West Northumberland Food Bank
We are looking for someone to join our team and deliver an 18-month Pilot Project to see if Outreach Support can help to reduce isolation and improve the well-being and finances of people accessing West Northumberland Food Bank.
We have been supporting people in hardship since 2013 and last year we supported almost 1000 adults and over 580 children experiencing poverty which is more than we have ever had to help and we expect need for our service to continue to grow over the next few years.
Around one in six people in the UK are in relative poverty we want to make sure that no one living in West Northumberland is left behind and going without food and other household essentials, we do this through a Helpline and Food Parcel Delivery service.
We are an independent charity with 7 staff and over 70 volunteers, our warehouse volunteers make around 1000 collections of food donations a year and pack around 250 food parcels a week. Our team of volunteer drivers have made over 5,500 Food Parcel Deliveries in the last year covering 20,000 miles delivering to more than 720 homes across 44 Towns and Villages.
Our team of 33 Helpline volunteers take around 100 calls a week from people who are struggling to stay afloat with the soaring cost of living, energy price hikes, low wages, and insufficient benefits. Along with taking orders for Food Parcels, distributing shopping vouchers, energy vouchers and hardship awards and offering much needed information and support to help people through these very difficult times – 60% of the agencies we signpost people to are for energy and debt advice and we also help people access mental health and well-being services as well as local community-based projects.
The Outreach Project will take the service we provide on our Helpline out into the community and provide follow on support to help address the consequences of poverty such as Social Exclusion and poor Mental Health. If you have a passion for social justice and the skills to carry out this role then we would love to hear from you.
Key tasks and responsibilities:
Support people experiencing poverty on a 1:1 basis This includes an existing group of 20 households in long term poverty who have been accessing our service frequently and are taking part in a shopping voucher trial, along with providing support to new callers to the Helpline whose situations indicate they are at risk of becoming trapped in long term poverty, and intervening early to try and prevent ‘new callers’ people becoming ‘frequent callers’ by moving them onto a 6 month Outreach Support programme with shopping vouchers.
Meeting people on the Outreach Support programme in public venues and offering information that may help to alleviate the problems and pressures they are experiencing, signposting/referring people towards other sources of advice and support. Where needed providing advocacy working with and on behalf of people when contacting other agencies and where appropriate accompanying people to appointments with other services. Supporting people to overcome any barriers to accessing other services and connecting people with community-based projects.
Record keeping including developing plans with people on the Outreach Support programme towards achievable goals with clear measurable outcomes and keeping records for funding requirements.
Build relationships and develop your knowledge of local resources, including community and statutory services, to find opportunities for people experiencing poverty including well-being, education, employment and training,
Promote WNFB services.
Lead team of Outreach Volunteers to assist with building relationships in communities and where appropriate accompanying people on the Outreach Support programme to appointments with other services.
Work within the WNFB Safeguarding Policy which recognises that the welfare of all beneficiaries is paramount and that safeguarding their welfare is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers. All adult beneficiaries who come into contact with staff or volunteers are deemed to be vulnerable and have the right to be protected from abuse.
To attend team meetings on a regular basis.
Team Roles This role is works closely with the Helpline Team leaders to identify households that could benefit from Outreach Support, sharing of information about local services and support with recruitment, training and development. This role is also supported by the Marketing and Communications team to ensure effective promotion of our services and by the finance team who manage the distribution of shopping vouchers and Hardship Awards. The role is line managed by the WNFB Project Manager who will assist with the evaluation of measurable outcomes from the Outreach Pilot Plan.
Metrics
Support 40 households in at least one of the following situations
- Single parent families
- Older working age
- People with disabilities
- People in long term poor physical health
- People in long term poor mental health
- Affected by the 2 Child Policy
- Households in debt and/or affected by benefit deductions.
Connect 20 of those households with other services.
Help 10 households achieve their agreed goals.
Here’s our ‘wish list’ of things we’d like to see you demonstrate:
- Educated to NVQ Level 2 or above.
- Able to build and maintain effective relationships with clients, colleagues, and partner organisations.
- Excellent Communications skills, particularly in being willing and able to listen to clients and respond in a sensitive and empathic fashion.
- Ability to work with vulnerable people and confidential information with integrity and professionalism.
- A good understanding of the kinds of problems people in poverty encounter, including those that are often referred to as ‘hard-to-reach’.
- Awareness and understanding of diversity and equal opportunities and a genuine commitment to non-judgmental practices and always treating the people we support with respect and dignity.
- Ability and willingness to learn about welfare/benefits systems and other services, as well as the ability to keep up to date with relevant changes in these areas.
- Confidence and competence in the use of IT, managing an Outlook account and MS Teams
- Good organisational skills and record keeping skills, with an understanding of the importance of keeping accurate and appropriate records in line with Data Protection and Safeguarding requirements.
- The ability and willingness to work flexibly as required.
- Able to work predominantly from home.
- Access to transport for work purposes
Salary
NJC 20 £30,296 fte pro rata
Hours and terms
Hours: 20 hours a week flexible in agreement with Manager but centred around Helpline hours Mon-Fr 10-2.
Contract: 18 months initially, subject to extension
Pension scheme under the Government’s Auto-Enrolment scheme
Holidays 5.6 weeks equivalent of paid holiday per annum, plus public holidays
WFH payment £26 per month
Employers Sick Pay
Workplace wellbeing support with Employee Assistance Programme
Expenses
This post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check. Any offer of employment will be dependent on suitability determined by the DBS check and satisfactory references.
Location
Location: Hybrid working post from Hexham Northumberland
Closing date for applications
Friday 21st June
How to apply
To apply please send letter of application and your CV to sam.gilchrist@westnorthumberlandfoodbank.org.uk by Friday 21st June.
In your covering email please confirm that you are available for interview on Tuesday 2nd Julywhere candidates will make a short presentation demonstrating their capacity for the role and be interviewed by a panel of three