Trustee Vacancies

TRUSTEE VACANCIES

We currently have a number of vacancies for the role of Trustee here at Carrs Lane Counselling Centre. An outline of the role and details of how to apply are below.

Trustee – Role Description

Carrs Lane Counselling Centre: We are in the heart of Birmingham and are dedicated to providing a low-cost first-class counselling service to adults across the wider West Midlands conurbation. We have been helping the people of our region for over 50 years and assist our clients with a diverse range of issues. Although Carrs Lane Counselling Centre began life as part of The Church at Carrs Lane, it now operates independently as a registered charity/not for profit company limited by guarantee.

Our counselling service is accredited by the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP). The Trustees are also directors of the company. At present, the board comprises two members elected from the counselling centre membership and four appointed by The Church at Carrs Lane. The board usually meet each month on the Zoom platform, at the moment early evening on a Tuesday.

There is a high demand for our person-centred approach counselling. Our volunteer counsellors are all in house trained to a high professional standard and managed professionally by our Counselling Centre Manager.

During the pandemic, we diversified and now offer phone and face-to-face counselling and have received funding to train ourselves to offer on-line counselling in the near future.

The Trustee team is small, committed, forward thinking and we work well together. We are ably assisted by a Volunteer Treasurer and are keen to recruit one or two more who would enjoy working with us and help us to grow and develop. We are particularly keen to recruit people who have backgrounds in fundraising, counselling, business, the charity sector, IT/social media or people who understand the enormous benefit counselling can offer.
Further information about our service, including our aims and values, can be found on this website.

Eligibility:
a) Trustees must be at least 16 years old to be a trustee of a charity that is a company.
b) Trustees must be properly appointed following the procedures and any restrictions in the charity’s governing document. Details of these restrictions are given in the application form.
c) Trustees must not act as a Trustee if they are disqualified under the Charities Act, including if they have an unspent conviction for an offence involving dishonesty or deception or any offence of a sexual nature; are bankrupt or have entered into a formal arrangement (eg an individual voluntary arrangement) with a creditor; have been removed as a Company Director or Charity Trustee because of wrongdoing.

Responsible to: Board of Trustees
Salary: N/A
Hours: minimum of one meeting a month, currently approximately 60 – 90 minutes.
Contract: N/A
DBS Check: ‘standard’ disclosure required.

Main Duties: These are as defined by the Charity Commission in their Guidance for Trustees – The Essential Trustee – Ref CC3.

Summary of 12 main duties:
1. Set and maintain vision, mission and values
2. Develop strategy
3. Establish and monitor policies
4. Set up and monitor employment procedures
5. Ensure compliance with governing document
6. Ensure accountability
7. Ensure compliance with the law
8. Maintain proper fiscal oversight
9. Select, manage and support the chief executive
10. Respect the role of staff
11. Maintain effective board performance
12. Promote the organisation

HOW TO APPLY
You can either:

[1] Download the application pack, which includes the role description and person specification, the application form and Trustee Handbook. The application pack is available HERE (right click save As). Please send the completed application form to John Horwood, Chair Of Trustees at johnchorwood44@gmail.com

[2] Contact the Counselling Centre Manager for an application form and full details of the position. Address- Carrs Lane Counselling Centre Ltd, Carrs Lane, Birmingham. B4 7SX. Telephone 0121 643 6363. email: counselling@carrslanecounselling.co.uk