About East Lothian Foodbank

East Lothian Foodbank provides food and emergency daily essentials to local people who are experiencing hardship in East Lothian. Alongside the provision of emergency food parcels, we offer a money advice service and practical support to help address the challenges individuals and families who use our service face. In addition to this, we work alongside partners and our local community, to influence policy towards ending poverty in East Lothian.

As an independent Scottish charity, we are fortunate to also be part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by Trussell, working together to ensure no one in the UK needs a food bank to survive.

About this role

This is a new post, which will play a key role in developing and embedding our signposting pathways – and an opportunity to play a pivotal role in improving outcomes for the people using our service.

The Community Signposting Worker will provide person-centred, trauma-informed support to individuals and families experiencing financial hardship (taking a "What Matters to You" approach) and empowering people as active agents in their own journey while also contributing to the development of new ways of working, improved outcomes, and stronger partnership integration.

The postholder will improve how we record and use signposting data through our E-referral system (DCS), and train and build the confidence of volunteers to take on a sustained signposting role when the funding ends. A key part of this role is bringing volunteers on the journey building their confidence and capability in signposting.

This is a time-limited, developmental role, designed to support both service delivery and system change.

About the East Lothian Foodbank

East Lothian Foodbank provides food and emergency daily essentials to local people who are experiencing hardship in East Lothian. Alongside the provision of emergency food parcels and essentials, we offer a money advice service and practical support to individuals and families who use our service. In addition to this, we work with partners and local community to influence policy towards ending poverty in East Lothian.

As an independent Scottish charity, we are fortunate to also be part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by Trussell, working together to ensure no one in the UK needs a food bank to survive.

About this role

This is a varied and hands-on role based in our warehouse for a proactive individual, looking to support local communities. You will help lead a team of volunteers to ensure that our warehouse runs efficiently by - coordinating effective stock control, arranging timely transportation of stock deliveries, and meeting legislative standards (Health & Safety, Environmental Health, Food Hygiene etc).

This is a supervisor role in which you will support and guide team members in the day-to-day running of our foodbank. This will include our new Food Club Coordinator and our Van Driver.

TACT is looking for one exceptional and experienced individual to become a member of the new Family Forward Ayrshire team.

The Role:

The Community Engagement Worker will make sure there is “no wrong door” into Family Forward Ayrshire for families who may be least likely to self-refer or engage with formal services.

The role will build and maintain trusted relationships with community organisations and local networks across all three Ayrshire areas, creating accessible and credible routes into the programme. The post will work particularly with communities experiencing poverty, exclusion or barriers to accessing services, ensuring that the programme reaches families who might otherwise remain unseen.

The Community Engagement Worker will act as a trusted local presence for the programme, working alongside community organisations, schools, minority ethnic communities, peer networks and voluntary groups. The role will support families to take their first steps into the programme, gather intelligence about what communities are experiencing, and ensure that the programme remains responsive to local needs.

The role is therefore central to achieving the programme's ambition to increase referral volume while ensuring that at least 60% of engagement is with identified priority groups.

Role Philosophy

The Community Engagement Worker will help ensure that Family Forward Ayrshire goes to the places and relationships where families already feel safe and trusted, rather than expecting families to find their way to the service.

The role is about building bridges between communities and the programme: developing trust, creating informal opportunities to engage, reducing barriers and ensuring that families who are least likely to self-refer are not left behind.

The Community Engagement Worker will be the programme's human face in the community, creating the trusted local routes through which families can take their first step towards sustained support.

Equality and Inclusion

We are committed to building a diverse workforce and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Applications from people with lived experience of poverty, caring responsibilities or barriers to employment are encouraged.

About TACT:

The Ayrshire Community Trust (TACT) is a charity based in North Ayrshire that provides programmes and projects that make a difference to people’s lives by encouraging, supporting and promoting community action.

TACT are a Living Wage and Living Hours employer.

TACT and CEIS Ayrshireare recruiting jointly as part of this programme, view the CEIS posts here.

TACT is looking for one exceptional and experienced individual to become a member of the new Family Forward Ayrshire team.

The Role:

The Early-Stage Employability Worker will provide a dedicated confidence, readiness and early employability strand for adults who are furthest from the labour market and who may not yet be ready to engage with mainstream employability provision.

The role recognises that for some adults, particularly those experiencing poverty, poor health, trauma, low confidence or disrupted life circumstances, a conventional employability offer can be too early or feel unattainable. The focus is therefore on building the foundations for future progression: confidence, routine, participation, relationships, practical experience and a sense of capability.

Working within each person's existing family plan, the Early-Stage Employability Worker will provide flexible, strengths-based support without imposing a compliance or progression requirement. The role will work closely with Family Navigators and the Progression Coordinator so that adults can move towards further employability support when they are genuinely ready, rather than being pushed prematurely into formal provision.

Role Philosophy:

The Early-Stage Employability Worker recognises that employment is sometimes the destination, not the starting point.

For adults who are furthest from the labour market, the first step may be leaving the house, joining a group, trying something new, taking on a small responsibility, volunteering for an hour or simply beginning to believe that change is possible.

The role is therefore about building the first rungs of the ladder. It creates safe opportunities for skills, confidence and participation while remaining connected to the individual's wider family plan. Progression is encouraged when it is meaningful and sustainable, but never pursued simply to meet a target.

The worker's role is to help adults move from “I'm not ready” to “I might be able to”, and ultimately to support them to take their next step when that step is genuinely theirs.

Equality and Inclusion

We are committed to building a diverse workforce and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Applications from people with lived experience of poverty, caring responsibilities or barriers to employment are encouraged.

About TACT:

The Ayrshire Community Trust (TACT) is a charity based in North Ayrshire that provides programmes and projects that make a difference to people’s lives by encouraging, supporting and promoting community action.

TACT are a Living Wage and Living Hours employer.

TACT and CEIS Ayrshireare recruiting jointly as part of this programme, view the CEIS posts here.