Jobs in East Lothian

CoEL is seeking a confident, friendly all-rounder who enjoys people and variety. You will be a resourceful and organised person ready to join a small administration team at Carers of East Lothian. You will help to support unpaid carers and professionals with accessing the information and support they need.

What you’ll be doing

• Answering our central telephone line, welcoming visitors and responding to enquiries.
• Listening, gathering key information, registering carers and processing referrals.
• Managing our shared inbox, maintaining accurate records in CharityLog and helping with appointments, events and day-to-day office administration.
• Working closely with our experienced Admin Officer to maintain the smooth running of our office.

What you’ll bring

• Excellent communication and listening skills, warmth, confidence and empathy.
• Strong organisational skills, attention to detail and adapt when priorities change.
• A proactive, curious approach, happy to ask questions, find answers and solve problems.
• Good Microsoft 365 skills, especially Outlook, Word and Excel, plus enthusiasm for learning new systems.
• Comfortably in your ability to work autonomously, whilst being a strong team player.

You do not need previous experience working with carers. We provide training on our services, referral pathways and systems. You’ll focus on the administration role first, with routine finance duties introduced gradually after probation, with support.

Choose Play is a dynamic, local charity working across East Lothian. We believe in children’s right to play, as stated in article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - the right to rest, play and recreation. Play, especially active outdoor play, is a vital element of childhood, contributing to the immediate wellbeing and happiness of children and making an essential contribution to health and development in the long term.

Choose Play has progressively built more inclusive practice into all our provision for play in East Lothian, addressing the play rights of all children and in particular the right to play of disabled children and children with additional support needs (ASN).

We help to address barriers to play through our community-based play programmes and we recognise that families with children with ASN and disabilities face many additional barriers to accessing outdoor play.

Our Community Play (ASN) sessions mean that more children with ASN will have play opportunities to meet their needs. Whole families including parents, carers and siblings benefit from being able to play together.

The successful candidate will work alongside our Development Team & Delivery Team to:

• build on Choose Play’s work on inclusion with children and families
• plan, organise and lead on delivery of our play opportunities for children with ASN
• support sessional Play Rangers to deliver our PlayCan sessions and our sessions for families with neurodivergent children
• involve children in designing, documenting and evaluating services, and help to share their views and ideas.

The successful candidate will be someone with practical experience in play, arts, creative fields, or place-based projects, and experience of working with children with additional support needs.

Choose Play is a dynamic, local charity working across East Lothian. We believe in children’s right to play, as stated in article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - the right to rest, play and recreation. Play, especially active outdoor play, is a vital element of childhood, contributing to the immediate wellbeing and happiness of children and making an essential contribution to health and development in the long term.

‘Spark the Park’ is the name of an ongoing focus of play, environmental and social activities in a local greenspace, Crookston Willow Park, in Tranent.

The purpose of this project is to support children and families in the local area through a place-based approach. We seek to address barriers and challenges through trusted, consistent and inclusive local provision. The Project Lead will also support young volunteers, taking a lead on planning activities linked to local spaces.

We have worked in this space for about four years gradually transforming it from being an underused and neglected site, to one that is full of potential. After the recent opening of a new playpark in the greenspace, the Project Lead will be involved in a new phase of development in cooperation with East Lothian Council partners and local groups.

The successful candidate will be someone with practical experience in play, arts, creative fields, or place-based projects. They will have experience of participatory approaches with children, young people and communities, and enjoy connecting with local groups and individuals.

Choose Play is a dynamic, local charity working across East Lothian. We believe in children’s right to play, as stated in article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - the right to rest, play and recreation. Play, especially active outdoor play, is a vital element of childhood, contributing to the immediate wellbeing and happiness of children and making an essential contribution to health and development in the long term.

Choose Play organises play sessions for children, young people, families, community groups and schools. Play sessions take place at local greenspaces, beside playparks, in schools, community centres or other spaces.

Sessional Playworkers/Play Rangers work alongside other members of the Choose Play team to facilitate these sessions by bringing a range of play resources and making use of the environment for play. They directly support and facilitate children’s play to the extent that children need and want their involvement.

Some Play Ranger sessions take place regularly on the same day of the week, at the same time and place, others are Pop-Ups or events across East Lothian, with school holidays being an especially busy time. Choose Play sessions are designed to be free, fun and friendly.

The successful candidate will be someone who enjoys working with children and young people and is able to build good relationships with them and their families. They should be willing and confident to work outdoors in all weathers and seasons, have an enthusiastic attitude and be keen to create fun, inclusive opportunities for children’s play.

Blindwells lies just off the A1 near to Tranent.

The developer Hargreaves has been working on site with East Lothian Council since 2017 and around 500 houses have been completed, both social & private housing. There is however outline planning permission for many more houses over the next twenty years.

The High Street is scheduled for construction and there will be two other schools. It is intended that the Church be a key community partner and part of the long term infrastructure.

Background to this post

The local churches have, led by the local Church of Scotland churches, been engaged in welcoming new residents to Blindwells for the past three years.

The opening of the first Primary school marks an important moment in the life of this fledgling new community. With space for community development now is the time to move from providing occasional gatherings to a more day to day working on the ground with residents.

The vision is for the establishment of a new Christian community that emerges from the local context. It is intended that this community will be ecumenical and will be at the heart of the Blindwells community.

Although initiated and led by the Church of Scotland applications are encouraged widely and an ecumenical advisory group has been formed.

Purpose of Post:

To lead the planning and implementation of Lothian & Borders Presbytery’s vision to develop Christian witness and ministry in the new settlement of Blindwells.

Main Duties :

• Developing the existing work by the local churches and to develop & initiate plans for establishing a new Christian community
• Reaching out and engage with children & families in Blindwells to start new community groups
• Building relationships with and engagement in local schools.
• Recruiting & building voluntary teams to be part of this work
• Overseeing all safeguarding & to lead training of this work
• Liasing with other local bodies, site developers, construction workers
• Work closely with the Blindwells Beacon Leadership team & the Local advisory group
• To communicate to Presbytery regularly and to share good practice with regard to mission with partner churches
• To undertake any other duties as reasonably required by the Line Manager

As a Care Assistant at Leuchie, you’ll be part of a friendly, multi-disciplinary team helping our guests make the most of their time with us.

You’ll provide high-quality, person-centred care while supporting guests to enjoy their holiday, maintain their independence and experience everything Leuchie has to offer. Your role will include:

• Providing support with personal care and day-to-day activities
• Promoting independence, choice and dignity at all times
• Getting to know our guests and supporting them in the way that works best for them
• Joining in with social activities, outings and experiences
• Helping create a warm, welcoming and enjoyable environment throughout their stay

This isn’t your typical care role. At Leuchie, you’re not just supporting someone with their care needs — you’re helping them have a break, try something new, spend time with loved ones and create memories.

Flexible Opportunities

With a range of hours available, the role can work well around university, family life or other commitments.

Salary & Benefits

• £13.78 – £14.05 per hour, depending on experience
• Every other weekend off, with a Friday 1pm finish
• 35 days’ annual leave (pro rata)
• Fully funded training and SVQs
• Free home cooked meals and refreshments while on shift
• Pension and life assurance
• Wellbeing support and Employee Assistance Programme
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Retail discounts - Costco Card Eligibility
• Free parking

About You

We’re looking for people who are:

• Caring, compassionate and reliable
• Friendly, positive and approachable
• Proactive and willing to get involved
• Good communicators who enjoy working as part of a team
• Comfortable supporting people with a range of care needs
• Legally entitled to work in the UK
• Able to drive, ideally, due to our rural location

No previous care experience is required. What matters most to us is your attitude, compassion and willingness to learn. We’ll provide the training and support you need to become confident in the role.

All roles are subject to a satisfactory PVG check and receipt of two references.