Victim Support Scotland – Empowering People Affected by Crime.

We put victims and witnesses at the heart of everything we do so they are heard, have improved health and well-being, feel safer, more secure, and informed and that we are an effective organisation, that makes a lasting difference.

Who We Are

Victim Support Scotland provides support and information to people affected by crime and campaigns for victim and witness rights. Regardless of whether a crime has been reported, or when it happened, our services are free, confidential, and tailored to individuals’ needs.

Our vision is that people affected by crime – victims, witnesses, and their families – are treated with dignity and respect and are at the heart of the justice in Scotland. Our mission is to ensure that all those affected by crime receive high quality support that will help them to recover from their experiences. All our work is guided and underpinned by our six core principles of being engaging and compassionate; inclusive and accessible; person-centred; adaptive, flexible, and responsive; collaborative; and knowledgeable and skilled. Now is the time to join Victim Support Scotland, helping us work towards the ambitions of our 5-year plan: Empowering people affected by crime: VSS Strategy 2021-2026.

What is The Role

You will be reporting to Head of Service Delivery - National Programmes, you will lead the management, development and delivery of Victim Support Scotland’s National Support Centre operating 365 days a year. The National Support Centre provides a vital first point of contact for individuals affected by crime across Scotland. It is based in Glasgow and open 7 days per week 365 days per year. The service offers information, initial needs assessments, and trauma-informed support via telephone and webchat. It also manages all national referrals and is supported by a dedicated team of staff and volunteers. In this role, you will be responsible for ensuring the consistent delivery of a high-quality, trauma-sensitive service to victims and witnesses. You will oversee workforce planning for your area, ensuring that both staff and volunteers are well-supported, knowledgeable, and equipped to meet the needs of service users.

What You’ll Need to be Successful

We are looking for an experienced and transformational leader. Someone who will relish the opportunity to shape the delivery of the VSS vision and strategic priorities. An innovative thinker with strong communication skills and experience of partnership working. Evidence of Continuing Professional Development is essential. Someone who has a management qualification and has the ability to develop effective internal and external relationships and networks that enable the understanding and delivery of broad organisational goals.

If you are looking for a role with a purpose, where you can really make a difference, then this may be the role for you.

Salary band: £34,974 - £46,187 + on call allowance. Salary on appointment will normally be at the lower salary point, with progression subject to review - in line with VSS progression arrangements. A higher salary placing will only be considered in exceptional circumstances subject to experience demonstrated.

Further details of this role are available in the job description - National Support Centre Manager - Job Description

What we offer

When you work for Victim Support Scotland, your wellbeing is important to us. Not only do we offer an enhanced annual leave package of 39 days (pro-rata), but you will also have access to our free health cash plan which includes cover for you and your family across a range of benefits. This includes dental cover, access to a virtual GP, counselling, legal support and discounts on gym memberships, cinema tickets, retail and much more. In addition, we offer a generous pension, enhanced maternity and paternity pay and access to a credit union. Supporting employee development is important to us and we offer comprehensive learning and development opportunities.

Please note - This post will be subject to a PVG check.

Are you a lawyer who wants to work differently, using a child-centred approach that ensures that children and young people are kept at the heart of the process?

Are you motivated by the opportunity to be part of Clan Childlaw's work to deliver our vision of a Scotland where all children and young people are empowered to use their rights?

You will be a lawyer experienced enough to work independently with a minimum of supervision and deliver legal services efficiently and effectively, in a way that reflects the needs and rights of the children and young people we support. You will be able to maintain a varied case load including strategic litigation and deliver high-quality child-centred legal services including our legal helpline, advocacy service and our legal casework service.

This role will suit you if you are talented lawyer, who has a strong commitment to social justice and is highly effective in managing your time and workload to deliver varied legal services dynamically and supportively. You should have experience in our areas of focus, but if you bring experience of and commitment to using your legal skills to improve lives then we want to hear from you.

Comprehensive training will be provided to support you in developing your knowledge and practice in our key areas, and you will be expected to obtain certification as a lawyer for children The role of Solicitor is an opportunity for a lawyer who wants to work to support children and young people standing up for their rights through our unique child-centred legal services, increasing access to justice for children and young people across Scotland.

About Clan Childlaw

Clan wants a Scotland where all children and young people’s rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled. For that to happen, Scotland has to be a place where all children and young people can stand up for their rights. That means children and young people need:

• Lawyers that are experts in working with children
• People around them who can enable them to use their rights and amplify their voices
• To be respected as rights-holders, who are entitled to hold duty-bearers to account if their rights are not fulfilled.

Clan is an award-winning, independent children’s charity that actively supports children and young people to take ownership of their rights. We are the only charity in Scotland that provides free, independent legal representation exclusively for children and young people, which is child-centred by design. Because our lawyers work directly with children and young people whose lives are affected by legal decisions, we bring that unique practice-based knowledge to every aspect of our work. This includes our specialist training, our helpline supporting others who help children to use their voices and their rights, and our work to influence children’s rights respecting changes to practice, policy and law.

What We Do

• We stand with others who help children use their rights –

Through our membership and training for legal professionals and in legal education we are making being a “children’s lawyer” an accredited legal skill set in Scotland. Our practical training and helpline and support for advocacy in Children’s Hearings provides adults that support children and young people information and guidance that they can use to empower young people to stand up for their rights.

• We stand out through the excellence of our work –

We want our work to have as much impact as possible. We listen to what children and young people tell us about what they need from lawyers and others who support them to use their rights. We use what we learn to develop and design the services they need and talk about why young people’s rights matter, and why children and young people need lawyers.

• We stand for change –

We are lawyers for children and young people representing children and young people in court, at Children’s Hearings, and in important meetings working to give them equal opportunity to heard and use their rights. We take cases that make change for individual children and young people and help shape better rights respecting policy and practice. We use our knowledge of the law, and experience as practising lawyers for children and young people, to ask decision makers and lawmakers to change the law and the way the law is used to make sure that children and young people's rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.

Our Values

Our values are the principles we uphold in all our work, no matter what. They are the foundation of our workplace culture. Everyone who works at Clan shows our values in all they do and say.

We are supportive: We listen and respond, we provide encouragement and emotional help to children and young people, to others who support young people, and to each other.

We are bold: We are confident and courageous in amplifying the voices of children and young people. We are prepared to take risks when we need to, to defend children and young people’s rights.

We are dynamic: We are always active, always progressing. We are positive, full of energy and new ideas. We ask for change where it is needed.

"I love my job at Clan. It's busy and varied and no two days are ever the same. We have a great team here and everyone is really supportive." - A member of the Clan Childlaw team

What we can offer you

Clan Childlaw’s mission is very important to us, but our people are important too. We recognise the importance of a good work-life balance and a friendly supportive work environment. We offer:

• 33 days annual leave (inclusive of public holidays) increasing to 35 after 2 years’ service
• Auto-enrolment into our pension scheme after 3 months service
• Offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the option to choose the base location that works best for you.
• Flexibility around your working day, with the opportunity to work your hours within the hours of 7am to 7pm, and the option to work from home some of your working week.
• Access to our employee counselling service.

Learning and development is important to us and our team. We hope it’s important to you too. You will be encouraged to engage in learning and continued professional development.

"I have never worked in such a lovely organisation before! I feel valued, seen and heard as an individual here." - A member of the Clan Childlaw team

"I love my job at Clan. It's busy and varied and no two days are ever the same. We have a great team here and everyone is really supportive." - A member of the Clan Childlaw team