This vacancy has now closed

Policy & Public Affairs Officer

  • Full time
  • £23,674 – £29,592
  • flexible - National Office base (Glasgow)
  • Closing 24th May 2023


  • Advertised from 4th May 2023
  • 12-month contract. 35 hours per week

Role

Who Cares? Scotland is Scotland’s only national independent membership organisation for Care Experienced people. Our mission is to secure a lifetime of equality, respect, and love for Care Experienced people in Scotland and we currently have over 3,500 Care Experienced members.

At the heart of Who Cares? Scotland’s work are the rights of Care Experienced people, and the power of their voices to bring about positive change. We provide individual lifelong relationship-based independent advocacy and a broad range of imaginative participatory and engagement opportunities for Care Experienced people across Scotland. We work alongside Corporate Parents and communities to broaden understanding and create change. We work with policy makers, leaders, and elected representatives locally and nationally to shape law, policy and practice, working together to build on the aspirations of The Promise and secure positive change.

As Policy & Public Affairs Officer, you will contribute to the aspirations of Who Cares? Scotland by helping to deliver our policy and public affairs influencing programme, supported by members from across the country. The overarching purpose of this role is to develop our local and national work to influence elected representatives from across Scotland’s political parties in a way that is shaped directly and indirectly by the lived reality of the Care Experienced population in Scotland.

Working alongside our regional teams, you will create opportunities for members to engage with local decision-makers. You will also champion the development of a spokesperson programme for Care Experienced people to influence decision-makers at all levels of government and the media. Forming a political contact programme, this role will see you play a key role in ensuring consistency of political engagement across the organisation, assisting staff to record lobbying activity in accordance with relevant legislation. Engaging with national participation events, your collaboration with teams, members, and partner agencies will also ensure that the views of Care Experienced members shape our policy responses and campaigning. Helping to keep members and staff informed about relevant policy and practice developments, you will ultimately help to create implementable, aspirational recommendations for our influencing plans and practice.

The Policy & Public Affairs officer will have key contact with Care Experienced people and members, Corporate Parents and Public Bodies, as well as elected members in Local Authorities, the UK, and Scottish Parliaments. Your work will also see you liaise with academics, other third sector organisations, and public forums. When engaging with Who Cares? Scotland team, our members, volunteers, and contacts, you will share a commitment to child and human rights, working inclusively and with the belief that people can make transformative change happen in their lives if given the opportunity. As the right candidate for this role, you have demonstrable experience developing and implementing strategies for influencing social policy and legislation, as well as ensuring participation of lived experience in policy influencing. You can scrutinise policy and legislation, analyse quantitative and qualitative data, and interpret complex information with an eye to communicating your understanding through concise language. Interpersonally, you are confident in building relationships and articulating your knowledge to a variety of audiences in factual and convincing ways. A proven project manager, you have delivered evidence-based campaigns, written policy briefings and consultation responses, and have worked with marginalised groups in the past.

Whilst a degree in a relevant field is desirable, we welcome and encourage applications from those with relevant experience in a related field, and from those with experience of care.

Application notes

If this sounds like the role for you, we would love to hear from you. For an informal conversation about this opportunity please contact Laura Pasternak, our Policy & Public Affairs Manager on lpasternak@whocaresscotland.org

To apply, please visit our website.

Closing date for applications is Wednesday 24th May.

Interviews likely to be held w/c Monday 29th May.


Downloads