial experience in the provision of legal advice services for children and young people in multiple settings and embracing experience of care, asylum/immigration, family and education issues
  • Fluency in relevant IT systems including the IRIS database and web platforms for the provision of information and advice
  • Experience of managing staff teams and deployments and budgets at six figures sums
  • Experience of contract management and reporting includingthe analysis of trends and statistics for government departments or other major funders
  • Proven experience of delivering against project timetables for approved projects including procurement and supervision of contractors
  • Working understanding of operational management, risk assessment, safeguarding and of the processes required to achieve development which leads to successful implementation

Qualifications, skills and personal attributes
  • Law degree or equivalent knowledge/qualification in the arena of children’s law/rights
  • Self-starter with focussed approach to operational management including deployments, soft patterns and volunteer development
  • Able to lead and motivate professional teamsand to deliver advice and handle cases personally and to demonstrate behaviours by example including the personal flexibility to adapt and secure continuous improvements of service standards and outcomes
  • Professional executive approach to personal presentation with highly developed inter-personal skills able to exercise discretion, responsiveness and authority and to achieve results by influence and persuasion as well as written argument
  • Established management skills including financial compliance, budget management and reporting
  • Excellent written and verbal communications skills including reporting and presentation.
  • Proficient use of business IT systems including IRIS, Microsoft office and web based systems/development of CRMs
  • Effective numeracy and statistical analysis of datato provide and interpret results and relevant trends to inform development and business management
  • Willingness to get things done by effective team working and delegation and delivering a wide range of tasks directly as/when necessary
  • A flexible approach including ability to work on an extended shift basis when necessary and to travel regularly to London.