Are you playful, adaptable and a good communicator? We are seeking a Play and Wellbeing Practitioner to deliver high-quality, self-directed play opportunities across Midlothian, as part of a team. This is an active, hands‑on role with a strong emphasis on outdoor play in all weather conditions.

About Play Midlothian

Play Midlothian is a registered charity (no. SC025474) working to enable every child in Midlothian to thrive through play by creating opportunities, removing barriers and addressing inequalities. We have an office base at the One Dalkeith Business Hub in central Dalkeith, but deliver services throughout Midlothian, and if commissioned, beyond.

About the Role

The postholder will work across our various services, supporting children and young people aged 0-14, including children with disabilities and those with emerging mental health challenges, and their families. We champion adventurous, self-directed play, with a focus on loose parts, and use varied community settings to create rich play opportunities. A high proportion of sessions take place outdoors, all year round.

Travel and transportation of play resources to multiple sites across Midlothian is required for successful delivery of our services. Sessions take place at various times, including during the school day, but most are after school hours and at weekends. Flexibility is therefore required, though we do aim to share out weekend working on a rota pattern so that everyone gets predictable weekends off.

If you are enthusiastic about enabling children to play in their own ways, we would love to hear from you.

Calum’s Cabin is seeking a highly motivated individual who is looking for an opportunity to make a huge impact for the organisation. If you are looking for a Fundraising role where you will directly see the difference every pound raised makes to the hundreds of families we support every year, this is it. In 2025:

• 201 families had a holiday in one of our 6 (now 7) holiday homes
• 41 families stayed in our 12 home-from-home Glasgow flats
• 687 Christmas and Easter gifts given
• 7,975 snacks given to hospitals
• 2,454 fairy box items donated
• 1,064 people attended our mindfulness sessions

As we work towards our 20th Anniversary in 2027, we have ambition to support more families across Scotland and the UK. This will mean further capital investment and ultimately increased running costs. You could be a major part of ensuring we have the sustainable income required to achieve that.

Role Purpose

The Fundraising and Corporate Partnerships Senior Officer plays a key role in growing sustainable income for Calum’s Cabin by developing and managing high-value fundraising streams, including a renewed focus on corporate partnerships. The postholder will build strong relationships with corporate supporters, trusts, and community partners, delivering innovative fundraising initiatives that support families affected by cancer.

This role combines strategic development with hands-on delivery and is ideal for an experienced fundraiser who is passionate about making a tangible impact in a small, dynamic charity environment. You will work closely with the Chief Operating Officer and the founders to develop and deliver the Fundraising Strategy.

Who we are looking for

You will be experienced in and passionate about the charity sector, with an ambition to grow as an expert in fundraising. We are looking for a someone with the creativity and initiative to develop new fundraising ideas, and who is professional, personable, and resilient.

As a small team, we provide a significant level of support to families each year. You will be required to undertake a variety of tasks, sometimes working with others in the team, and at other times working independently. You will be a strategic thinker with a hands-on approach.

You will have excellent communication, relationship-building and influencing negotiation, and organisational skills, with a track record of achieving targets.

Do you want to help create a safer, brighter future for children in Scotland?

At Children First, Scotland’s national children’s charity, we stand up for children, keep them safe, and support families to thrive.

This is an exciting opportunity to utilise and develop your skills, knowledge and experience by joining our North Strathclyde Bairns Hoose team.

Scotland’s first Bairns Hoose was opened in 2023 in North Strathclyde and since then has continued to place the best interests of the child at the centre of all the systems that are there to protect them and to offer the child and their family or caregivers all the support they need.

Our North Strathclyde Bairns Hoose is an innovative partnership between Children First, 4 Local Authorities ( East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, and East Dunbartonshire), Police Scotland, SCRA, Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service, and Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service.

Bairns Hoose is based on the European Barnahus model. Barnahus is a child-friendly, multidisciplinary, and interagency model of justice, care and recovery for children who are victims and witnesses of all forms of violence. A place where all Police, Social Work, Health, Court and Recovery services are based under one roof. Children receive a coordinated trauma responsive plan to support their journey through the care, protection, and justice system. The aim of the model is to prevent re-traumatisation caused by delayed and disjointed investigation and court proceedings; to keep children safe; allow them access to fair justice and to help them recover from the trauma of their ordeal.

We are currently looking for the right person to join our team on a temporary basis whilst a colleague is on Maternity Leave.

What kind of person will make a great Bairns Hoose Rights, Advocacy and Trauma Recovery Worker for Children First?

• is fiercely passionate about children’s rights
• thinks it’s a privilege to work with and on behalf of children and families
• is kind and will bring their whole selves to the job: heart and mind
• is committed to being part of transformational change alongside children and their families

What kind of Rights, Advocacy and Trauma Recovery Worker will you be?

Knowing our ambition for children, you will be someone who:

• is resilient, skilled and knowledgeable; who wants to transform children’s lives
• can connect well with young people and their families, help them to feel safe and build a relationship based on trust
• understands trauma and knows that with the right support children and young people can recover – there is always a way
• is able to build strong relationships and manage tricky conversations
• is able to work collaboratively with partners
• has a cool head and clear minded at times of pressure
• is able to make decisions
• can inspire colleagues and teams to be even better
• is an amazing ambassador for children and Children First

Above all else, the most important thing to us is that you are someone who will do the right thing for children and their families at every turn.

The Project Lead ideally with Lived Experience will play a key role in delivering the NextGen Empowered Cashback programme, supporting Black and minority ethnic young people aged 12–25 who may be at risk of exploitation, exclusion, or involvement in anti-social or criminal activity.

Drawing on lived experience and cultural understanding, the Project Lead will build trusted relationships with young people and families, lead diversionary activities including sport and Hip Hop Education, provide mentoring and support, and contribute to outreach and engagement within communities in Edinburgh and West Lothian.

The role will also support the safe delivery of residential activities, contribute to safeguarding and monitoring processes, and work collaboratively with partner organisations.

A full job description is available to download below.

Vulnerable children in the UK need your help

Wherever you work in the Action for Children family, you'll be helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

Last year, we helped more than 687,000 children and families across the UK. From direct work in communities to national campaigning, we are focused on making sure every child has a safe and happy childhood, and the foundations they need to thrive.

Why Action for Children?

Working here is more than a job. Everyone in the Action for Children family is passionate about protecting and supporting children. It's the sense of purpose that drives us every single day. Because we know that, when we work together, we can make a huge difference to bring lasting improvements to vulnerable children's lives.

A bit about the role

Keeping families who are experiencing difficulties safely together is a vital part of our work. As a Functional Family Therapist, you'll be working in our Functional Family Therapy Team covering Moray. The Functional Family Therapy Team will provide weekly, home-based family therapy, utilising the Functional Family Therapy model with families with young people at risk of coming into care between the aged of 11-18.

Therapists will be required to carry a caseload of around 6 families, providing therapeutic support anywhere from 3 to 5 months in accordance with the Functional Family Therapy model. This position requires flexibility in hours to meet families the needs of the families we support, working Monday to Friday with some twilight hours required.

How you'll help to create brighter futures

Some key responsibilities for the role are;

• Learning and adhering to the FFT model to ensure a consistently high-quality service is offered.
• Meeting families where they are and working with them to achieve positive change.
• Being flexible and innovative in your approach, some twilight working required.
• Developing strong relationships with other agencies to ensure families get the best chance of success.
• Participating in weekly group supervision in a supportive environment.
• Providing a responsive and flexible service for families and having autonomy over your diary to schedule this.
• Being part of a team culture where staff are encouraged and supported to work within their hours and to use TOIL and leave to support personal wellbeing.
• Genuinely working with families from a strength and respect-based approach.
• Receive fully funded training in Functional Family Therapy.

Let's talk about you

• A degree or relevant professional qualification in Family Therapy, Social Work, Counselling, Psychology, Mental Health Nursing or equivalent qualification is required.
• Appropriate registration where relevant.
• A proven track record of working effectively and flexibly with families.
• An ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Willingness and enthusiasm to learn.
• Delivery in line with a proven evidence-based model.
• Full driving license and access to a car.

Benefits:

• 29 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays, with up to 5 additional days for continuous service and option to buy or sell leave
• Gain professional qualifications and excellent training/development opportunities
• Flexible maternity, adoption, and paternity packages
• Pension with up to 7% employer contribution with included life assurance cover
• Staff discount portal and Blue Light Card eligibility with 15,000 national retailers discounts.

We are seeking a motivated and compassionate Deputy Manager to help oversee our holiday support service and develop improvements across our organisation.

This is an exciting time to join The Yard and play a key role in delivering and improving our specialist services for children and young people with additional support needs.

The Role

You will support the Children’s Services Manager in leading the day-to-day operations of the Holiday Support Service, providing direction to a team of Support Workers while liaising with parents & carers to maintain and review Personal Support Plans for each child.

During term-time, this post will involve additional duties in the delivery of our core services.

You will:

• Support the delivery of service in line with standards set by regulatory bodies (Care Inspectorate and SSSC)
• Support the engagement of children in creative play and the management of suitable activity plans for the different ages/stages of development and interests of children
• Provide effective support and direction to a team of support workers through motivation, supervision, and feedback
• Support the Children’s Services Manager to ensure compliance across the service and ensure the team receive training and guidance appropriate to their role

If you are passionate about making a difference in the lives of children with disabilities and have the skills to help run a regulated service, we would love to hear from you.

About You

We are looking for a Deputy Manager who is inspired by our ethos and is excited to bring their knowledge and experience to our specialised Holiday Support Service for children with complex medical needs.

You will have:

• Supervisory experience, including direct staff supervision, development and implementation of rotas
• Knowledge and experience of facilitating indoor and outdoor play opportunities and environments and leading recreational activities
• Experience of working with children and young people with a range of disabilities
• Excellent organisational skills and administrative abilities

Desirable:

• Leaderships skills and team building capacity
• Previous experience of improvement work within a childcare setting
• First Aid at Work certificate
• Experience of Moving and Handling, delivering personal care and supporting complex medical needs

About the organisation:

The Yard is a Scottish charity offering adventure play, short breaks, training, and support for children and young people with additional support needs, and their families. We operate inclusive play centres, deliver outreach work, and run holiday and youth clubs. We aim to build supportive communities and promote understanding and inclusion for disabled children.

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community. The post is subject to a PVG check and SSSC registration.

The Yard is an award-winning charity that runs adventure play services for children with disabilities and/or additional support needs and their families.

We are looking for individuals who have the special ability to support and encourage play activities on a 1 to 1 basis with children and young people with disabilities and medically complex needs.

About the role & your responsibilities:

As a Support Worker at Holiday Support, you will play an active role in the set-up, delivery and development of play activities, encouraging and enabling children and young people to play and socialise in an inclusive way.

There will be some requirement to assist and undertake personal care with individual children when required.

About you:

Do you get a buzz from helping children and young people create laughter, mess and happy memories? Then we would love you to be a part of our team.

This job is for you if you have:

• Experience of working with children and young people in a play or youth work setting or, alternatively, in a home environment
• An empathetic approach with the ability to trust in others
• An ability to work in a flexible manner, as an individual and as part of a team
• The ability to register to successfully with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), and undertake an acceptable PVG check

To understand more about the role, please download our Support Worker – Holiday Support job description below.

Home-Start Clackmannanshire is a long standing, dynamic charity, striving to ensure every young child (under 12) has the best possible start in life locally. Raising a family has never been easy; our trained volunteers and staff are there to support families through challenging times. In Scotland, Home-Starts have over 1,500 volunteers supporting over 3,500 families and 6,500 children each year through compassionate, confidential help to parents/carers when they need us most. The parents/carers we support are often overwhelmed and isolated. They may be struggling with mental health, illness, disability, multiple births, poverty, domestic abuse, separation and/or trauma. We provide a bespoke support package of 1:1 in home and group services for families, helping them to cope with the stresses and strains of daily life and encourage them to build the skills, confidence, and strength they need to nurture their children for years to come.

In 2024, Action for Children, NHS (speech and language) and Educational Psychology launched an exciting new provision called Play Roots with the support and funding from our local Child Wellbeing Partnership. Play Roots is an enhanced 0-5 group provision for local families operating across four localities in Clackmannanshire weekly.

Purpose of the job

Play Roots has developed rapidly since the first group launched, with families directly informing our sessions, allowing us to ensure we are delivering a communities based, group support system, providing a nurturing and educational environment for children (0-5) and their parents/carers. Play Roots aims to enhance positive well-being, parent-child attachment, support early childhood development, and encourage wider community connections and changes for parental progression; providing the foundations for children and families to flourish long-term.

We are looking for an enthusiastic, driven practitioner, capable of coordinating the delivery of our four local groups to ensure their effective running, and maximising impact through groups supporting the development of children and parents/carers by creating fun and interesting learning environments/activities to enhance skills, promote emotional resilience, and encourage positive behaviours and routines. Central to this role is effectively liaising with partners and supporting our delivery team made up of staff from Home-Start Clackmannanshire, Action for Children, Educational Psychology, Speech and language, and a growing team of volunteers.

You will also:

• Contribute to the effective day to day operation of the scheme in accordance with the Home-Start Memorandum & Articles of Association, Home-Start, Standards & Methods of Practice, Home-Start Agreement and Quality Assurance Standards.
• Maintain high standards of practice in supporting families within the Home-Start model.
• Ensure equality of opportunity, fairness and diversity in all aspects of the scheme’s work.
• Implement best safeguarding practice in all areas of work.

Main Responsibilities

Supporting the work of Home-Start Clackmannanshire and our Play Roots Partnership

• Undertaking work as delegated by our CEO to support the strategic management, development, evaluation, and future funding of Play Roots.
• Supporting the implementation of and upholding all Home-Start policies and procedures.
• Complying with the scheme’s administration, monitoring and financial systems.
• Promoting the work of the scheme, as required by the CEO.
• Contributing to and supporting the development of the Home-Start network locally, regionally and nationally.

Support for families

• Take a lead role in receiving and assessing referrals to Play Roots in a timely manner.
• Making initial contact/arranging implementation of support or delegating to operational team members within Home-Start and Action for Children to do.
• Lead delivery partners in planning, preparing for, and delivering group sessions (4 sessions across 4 locations, weekly, during term time).
• Enhance group support offer by leading the planning, preparation and delivery of Holiday Programmes for families.
• Providing rich learning environments where children and their families can engage.
• Facilitating interventions one to one or in a group to support identified areas of need.
• Building effective relationships and channels of communication with our partners, such as children, young people, families, colleagues, and external agencies.
• Ensuring support to families is of a high standard, in accordance with Home-Start’s model, policies and procedures.
• To undertake designated responsibilities to safeguard and promote children’s welfare.

Supporting Volunteers

• We could not deliver our services without the support of our incredible team of volunteers. As such, you will be involved in ensuring any Home-Start volunteers contributing to Play Roots sessions are appropriately onboarded, supported, informed, and adhere to all organisational policies and procedures.

Working in Partnership

• Ensuring appropriate liaison with referrers and other professionals.
• Networking appropriately within the community.

The post holder may be required to undertake any other duties that fall within the nature of the role and responsibilities of the post as detailed above.

As the Finance officer you will be an integral member of our team providing vital financial support to our CEO and Board of Trustees. Your accurate record-keeping and timely reporting will be critical to effectively managing our finances and Home-Start Clackmannanshire’s continued success. Your contribution to developing financial procedures and policies in partnership with our CEO and Board of Trustees will ensure that our financial operations are aligned with our values and objectives.

An overview of key tasks:

Financial management and accounting

• Check, process and record all payments, administer invoices, process expense claims.
• Initiate all online payments through our banking system.
• File all relevant financial paperwork.
• Follow up on overdue accounts as appropriate.
• Process all financial transactions through Quickbooks including year end and accrued income/expenditure.
• Maintain accurate records of payment receipts and the reconciling of purchasing cards.
• Undertake accurate monthly reconciliation of bank statements and receipts through Quickbooks.
• Produce monthly budgets report and cash flow statement.
• Support CEO in ensuring that employee expenses and mileage are claimed in accordance with financial policies and procedures.
• Process gift aid submissions and support CEO to acknowledge receipt of donations.
• Produce reports as requested detailing spending attached to restricted funds.

Payroll and HR

• Receive payroll reports from BrightHR, check to ensure accurate, and set up payment to cover salaries, HMRC payment and pensions.
• Input salary information related to core and restricted costs into Quickbooks.
• Prepare our pension payment via the NEST online system to ensure that pension contribution schedules are correct and timely.

Governance

• Support our CEO and Board of Trustees by producing the necessary financial reports.

General

• The Finance officer is responsible for reporting any problems or errors to the CEO in a timely manner.
• The Finance officer is expected to participate in regular supervision, annual appraisal, staff training and development programmes.
• The Finance officer is expected to adhere to Home-Start Clackmannanshire’s policies and procedures, particularly those relating to equality diversity and inclusion and health and safety at work.

Person specification

Essential

• A relevant financial qualification (for example HNC accounting; AAT Level 3 Diploma in Accounting or equivalent) and proven experience in financial reporting.
• Highly proficient and experienced in using Quickbooks and working with financial data.
• Accuracy in reporting detailed financial information.
• Advanced IT skills including the use of Microsoft Excel.
• Effective oral and written communication skills.
• Exceptional organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Confident to work independently to meet deadlines.
• Knowledge of financial policies and procedures.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality at all times.
• Ability to learn new skills and keep up to date with changes in electronic systems.
• Commitment to the aims of the charity and our values.
• Positive attitude and willingness to learn.

Desirable

• Excellent working knowledge of accounting software that can be used for charitable accounting purposes.
• Knowledge of the charity sector and financial reporting requirements.

Other

Will be required to obtain a Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme Record Disclosure

The post holder may be required to undertake any other duties that fall within the nature of the role and responsibilities of the post as detailed above.

CAPS is looking for a new Collective Advocacy worker to add capacity to the work of this established collective advocacy project. The role is to ensure more people’s voices are heard by decision-makers locally and nationally. This post will increase access to Independent Collective Advocacy for people with mental health issues in Edinburgh. The group will continue to develop its own priorities by drawing on their experiences with a view to bringing about change and improving services.

This 3.5 day a week role will support and join the existing enthusiastic team of CAPS’ Collective Advocacy workers, who work across Lothian on eight different mental health related collective advocacy projects.

The role offers autonomy and flexibility. You should be friendly and approachable, with the ability to form trusting relationships with group members and colleagues. Some working from home is possible. This is a great opportunity to work with a dynamic independent advocacy organisation that’s making a real difference to people’s lives. Find out more about CAPS Independent Advocacy at:www.capsadvocacy.org

Familiarity with the experiences of this group is required. There will be a 4-month probationary period attached to this post. This post will be subject to membership of the PVG Scheme and appropriate check.