Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) are Scotland’s leading advice charity. They support a network of Citizens Advice Bureaux, all operating as independent charities, to deliver frontline advice services in almost 300 locations.

The charity is driven by the strong belief that every person in Scotland should have access to free, impartial and confidential advice to help them make well-informed decisions. CAS looks at the problems we can all face at times and campaign for change where it is needed most. Their support and advice is available to all and is of particularly benefit to some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

The Chair of the Board will lead a team of trustees dedicated to making a positive difference to the lives of people across Scotland. Crucial to ensuring the organisation fulfils its purpose by providing strategic leadership, the Chair leads the Board in offering support and constructive challenge to the Executive team, enabling CAS to successfully achieve its ambitions.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing leadership to the Board ensuring trustees fulfill their governance responsibilities.

• Inspiring and supporting the CEO and Executive team to deliver on strategic priorities.

• Fostering excellent relationships with members, Scotland’s network of 58 Citizens Advice Bureaux, at a governance level.

• Working closely with the CEO and Executive team to ensure that this network remains at all times well-positioned and forward looking in a challenging political and economic environment.

• Fulfilling a highly visible ambassadorial role for CAS, helping to further develop its profile and representation with government, other organisations and multiple stakeholders.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a highly experienced leader with a background in public, corporate and/or the charity sector, to drive impact at scale. Providing stewardship in the implementation of the CAS Strategy 2025- 2030 will make a real difference to so many peoples lives.

The Chair will gain unique insight into the social and economic issues in society and play an extremely fulfilling role in addressing these. A structured training programme will be provided to support development and enable the CAS Chair to excel in this role.

This is a voluntary, non-remunerated position and will require a time commitment of approximately two to four days per month.

The Extra Help Unit (EHU) provides support to vulnerable domestic consumers and micro-businesses across Great Britain with their energy complaints. As defined in the CEAR Act 2007, the EHU has statutory duties to deal with cases where the consumer’s energy supply has been disconnected or is at risk of imminent disconnection. The Unit also has statutory powers to support vulnerable consumers. A person may be deemed to be vulnerable due to their personal circumstances, the complexity or urgency of their complaint. The EHU is a referral only service with agreed referral partners including Citizens Advice Consumer Service, Ofgem and Ombudsman Services: Energy.

As a Caseworker within the Extra Help Unit, you will carry out an important role by investigating and resolving energy complaints on behalf of vulnerable consumers. You will ensure that the consumer’s personal circumstances and any detriment caused by supplier failures are fully considered when negotiating an outcome. You will deal with a range of callers who are often upset, angry or stressed about their situation. Callers may also be experiencing financial difficulties, or have mental or physical health conditions. You will be expected to support consumers in a respectful, inclusive and non-judgemental manner.

The Caseworker role is both challenging and rewarding, with the majority of complaints and circumstances being complex in nature. You will get to work within a great team, and within a constantly changing energy market with the opportunity to make a difference to people’s lives.

Please note that the offer of employment for this role will be subject to a receipt of a satisfactory Basic Disclosure Certificate.

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, a flexi-time system which recognises and protects the operational delivery aspects of the service, 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.