Volunteer
Our volunteers are vital members of the Citizens Advice Barnet team.
If you’re looking for a worthwhile experience and excellent training, there may be a suitable volunteering role waiting for you at Citizens Advice Barnet.
Volunteering is a great way to contribute, use and gain skills, make friends and feel part of an enthusiastic team.
Most of the work we do is carried out by highly trained volunteers. We very much value the work of all our volunteers, who strongly uphold the aims and principles of the Citizens Advice service.
Our volunteer roles
We have a selection of different volunteering roles and opportunities available, including helping to deliver our Advice Service*, being part of our Research and Campaigns* team, and assisting with trust fundraising*.
A list of the main duties and responsibilities of each role can be found below, but volunteers will be encouraged to develop their own interests and take on different tasks depending on their personal skill set.
*Please note: we are not currently accepting applications to deliver our Advice Service. We expect to resume recruitment for this role in January 2025. We are not currently accepting applications for our fundraising or R&C roles.
Join our Trust Fundraising team (not currently recruiting)
Commitment: 1 day a week for at least 3 months.
Purpose of the role:
To support the Head of Business Development in raising essential funds from trusts and foundations and enable us to continue supporting the most vulnerable people in our community.
Duties include:
- Identifying funders we could approach, e.g. by searching funder databases.
- Researching funders to clarify whether or not we are eligible to apply, how much funding we could apply for and which project they’d be most likely to fund.
- Recording the above information in a spreadsheet and keeping this record up-to-date.
- Updating a master document which collates key information for applications.
- Writing applications for small grants with support from the Head of Business Development.
About You
No previous experience or knowledge of trust fundraising is required; this role would suit you if you're interested in trust fundraising and have the following skills and attributes:
- Strong research skills
- High attention to detail
- IT skills, especially MS Word and Excel at a basic level (sort, filter, basic formulas) or willingness and ability to learn
- Ability to present complex information in a clear and easily navigable format
- Clear and persuasive writing skills
Join our Research and Campaigns team (not currently recruiting)
Commitment: 1 day a week for at least 3 months.
Purpose of the role
Citizens Advice Barnet’s twin aims are to help people in our community resolve the problems they face and campaign to change the policies and practices which affect their lives. As a Research and Campaigns Volunteer, you will enable us to achieve the second aim, using the experience of the people we help to influence lasting change that makes a real difference to our community.
Duties include
- Supporting the Research and Campaigns Lead to identify opportunities to improve local policies and practices that affect people we help.
- Gathering evidence to support local and national campaigns.
- Undertaking research to build a campaign.
- Writing monthly updates for local councillors on what we're seeing in their ward.
- Writing up reports to present your research and recommendations.
- Researching and writing reports to raise awareness of local problems.
- Representing Citizens Advice Barnet at external meetings to campaign for change.
- Working with the Communications team to raise awareness of Research & Campaigns work.
Person Specification
No previous experience is required; this role would suit you if you have an interest in social policy, or would simply like to make a difference in our local community, and have the following skills and attributes:
- IT skills, especially Word and Excel at a basic level (sort, filter, basic formulas), and willingness and ability to learn to use our CRM to run reports.
- Strong research skills.
- High attention to detail.
- Analytical skills.
- Ability to work on own initiative.
- Excellent communication skills, both orally and in writing, with the ability to write clearly and persuasively.
Join our Advice Services Team (not currently recruiting)
Commitment: 2 days per week
If you are interested in joining the advice team, then after successfully completing the initial training, you can:
- Assist clients on reception.
- Speak to clients on our helpline.
- Support clients in person (we are opening lots more outreach locations across Barnet).
- Undertake administrative tasks supporting the advice team.
Purpose of the role
- To help provide an effective and efficient advice service to members of the public.
- To help influence government and other organisations by informing them of the effect of their actions on the lives of clients.
Qualities Required:
- Being open, approachable and non-judgmental.
- Ability to communicate effectively in writing and in person.
- A good level of literacy and numeracy skills.
- A good level of IT literacy.
- A commitment to the aims and principles of the Citizens Advice service.
- Ability to regularly commit to volunteering (commitment level depending on the role).
- Ability to commit to and work with the aims, principles and policies of the Citizens Advice service.
Application process
You will need to complete the application form linked by clicking on the button below. If successful we will invite you for an informal interview where we will discuss your interest and roles available.
We ask everyone to undertake some initial brief training and then you can start volunteering with us. There are opportunities to progress and you will have regular reviews with the training manager.
A typical day for a volunteer
A typical day will vary depending on your role. The office opens at 9.00am and closes at 5pm. Clients access us throughout the day and depending on your role you may see clients at outreach, speak to clients on the phone, support the advisers, shadow advisers, or a mixture of these and undertake training to progress. You will be supported by a great team of fellow volunteers and staff. We have a dedicated training manager to support you in your training and supervisors who are always on hand to support you.
