Chief Executive
APPOINTMENT BRIEF October 2016
Welcome
Thank you for your interest in the appointment of the Chief Executive of Gingerbread.
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October 2016
A message from our Chair
Dear Prospective Candidate, Gingerbread is a national institution with a long and proud history of achievements on behalf of single parent families. Founded in 1918 as the National Council For The Unmarried Mother and her Child, we became Gingerbread in 2009. We are the leading charity supporting, advising, and representing the interests of the 2 million single parent families, a quarter of all families with dependent children, in England and Wales. We are held in high regard by successive Governments, by over 100 local groups nationwide, by our 72,000 members, and by the many Trusts, Foundations and employers who support us financially. We are ambitious in our wish to extend our Reach, Profile, and Advice and Information Service to those single parent families who are currently not part of our active client group, but who may need our help. We will also continue to campaign on behalf of all single parent families to secure their best interests in the alleviation of financial hardship and the building of more positive image of the place of single parents in society.
October 2016
We are proud to have made an increasingly significant impact through our campaigns over the past few years. Gingerbread has been ably led by Fiona Weir over the last eight and a half years, during which time she has driven the organisation forward to respond to its ambitions and to the changing social, political and economic environment. The task facing her successor, with the support of a committed Board of Trustees and highly motivated staff, is to widen and further develop the services offered by Gingerbread to its client group through development, innovation and campaigning. This is a really exciting opportunity and challenge for the right person. I hope that it will appeal to you and that you feel encouraged to join us. If you do, you will find this appointment to be an exciting and rewarding experience with a growing, progressive and forward thinking organisation. Jonathan Welfare Chair
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Introduction At Gingerbread, we think single parents do a brilliant job. Supporting, advising and campaigning with single parents to help them meet their family’s needs. Since 1918 we’ve been supporting, advising and campaigning with single parents to help them meet their family’s needs and achieve their goals. Gingerbread has a long and fascinating history starting in 1918 and in 2007 when The National Council for One Parent Families and Gingerbread merged, creating an organisation with a powerful mix of campaigning experts, highly respected support services, and extensive grassroots reach among single parents. In 2009 the merged organisation re-launched as Gingerbread. And as the political, economic and social climate around single parents hardens, a new episode in campaigning life began. Our helpline and online advice can help make confident choices about a family’s future, whether that’s working or studying, managing money or making arrangements with a child’s other parent. Our training programmes can help develop skills and get a job that fits with a family’s needs. Our campaigning ensures single parents’ voices are heard, while our friendship groups, online forums and supportive membership make sure they don’t have to feel like they’re raising a family alone. We want to see a society where single parent families are valued and treated equally and fairly. The Charity is going to be celebrating its long history with a Centenary celebration in 2018. For further information see the website: https://gingerbread.org.uk
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“I have a job as a Heath Care Adviser in a chemist which would have been impossible without the help of Gingerbread. They really helped me with preparing my CV, interview skills and preparing cover letters. I’m much more confident now and better off. Now when I see my friends I feel proud saying ‘I’m working!”
“For me, the best part of the group is the fact that it shows me I’m not the only one. It’s a great chance to just be yourself. After all, everyone there has something in common - single parenthood - and no one is there to judge. In fact, they are more likely to understand you.”
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Our strategy Gingerbread’s strategic objectives • To extend our reach and profile • To improve the reach, quality and impact of our service mix
• To secure policy changes through campaigning
• To promote positive attitudes towards single parents and challenge stigma
• To grow income to fund our ambitions • To support our people to deliver the strategy Summary of 2015-2018 strategy
• Effective influencing of the government focussing on single parent employment and finances including the introduction of universal credit and child maintenance charging.
• Building positive attitudes to single parents promoting brand messages, everyday stories, and understanding of single parent families today as we approach our Centenary. Improved ability to target key audiences to ensure we reach a broad single parents audience (including the economically thriving) as well as single parents under 25.
The priorities set for reach, profile, service delivery, and campaigning have been developed in the light of market research into what single parents want and need from Gingerbread.
• Diversifying and growing our income, in
This strategy has to bridge the difficult economic climate single parents and charities face, with high need anticipated for some years ahead, and the start of work to generate a positive vision for better times as our Centenary approaches.
• Significant investment in IT, digital, quality
particular achieving an increase in income from individuals, particularly major donors, as we approach our Centenary. and embedding improved systems and processes including impact measurement and finances.
Key priorities include: • Strong continued growth in online reach (1 in 4 single parents Y1, nearly 1 in 3 by Centenary 2018), media, online information, membership and group numbers and plans to expand the valued Helpline.
• Improved integration of services around key life stages for a single parents, development of a holistic “Just separated” service, improved everyday content and a “single parent journey” that supports improved engagement and a longer term relationship with Gingerbread, supported by a significantly enhanced digital offer.
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Key achievements From 2015 -2016 • We connected with almost 1 in 3 of the UK’s single parents. Our web traffic grew by 5 per cent to 870,155 unique visits. An estimated 635,213 single parents visited the website, 32 per cent of UK single parents.
• Online advice and information was viewed by over 440,000 users, accessing up to date, authoritative information on changes affecting their lives.
• Gingerbread’s combination of evidence, understanding of parliamentary process and giving voice to single parents’ powerful personal stories made a vital contribution to pressure and to convince the Chancellor to reverse cuts to tax credits announced in the 2015 Summer Budget. 500,000 single parents were set to see an overnight drop in their household income of an average £700 a year from April 2016. As a result of Gingerbread’s campaigning this did not happen.
• We were mentioned in the media 1,333 times including 30 interviews on national broadcast media with particularly high coverage in the run up to the House of Lords debate on tax credits.
• Gingerbread continues to influence policy through analysis and highlighting the everyday experiences of single parents, publishing high quality research on issues from childcare costs to tax credit changes. Engagement is strong and cross party, regularly meeting parliamentarians and civil servants on changes to welfare or child maintenance regulations and processes.
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• The Gingerbread Single Parent Helpline answered 8,609 advice calls from single parents. The majority of calls were about finance, benefits and tax credits but also family law, child maintenance, housing, and childcare issues.
• We ended the year with 68,532 single parents in our peer support network up 17 per cent on the previous year – that’s 825 new members a month. 8,354 single parents were active on the online forum – 13% up on last year. We currently have 72,000 members.
• There are now 107 Gingerbread peer support groups providing a stable and active base from which our network continues to grow.
• Every working day two single parents secure a job because of Gingerbread through our partnerships with M&S, Home Retail Group and Working Links. About 60% of programme participants achieved a job outcome.
• Hundreds of single parents on Life Skills programmes in Wales, the North West and London progressed towards work, for example building confidence and resilience or moving into Further Education.
• We secured substantial multi-year funding for future years for a number of core services.
October 2016
Strengthening Gingerbread
• Bedding down a new finance system
We are making significant progress on strengthening Gingerbread’s capacity to reach, work with and support more single parent families including:
• Planning for Gingerbread’s Centenary in
• Developing a digital transformation strategy including investment in a new website and database to support this work. Tendering for both projects is now underway with investment agreed from a designated investment fund held in addition to reserves.
and identifying areas of IT and digital development that will improve organisational skills and capacity. 2018 and the steps we will take to reach a million single parents by then, as well as the opportunities it provides for major donors to invest in our work.
Income by Source 2015-16
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Role description Job purpose
Key Duties and Responsibilities
Gingerbread wishes to recruit an exceptional individual to the post of Chief Executive who, in collaboration with the Senior Management Team, will be responsible to the Board for all aspects of the organisation’s strategy and operations.
Leadership
The CEO will lead a team of directors responsible for all aspects of the charity’s operations; including policy, campaigns, expert and peer support services and employment services, as well as income generation, finance, and people. The role is wide-ranging also requiring the post holder to be an ambassador, campaigner, fundraiser, negotiator and relationship builder.
• Provide sound leadership to the organisation at all levels, ensuring all staff are motivated, valued, developed and performing to their potential.
• Ensure that the Board and staff maintain a collective sense of vision and purpose and that Gingerbread’s internal and external practices reflect the vision and values of the organisation.
• Ensure that staff have the resources, support and systems to enable them to work effectively and enhancing integrated working in support of crossorganisational goals.
• Lead an effective Senior Management Team, ensuring a high performing environment and culture across the organisation. Strategy And Planning
• Working with the Board of Trustees, develop and implement the strategic plan, ensuring this is clearly defined, agreed and understood by key stakeholders.
• Manage all operational activities, monitoring and reporting to the Board on performance against objectives.
• Lead the formulation and delivery of annual plans, targets and budgets, ensuring these are focussed on the strategic priorities, and their implementation through the organisation.
• Lead on the development of national strategic partnerships, develop and test new business models and approaches to delivering our services.
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Reporting to the Board of Trustees, the Chief Executive will lead Gingerbread to ensure it meets its charitable objectives.
External Relations
• Represent and promote Gingerbread, developing the charity’s public and media profile, as well as its reputation with government, stakeholders and other partner organisations.
• Promote Gingerbread to funders and other partners. Finance And Risk
• To be responsible to the Board for the overall financial health of the charity including developing, overseeing and monitoring an effective programme of income generation and fundraising.
• To ensure that the major risks to which the charity is exposed are reviewed regularly by the Board and the Finance Committee and systems are established to mitigate these risks.
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• Ensure effective financial planning, reporting, management and controls in accordance with best practice with regard to the charity’s needs. Governance And Legal
• Ensure that the mission is safeguarded, statutory duties are satisfied and strategic objectives and decisions are clear and implemented.
• Oversee the development of policies in the whole organisation, ensuring that these are legally compliant and facilitate due diligence.
• Work with the Chair and Chairof Nominations Committee to ensure the effective composition of the Board of Trustees and enhance the processes of engagement, involvement and interaction with Trustees and its Committees.
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Person specification Knowledge and Experience
Skills and Abilities
• Significant strategic senior leadership (at
• Clear confident communication style
CEO or Director level) with a proven ability to deliver results.
• Strong people leadership and the capacity to build high performing teams.
• A proven track record of influencing external stakeholders and other parties effectively at the most senior levels.
• A good knowledge of methods of income generation and developing innovative and sustainable business models and the ability to engage personally in raising funds and developing relationships with donors as well as an understanding of creative ways to increase funds.
• Highly numerate with the ability to grasp the
internally and externally; who can engage a wide range of stakeholders and act as the public voice for the organisation.
• Strong ambassadorial and networking skills. • High degree of personal credibility with outstanding interpersonal skills: ability to listen, learn from and lead an expert staff team.
• Ability to work and maintain collaborative relationships with a highly professional and diverse Trustee Board.
• A social entrepreneur with a high degree of commercial acumen
• A commitment to digital transformation across the charity and willingness to role model.
detail of financial management as well as the big picture.
• Experience of developing and maintaining partnerships across public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
• Experience of reviewing and developing organisational strategy and delivering change.
• Understanding of the issues that face single parent families and a deep commitment to Gingerbread’s vision, to improving the lives of single parent families and to keeping their voice at the centre of Gingerbread’s work.
• In depth understanding of the voluntary sector.
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October 2016
Organisational chart Chief Executive
Policy Advice and Communications
Income Generation/ Membership and Groups
Operations
Support Services
Policy and Research
Business Development
Programmes North West
Finances
Advice and Information
Individual Giving
Programmes Londom
HR
Communications
Trusts and Grants
Programmes Wales
Membership and Groups (including 100 volunteers)
October 2016
Office Management (including approximately 5 volunteers) Finances
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Terms and conditions Salary:
Benefits
circa £85,000 per annum
Pension: Gingerbread contributes 5% of salary to a workplace pension scheme, subject to an employee contribution.
Location Gingerbread office 520 Highgate Studios, 53-79 Highgate Road, London, NW5 1TL
Hours of work: This post is full time 35 hours per week. Staff may work flexitime in accordance with our flexitime policy between 8.30am and 6pm, Monday to Friday.
Contract This post is offered on a permanent basis.
Annual leave: Full time staff are entitled to 28 days leave per year, rising to 29 days after 5 years’ service, and all public holidays. In addition, our offices are closed between Christmas and New Year. Work life balance policies: Gingerbread understands the need for staff to balance personal commitments and family life with work. We are proud of our range of policies to support staff. These include dependent care leave, flexitime, enhanced maternity and paternity provisions, working at home, flexible working and sabbatical leave. Probationary Period: The first 6 months of your employment will be a probationary period.
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How to apply To apply, please forward a comprehensive CV, together with a supporting statement. Your supporting statement should be no more than two pages of A4. Please provide evidence of your suitability against the criteria in the Person Specification in your statement and explain why you are interested in the position.
Recruitment Timetable
You should give the names, positions, organisations and telephone contact numbers of two referees, relevant to this role. References will only be taken once your express permission has been granted. Finally please ensure that you have included mobile, work and home telephone numbers, as well as any dates when you will not be available or might have difficulty with the recruitment timetable.
If you wish to have an informal discussion about the opportunity, have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, or need additional information please contact our retained advisors Sara Livesey or Sam Taylor on 020 7691 1920 or email:
Published closing date: Sunday 30th October 2016 Interviews with Prospectus Consultant: 8th to 11th November 2016 Interviews with Gingerbread Panel: Monday 28th November 2016
sara.livesey@prospect-us.co.uk sam.taylor@prospect-us.co.uk
Gingerbread is an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity. We are committed to increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities and will respond positively to meet individual needs throughout the recruitment process. Once in post, we will ensure that any appropriate reasonable adjustments to our workplace are made, in order to support colleagues with any form of disability. Applications should be made via the Prospectus website at: http://prospect-us.co.uk/jobs/details/ hq00167870
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Prospectus Ltd 020 7691 1925 www.prospect-us.co.uk
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