At a time of continued financial pressure on individuals and families across Scotland, this is your chance to help ease that burden by joining the Impact Team at Citizens Advice Scotland as our Policy Officer.

This role is unique, offering a varied policy portfolio gaining key knowledge and skills on areas including financial and digital exclusion, the poverty premium, vulnerability and affordability such as social tariffs and debt repayment.

The Financial Health team focuses on supporting citizens through the ongoing cost of living crisis, improving the debt landscape as well as people’s wider financial wellbeing. The Strong Communities team focus on supporting citizens gaining connectivity, access to justice and upholding human rights.

As Policy Officer across both these teams, you will play a key role in helping Citizen Advice Scotland influence political and policy change leading to better outcomes for the people across the country. This is a superb opportunity not only to make a difference for citizens but to also learn and grow your own policy and influencing skills from extremely experienced colleagues in the both the Strong Communities and Financial Health Teams, skills that will benefit you throughout your career.

Policy at CAS

Using our wealth of data generated by our bureaux, we develop evidence-based policy which is grounded in the experience of our clients. Using our knowledge of national policy, we engage policymakers across Parliament, Government (both central and local) and stakeholder organisations to influence change in policy, law and practice as well as to empower individuals and communities.

In this role, you will work closely with both Policy Managers on the following areas:

• Affordability and Connectivity– Seeking improvements in the external environment in light of data poverty and access to banking services as barriers to inclusion, both digitally and financially. This includes promoting affordable social tariffs on the market and making products and services affordable in the first instance to ensure accessibility for all.
• Vulnerability – Driving calls for change in support for consumers with vulnerable circumstances and ensuring good practice across all sectors through enshrined good consumer protection.

Both workplans for Strong Communities and Financial Health, represents a great opportunity for any policy officer, experienced or otherwise to develop, major policy positions in both spaces, developing key relationships across each sector separately and where they interlink, giving that these issues routinely go hand in hand.

Your focus will be to collaborate with external stakeholders and advocate for change at a national level. This will involve using your policy skills to represent CAS on relevant Government groups and develop excellent relationships within the CAB network, engaging with them in your work and utilising their experience to better inform policy.

The Citizens Advice Network in Scotland

Scotland’s Citizens Advice Network is the largest advice service in the country which empowers people in every corner of Scotland through our local bureaux and national services by providing free, confidential, impartial and independent advice. We use people’s real-life experiences to influence policy and drive positive change. We are on the side of people in Scotland who need help, and we change lives for the better.

The Citizens Advice network is made up of 59 local CABs, each its own independent charity, the Extra Help Unit, a group of specialist case workers dealing with energy advice, and Citizens Advice Scotland as the membership body itself. We provide advice across over 200 locations and deliver 12 national advice projects for UK and Scottish Government including the Money Talks advice service and the Help to Claim Universal Support advice service.

We believe that every citizen should have access to free, impartial and confidential advice that helps them make informed decisions, whenever they need it and however they choose to access it.

During 2022-23, the entire Citizens Advice Network helped over 187,000 individuals and unlocked £142 million for people through things like social security payments and employment entitlements. Our extensive footprint is important in helping us understand how issues impact locally and nationally across the county and the different impacts that policies can have in different areas.

Citizens Advice Scotland is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion. We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies and flexible working arrangements to support all our staff. We are also committed to equality of opportunity for all and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.

Employee benefits

Citizens Advice Scotland offers excellent terms and conditions. We want our people to have a great work life balance and we have designed our working practices and benefits to support this. Here are some of things our employees benefit from: a 35-hour full time working week, 40 days annual leave, genuine flexibility in working hours with a flexi-time system, and hybrid working opportunities for every role. For more details of some of the other benefits on offer to our employees, please see the section on employee benefits in the job pack.

Citizens Advice Scotland is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion. We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies and flexible working arrangements to support all our staff. We are also committed to equality of opportunity for all and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.

CAS provides options for hybrid working to allow employees to balance their time attending the office with time working from home. The number of days you will be able to work from home each week will be dependent on your job role and can be discussed as part of the recruitment process.