Citizens Advice SORT Group
Head of Specialist Advice
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Contract: Maternity cover, Aug 2026 – May 2027 (We anticipate scope to move into another role with us afterwards.)
Salary: £48,000 – £50,680 depending on experience
Location: Home based, with in person attendance required across Greater Manchester, the North West and wider regional locations.
Hours: Fulltime - 35 hours per week. Job Share will be considered
Closing date: 15 July 2026
Interview date: TBC
Key Areas of Oversight
- Welfare rights services and Debt advice services
- Energy and Help to Claim services
- Specialist advice delivery
- Complex casework functions
- Technical quality and compliance
- Safeguarding escalation processes
- Quality assurance frameworks
- Specialist supervision structures
- Associated Delivery Manager and Team Leader functions
Essential criteria
- Significant experience managing specialist advice or complex service delivery functions.
- Strong understanding of quality assurance, safeguarding and regulatory frameworks within advice services.
- Experience supporting technical supervision and complex case management.
- Ability to lead operational teams whilst contributing strategically to service development and organisational growth.
- Strong communication, leadership and partnership skills.
- Commitment to safeguarding principles and practices ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all children, young people and vulnerable adults who engage with the service.
- Commitment and a desire to work in a culture that enables collaboration, where a supportive environment for colleagues is provided and where open and honest communication is championed. You live and breathe our organisational values.
What we’d like you to have:
- An understanding and commitment to fairness and the positive impact that diversity and inclusion brings to this role and to service delivery in the charity sector.
- Ability to commit to and work within our values, aims, principles and policies in which equity and diversity is embedded throughout.
- A commitment to continually developing yourself professionally, and support the wider team’s development as well.
- A willingness and ability to work unsocial hours on occasion (including weekends), with travel across the North West and other parts of the country.
- Proven ability to keep up to date with technology and take individual responsibility for learning new technologies.
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Strategic leadership:
- Provide strategic leadership across specialist advice functions.
- Support the development of high-quality, technically robust and person-centred specialist services.
- Lead continuous improvement activity linked to advice quality and client outcomes.
- Contribute to organisational growth, innovation and service transformation.
- Ensure specialist services remain aligned to regulatory requirements and funder expectations.
People leadership:
- Provide leadership and support to Delivery Managers and specialist operational teams.
- Support workforce development and technical learning.
- Promote positive and inclusive leadership approaches.
- Ensure effective supervision and wellbeing support structures are in place.
Partnerships and service development :
- Build effective relationships with external partners, funders and stakeholders.
- Support partnership development linked to specialist services.
- Contribute to reporting, mobilisation and service development activity.
- Support integration of specialist advice within wider organisational and regional programmes.
Operational leadership:
- Oversee operational delivery across specialist advice teams.
- Monitor performance, capacity, demand and case complexity.
- Support effective management of high-risk and complex casework.
- Ensure effective operational systems and referral pathways are in place.
- Support service resilience and workforce planning.
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Quality and safeguarding:
- Maintain oversight of technical quality and compliance frameworks.
- Ensure effective quality assurance systems operate across specialist services.
- Support safeguarding oversight and escalation management.
- Ensure services align with FCA, AQS, Citizens Advice and wider regulatory standards.
- Lead improvement activity following audits, reviews or quality assurance findings.
Professional and personal development
- Keep up to date with legislation, policies and procedures and undertake appropriate training.
- Work with your direct manager to develop an annual learning and development plan which meets your development needs and the needs of the organisation.
- Take an active role in the preparation of regular meetings, taking a lead on your own development.
The business is a fast-moving organisation and therefore any colleagues duties may be varied from time to time. The post holder accepts that they may be required to work flexibly and undertake any other work or duties as may reasonably be required, within the scope of and commensurate to the nature of the post.
This job description does not constitute terms and conditions of employment. It is provided only as a guide to assist an individual in the performance of the job and is not included to be an inflexible list of tasks.
- Flexible working opportunities
- 30 days annual leave + bank holidays, pro rata (plus additional days for length of service)
- 3% employer contribution
- Employee assistance scheme
- Salary sacrifice scheme
- Perks and savings scheme
- Mental health and wider wellbeing initiatives
- Learning, development and growth opportunities
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