Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS)
Location: Glasgow/Edinburgh
Salary: Voluntary/Non-remunerated
Closing Date: 28th July 2023 at 5pm
Interviews: Week commencing 14 August 2023 or 21 August 2023 (TBC)
Scotland’s Citizens Advice Network is the largest independent advice service in the country providing free, impartial and confidential advice. They use people’s real-life experiences to influence policy and drive positive change. Their vision is for a fairer Scotland where everyone has the advice and information they need to realise their rights, and where the barriers to accessing those rights are effectively challenged.
Last year the network helped nearly 174,500 people in communities across Scotland to solve their problems, and a further 2.5 million sought information from their online advice pages. They unlocked £132 million in financial gains for people. One in six people who sought advice saw a financial gain, the average value of which was over £4,200.
The Citizens Advice network is made up of 59 local Citizens Advice Bureaux, each its own independent charity, and Citizens Advice Scotland as the national charity and membership body, which includes the GB delivery of Extra Help Unit service, a group of specialist case workers supporting vulnerable energy and post consumers. Together they provide advice across over 200 locations and deliver 12 national advice projects for UK and Scottish Government including the Money Talks advice service and the Help to Claim Universal Support advice service.
The Network’s mission:
· We help people navigate systems and access their rights
· We build resilience in local communities
· We support the realisation of human rights
· We help change policies and practices to ensure they work for people
Your chance to shape Citizen's Advice Scotland
Together with the rest of the Board you will help ensure the highest levels of governance and strategy development for CAS. You will have a commitment to their Vision, Aims and Mission and will be prepared to contribute your time, skills and experience to support the success of the organisation and the wider Network. You will be a team player with a passion to make a difference to the lives of people in Scotland.
Central to their current strategy are a set of values which set out who they are, how they work and what they believe in – person-centred, empowering, supportive, inclusive and collaborative. You will be expected to demonstrate these values in your leadership.
They are committed to representing the diversity within the communities that they serve, and having conducted an Inclusion and Diversity assessment of their Board they would particularly welcome applications from the following groups:
· Black people, and people from other global ethnic majority backgrounds
· People from the LGBTQ+ community
· People with a disability
The CAS Board is made up of an independent chair and twelve trustees. Six of those trustees represent Citizens Advice Bureaux (internal trustees) and six of those trustees are otherwise independent of the Citizens Advice Network in Scotland (external trustees). They are currently recruiting for 3 external trustees.
Board members are appointed for a term of 3 years and are eligible to seek nomination to serve a further 3-year term after which they must retire from the Board. CAS Board meetings take place 5 times a year from 10.30am to approximately 13.30. Board members will be given the opportunity to attend meetings in person at the CAS offices and/or the option to attend via zoom. You may also become a member of the various committees that report to the board and this would involve attending a further 5 meetings per year in person or via zoom.
For more information, please refer to the Board Member Volunteer Pack and additional documents which can be downloaded on their careers page: https://www.cas.org.uk/vacancies/board-member-scottish-association-citizens-advice-scotland-3x .
How to apply
To apply for this role, please send your current CV and covering letter/supporting statement expressing why you are interested in this opportunity to governance@cas.org.uk by 5pm on 28th July 2023.
If you would like to discuss the roles in further detail, please contact Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) by email at governance@cas.org.uk.
Equality & Diversity Monitoring
To help Citizens Advice Scotland monitor equality and diversity statistics please return the Equality & Diversity Monitoring Form separate from your other application documents by emailing it to: equalitymonitoring@cas.org.uk.