Policy Officer (1x Financial Health & 1x Strong Communities) - Citizens Advice Scotland

We are looking for two Policy Officers to join our Impact Directorate at Citizens Advice Scotland – one in our Financial Health team and one in our Strong Communities team.

Please indicate your role preference both in your application and in the email.

Policy Officer (Financial Health)

At a time of massive financial pressure on individuals and families across Scotland, this is your chance to make a real difference in helping ease that pressure by joining the Financial Health Team at Citizens Advice Scotland as our Policy Officer. The Financial Heath Team is focused on helping our citizens get through the current cost of living crisis as well as people’s wider financial wellbeing. 

In this role, you will work closely with the Policy Manager across a range of issues but with a focus on our mental health and money work, where we seek to make improvements in the external environment so those with money and mental health issues can achieve better support and outcomes. We also improve people’s financial lives through our policy and public affairs activity on issues such council tax debt, access to cash, consumer credit and borrowing, scams, and raising awareness of ways by which households can boost incomes and cut costs.

Policy Officer (Strong Communities)

We also have an opportunity available to join our Strong Communities Team at Citizens Advice Scotland as our Policy Officer. The Strong Communities team currently has a focus on access to justice and telecommunications and advocates for change on behalf of citizens and consumers in order to prevent detriment. This is a great opportunity to play a role in helping to make society fairer, and in supporting our network of Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland. While not an essential criteria understanding of the Scottish legal system or legal qualifications, and/or knowledge of current issues and developments related to access to justice in Scotland may be beneficial to this role.

As a Policy Officer based in either our Financial Health or Strong Communities team you will play a key role in helping influence political and policy changes through public affairs activity that will lead to better outcomes for the people of Scotland. These roles are superb opportunities not only to make a difference for citizens but to also learn and grow your policy and public affairs skills from extremely experienced colleagues in the Financial Health and Strong Communities Teams.

Using our wealth of data generated by our bureaux, we develop evidence-based policy which is grounded in the experience of our clients. Using our knowledge of national policy, we engage policymakers across Parliament, Government (both central and local) and stakeholder organisations to influence change in policy, law and practice as well as to empower individuals and communities.

Your focus will be to collaborate with external stakeholders and advocate for change at a national level. This will involve using your policy skills to represent CAS on relevant Government groups and develop excellent relationships within the CAB network, engaging with them in your work and utilising their experience to better inform policy to make a difference to people’s lives across Scotland.

For more information please refer to the job pack which can be downloaded below.  

The Citizens Advice Network in Scotland

The Citizens Advice network in Scotland is the largest independent advice service in the country. Citizens Advice Scotland is a charity within this network – we act as a national organisation supporting and representing the service as a whole and the interests of citizens. At the heart of the network there are 59 individual citizens advice bureau across Scotland, all operating as independent charities in their own right, which focus on providing support and advice directly to clients. Each of these organisations is a member of Citizens Advice Scotland. We believe that every citizen should have access to free, impartial and confidential advice that helps them make informed decisions, whenever they need it and however, they choose to access it.

Our vision is for a Fairer Scotland where everyone has the advice and information they need to realise their rights, and that the barriers to accessing those rights are effectively challenged.

Employee benefits 

Citizens Advice Scotland offers excellent terms and conditions. We want our people to have a great work life balance and we have designed our working practices and benefits to support this.  Here are some of things our employees benefit from:  a 35-hour full time working week, 40 days annual leave, genuine flexibility in working hours with a flexi-time system, and blended/hybrid working opportunities for every role. For more details of some of the other benefits on offer to our employees, please see the section on employee benefits in the job pack.

Citizens Advice Scotland is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion.  We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies and flexible working arrangements to support all our staff. We are also committed to equality of opportunity for all and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.

CAS provides options for blended working to allow employees to balance their time attending the office with time working from home.  The number of days you will be able to work from home each week will be dependent on your job role and can be discussed as part of the recruitment process.

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