About Us

Inverness, Badenoch and Strathspey CAB is an independent charity providing advice, information and support to people across our community. We are a friendly team of over 80 employees and volunteers working over 3 locations (Inverness, Raigmore and Aviemore) delivering a busy advice service to members of the public. We strive to deliver a good quality service that meets the needs of our clients in a non-judgemental and confidential manner.

The Role

This role is responsible for supporting the smooth running of our reception area and ensuring that clients who contact the bureau receive excellent customer service which meets their individual needs.

We are interested to hear from good team players who have experience of working in a similar environment and are confident in dealing with clients who may be vulnerable or have multiple needs. The successful candidate will have a strong customer focus and treat everyone in a non-judgemental, respectful and confidential manner. The job holder will be supported through an initial training programme and encouraged to continually develop during their time with us.

The Citizens Advice network in Scotland is the largest independent advice service in the country. Citizens Advice Scotland is a charity within this network – we act as a national organisation supporting and representing the service as a whole and the interests of citizens. At the heart of the network there are 59 individual bureaux across Scotland, all operating as independent charities in their own right, which focus on providing support and advice directly to clients. Each of these organisations is a member of Citizens Advice Scotland. 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.

Our vision is for a Fairer Scotland where everyone has the advice and information they need to realise their rights, and that the barriers to accessing those rights are effectively challenged.

In order to be a member of Citizens Advice Scotland every Citizens Advice Bureau must comply with a set of membership conditions and standards. These conditions and standards aim to ensure a bureau adheres to the principles of the Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and provide clients with holistic, quality assured information, advice and support.

This role offers you the opportunity to work right at the heart of supporting Scotland's largest independent advice network and to make an invaluable contribution to citizen’s lives. If you are someone from either an advice, quality or learning background with an eye for improvement then this could be the role for you.

As a Learning and Standards Officer, you will be member of the Learning and Standards Team which is responsible for learning support and assessment of each Citizens Advice Bureau’s compliance with these membership conditions. This is an interesting, varied, challenging, and rewarding role.

Using a defined set of criteria and indicators you will assess the quality of advice provision across a range of topic areas and produce reports which summarise your findings. You’d work with colleagues to produce and maintain a variety of learning materials and learning opportunities for bureaux. The role also involves working with bureaux to help ensure consistency of approach to quality of advice and case checking across all Citizens Advice Bureaux in Scotland.

For more information about the role, please refer to the Job Pack.

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.

Our Bureau provides confidential, free, independent and impartial advice to those who live and work in the Clydesdale area. We offer generalist advice on issues in areas such as Benefits, Consumer Matters, Council Tax, Employment, Utilities, Family and Personal Matters, Housing and Debt. Our specialist services offer counselling and representation with regard to debt, benefits, pensions and complaints and concerns with the NHS.

Advisers not only offer advice but also negotiate and act on behalf of clients. All advisers are trained to Citizens Advice Scotland standards.

The Bureau provides a service to the people of Clydesdale through its office in Lanark and through outreach provision in a number of outlying areas.

The Manda Centre provides support to families and friends affected by trauma, loss and personal crisis.

The post holder will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills and first-class PC skills.

Experience of the Voluntary Sector is an advantage, but not essential.

Able to work flexible hours including occasional evenings.

Duties involve working within the aims of the Manda Centre and carry out administrative functions.

This is an opportunity to join an exciting support project and an organisation that is committed and passionate about making a difference.