We stand with older people in financial hardship, offering urgent help today and shaping a fairer, more secure tomorrow. Our Helpline and expert advisers offer free, practical support to older people without enough money to live on. Through our grants programme, we support hundreds of local organisations working with older people across the UK. And we use the knowledge and insight gained from our services and partnerships to highlight the issues experienced by older people in poverty and campaign for change.

We would love to find individuals from all walks of life and diverse backgrounds to join us on this journey.

Responsibilities and Person Specification:

The Stories and Participation Officer is a fundamental cross-organisational role.  Working directly with older people in financial hardship, the role will source, capture and collaborate to share stories, advice and insights from older people, whilst maintaining the highest level of stewardship and safeguarding for this group and supporting organisation wide participation activity.

Reporting into the Participation Manager, you will work champion and deliver meaningful involvement and authentic storytelling to ensure that the experiences of older people are at the centre of Independent Age’s work. You will ensure that participation processes maintain and develop our storytelling expertise and follow good-practice in the sector. The role will recruit and induct older people on a low income to our Lived Experience Network, alert them to opportunities to get involved in shaping and informing Independent Age’s work, facilitate two-way engagement, and work with willing members of the network to share their lived experience and insights, including sharing their story on public and private platforms.

You will need exceptional organisational skills and the ability to proactively drive lived experience work and effective storytelling. Strong verbal and interpersonal skills are essential, along with knowledge of best practice in supporting and co-ordinating lived experience participation including online and offline events, groups and meetings to create listening spaces.

For full details on the role and requirements, please review the job description and person specification.  If your experience doesn’t align perfectly with all of the criteria in the person specification but you do meet most of them and are excited about the role, we encourage you to apply anyway.  

What it’s like to work at Independent Age:

We celebrate diversity at Independent Age and champion the differences that make each of us unique. We actively support and encourage people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and skill sets to join us and help shape what we do. We aim to attract and retain a wide range of talent and create an environment where everyone can feel safe, protected, welcome and included.

We offer great benefits including 28 days annual leave plus public holidays, a generous pension scheme with life assurance, and fantastic learning and development opportunities. We also offer a number of enhanced leave provisions and benefits. 

We know that a good work life balance helps us perform at our best and supports wellbeing. Flexible working hours and hybrid working is standard for all (those contracted to work in the office are required to attend the office a minimum of 4 days per month). But if you need a different form of flexibility, we are always happy to talk flexible working. 

With an employee engagement score of 98%, colleagues say Independent Age is a great place to work. You can find out more about what it’s like to work for us here.

Application Process:

To apply, please submit a CV and a Supporting Statement, detailing how your skills and experience meet the criteria within the Job Description and Person Specification, by clicking the Apply Online button below.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you require any specific arrangements or adjustments to enable you to fully participate in the recruitment process, such as having the job description in a larger text format or to apply in an alternative format, please get in touch with us via the email address on the ‘Contact Us’ page on our jobs site.

To support our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion our hiring managers use anonymous shortlisting. Please don’t include your name, photo, or any information that could indicate your gender or age in your CV and supporting statement, and don’t include your name in the title of any documents that you upload. However, please do include all dates of employment.

Independent Age is committed to safeguarding and follows Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding those we work with. We therefore ask that you supply your full work history with explanations for any gaps in the application documents you submit and, if offered the post, we will require two employment references including your current or most recent employer. A Basic Level DBS check will be carried out for the successful candidate.

Closing Date: Sunday 23rd August, 11:59pm