Volunteer Assessor – Citizens Advice Richmond

As the need for Free Advice services continues to soar, we are seeking Volunteer Assessors to help meet this ever growing demand. As the first point of Advice Contact, you will help clients understand the issues they are faceing and work with them to find the best way to move forward with their issue. This could be helping them navigate our information pages to understand their rights or responsibilities; or referring to further advice through internal appointments or other organisations.

Download a 2-page PDF leaflet which outlines what volunteering involves

What a Volunteer will do:

complete an introduction to Citizens Advice and training for your role
talk to clients over the phone, face to face, or online to explore what problems they’ve come for help with
find information about the clients’ problems and help them to understand their options
write a summary of the clients’ problems and what action you’ve taken
look out for problems’ that are common, or are unfair, and write a short report about the problem or a letter to an elected official like an MP, AM or local councillor.

Some examples of what you could do:

find the information online that explains how to apply for Housing Benefit in a client’s local area and explain it to them
identify what steps a client can take to resolve their problem with a second hand car
help a client find and understand what steps they can take to deal with their rent arrears

Qualifications/experience:

You don’t need specific qualifications or skills but you’ll need to:

be friendly and approachable
be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own
have good listening skills
have excellent verbal and written communication skills
have good maths and IT skills
be able to understand information and explain it to others
be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection
be willing to undertake training in your role

What’s in it for you:

make a real difference to people’s lives
learn about a range of issues such as benefits, debt, employment and housing
build on valuable skills such as communication, listening and analysing
increase your employability
work with a range of different people, independently and in a team.
have a positive impact in your community.

…and we’ll reimburse expenses too.

Apply Online :

Your Title
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Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms etc.

Your Full Name
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Address

Home Postcode
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Telephone Number
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Email Address (if you have access)

Enter Email

Confirm Email Address (if you have access)

Confirm Email

You are currently
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Employed (full or part time)

Not employed

Studying

Are you interested in any particular type of volunteer role(s)?

Describe any skills you have that would be useful for the role you’re interested in:

Is there anything you have done over the past few years that you would like to tell us about?

Why do you want to volunteer for Citizens Advice? What do you hope to get from the experience?

What do you think are some of the main problems facing your community?

It is useful to know when you will be available to volunteer. Please indicate below the full days when you are generally available – please tick all that apply
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How many hours per week, or days per week would you like to volunteer for?

Are there any times that you are unlikely to be available, e.g. school holidays?

Is there anything else you would like to say about yourself?

Are you willing to commit to our three month in-house training programme? (This question relates to our Generalist Adviser role only)

Yes

Not Applicable

References

Please tell us about any specific needs you would like us to take into account, either at the interview or if we offer you a volunteer role e.g. mobility.

Please Note
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To ensure the safety of our clients, the Citizens Advice service requires that all volunteers who have direct access to clients, where any part of the work is primarily targeted at legally defined vulnerable adults or children, have their criminal records checked. However, the Citizens Advice service is committed to the promotion and delivery of equal opportunities to volunteers and so has a policy to ensure ex-offenders are not discriminated against. All offences, other than sexual crimes against a child or vulnerable adult, will be treated on an individual basis taking into account issues such as the risk to the client, the circumstances of the offence (eg what it was, is it relevant to the volunteer role, how long ago it was) and the reputation of the bureau

Our policy on convictions

We typically only carry out Standard, Enhanced and Enhanced with child and or adult barred list, Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for roles working directly with clients in services targeted at vulnerable adults or children. Other roles such as conducting home visits, or providing immigration advice, and trustees who have authority to sign cheques or authorise invoices, or treasurers may require a Basic disclosure check.<br />
Citizens Advice Richmond will ask about unspent convictions after a conditional volunteer role or employment offer. Having a criminal record is not in itself a barrier, and we will only take relevant convictions or sexual offences into account. If you are concerned about this and would like to discuss your individual circumstances further, please contact volunteering@citizensadvicerichmond.org<br />
Our policy is in place to make sure ex-offenders are treated fairly. We consider each offence individually, looking at issues like risk to the client, how long ago it took place, the circumstances and whether they are relevant to the volunteer role. Anyone with a caution or conviction for a sexual offence against a child or vulnerable adult is considered unsuitable to volunteer. </p>
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Entitlement to work or volunteer

If you are from outside the EU / EEA, it’s important you check you are permitted to volunteer or carry out ‘unpaid work’ in addition to your main reason for entering the country, to avoid jeopardising your visa status.<br />
If you cannot find the answer clearly on your immigration documentation, contact the UK Border Agency (www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-inside-outside-uk)<br />

Gender

Male

Female

Unknown/declined to reply

Ethnicity

What made you apply to be a volunteer?
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Data Protection Act 1998
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As part of the recruitment procedure we may collect and store sensitive personal data about you. We are required by law to obtain your consent to such data being recorded. It is our policy to store data relating to recruitment procedures for up to a year after the date on which it is submitted. Any information of this nature will be treated confidentially. Sensitive personal data is defined as information relating to any of the following: racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, health, sexuality or sex life, offences and/or convictions. For the purposes of the Act the Data Controller is Citizens Advice Richmond. By clicking to tick-box you confirm that you give your consent to sensitive personal information being recorded and stored..

Declaration
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If you have given us any information about your health, disability or access requirements, under data protection law we need your explicit consent to hold or use that information. We will only use it in order to allow us to make reasonable adjustments and/or to keep you safe, and it will be held securely. I give my consent for this information to be used by Citizens Advice Richmond

How we will use your information

The information you give us on this form will be used to help us decide whether to recruit you as a volunteer – this is our ‘legitimate interest’ under data protection law. It will only be seen by staff involved in the recruitment process, and will be stored securely. We will retain unsuccessful application forms for up to 1 year from the date the application form was received.</p>
<p>If you are recruited we will retain your contact information in order to involve and support you. We will also collect additional information, such as next of kin details, and over time records of training, support meetings and where relevant, appraisals. Again, it will be kept securely, and only those people who need to see your information in order to involve you will have access to it.</p>
<p>All use of volunteer information will be relevant to their involvement, and may include:</p>
<p>●	Contacting volunteers when necessary<br />
●	Making changes to role, support or equipment to improve accessibility<br />
●	Monitoring statistical details of our volunteers<br />
●	Providing ongoing support to volunteers<br />
●	Monitoring the quality of advice given to clients<br />
●	Addressing problems or complaints</p>
<p>You have legal rights over your data, including access to it, and the right to ask that it is corrected, restricted or deleted. There is more information on these rights on the Information Commissioner’s Office website: www.ico.org.uk<br />
If you have any questions about the use of your data, please contact us:<br />
www.citizensadvicerichmond.org/contact-us<br />

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