Volunteers are at the heart of our service
Make a difference, one person at a time. Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke-on-Trent has a team of around 65 volunteers at any one time. They fill a range of roles and we are always looking for new people to join our team.
Our Volunteer Journey
Sign me up to volunteer
We welcome committed volunteers who share our values and want to help others.
Support others, grow yourself
Why volunteer with us?
By volunteering you’ll be playing an active part in improving the lives of millions of people and influencing the development of national and local policies and services.
- Boost your confidence
- Do something interesting and challenging.
- Gain office-based work experience
- Get to know your community
- Improve your prospects and put your talents to use
- Meet new people
Roles Across Each Service
We can provide roles across each of our services. This can range from telephone advisors, to community outreach. These roles will be dependant on availability.
Community Volunteering
Anyone can apply to volunteer to support our local community
Student Placements
Our student placements can last from 8 weeks to 1 year. They often can be tied in directly with your course/degree.
Work Experience
Get a feel for working with us at CASNS. Work experience is often around 1 week, but can be more or less depending on availability.
Volunteer Application Form
Policy on Recruitment of Ex-offenders
Introduction
Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working or volunteering for Staffordshire North & Stoke on Trent CAB. Much will depend on the type of job you have applied for and the nature and circumstances of your offence(s).
Policy
The CAB service is committed to the promotion and delivery of equal opportunities to clients and to volunteers and paid staff. The service is committed to positive action as a means of removing barriers to services, volunteering and employment opportunities for those from discriminated against groups.
Staffordshire North & Stoke on Trent CAB supports this position. Staffordshire North & Stoke on Trent CAB recognises the contribution volunteering or employment can make to reducing re-offending and rehabilitating offenders and will support this wherever we can.
Staffordshire North & Stoke on Trent CAB welcomes applications from all parts of our community, including from people with criminal records and undertakes not to discriminate unfairly against volunteers or paid staff who voluntarily reveal that they have a criminal conviction. Equally, it undertakes not to discriminate unfairly against any subject of a Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure on the basis of a criminal conviction or other information revealed.
We also take very seriously our responsibility to protect enquirers, especially those vulnerable by reasons of age, disability or reduced capacity. This policy aims to balance our responsibilities both to ex-offenders wishing to work for the Bureau with our duty to protect enquirers. It is the CAB Service’s national policy not to employ or use as a volunteer anyone with a conviction for a sexual offence against a child or vulnerable adult. This is the only absolute bar to working at Staffordshire North & Stoke on Trent CAB.
Applicants with convictions for other offences may also be unsuitable for certain roles within the Bureau. This will be assessed on a case by case basis and the decision on whether or not a specific offence is relevant to a specific post will be made after undertaking a full assessment of all relevant factors.
Screening Advisers or Volunteers
An offer of employment or volunteering opportunities may be subject to a CRB check. This will apply where funders or partners require us to do this as a condition of funding or partnership working or the risk to enquirers warrants this because staff will have substantial, unsupervised access, on a sustained or regular basis, to children under the age of 16, or vulnerable adults (e.g. those suffering from enduring mental health issues, learning disabilities, or the frail elderly).
This will be shown on the advert and application pack. In all other cases we ask you to disclose any convictions unspent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 below.
We will discuss any matter revealed in a Disclosure with you before withdrawing a conditional offer of employment.
Data Protection Policy
As a volunteer within our organisation we need to keep some of your details on file to help us plan your training, in case of emergencies and to ensure that we are offering each volunteer sufficient support and guidance.
The types of item we keep within your file include:
– Completed application pack
– References
– Supervision minutes
– Training notes and records
All information on your file is kept in a locked cabinet and is kept confidential at all times; your file is only accessible to those who need to view it as part of your ongoing development with the bureau.
On occasion, Citizens Advice nationally ask for information about the volunteers we have, such as the number of people volunteering within a particular age range. This information is always anonymised and we ensure that the information cannot be linked to individual files.
In order to keep a file for you, we need your permission to keep this information. If you agree with the above, please complete the application above and submit the application pack to us.
Volunteer stories
Hear it from our volunteers and staff
"Volunteering gives me more experience and an opportunity to help people.”
Anonymous
I used my redundancy to volunteer to gain a broad spectrum on all the issues CASNS deals with.
Anonymous
Volunteering helps me to build communication, organisation and writing skills through replying to clients by email.
Anonymous
I have worked all my life and volunteering as a Trustee is my way to pay back and get involved in the community.
Anonymous
Volunteering gives me an insight into different areas like debt, housing, immigration Matters and money advice to help me in a career in Law.
