Trustee - Safeguarding Lead

Join our Board of Directors

Trustee Lead for Safeguarding required for an innovative, best-practice charity

Help to make a real difference to the lives of women and girls by joining the board of directors of Advance

Our vision is a world where women and girls lead safe, just and equal lives.

Title: Chair Elect

Reporting to: Board of Trustees

Role Type: Volunteer

Location: London

Renumeration: The role of Trustee is not accompanied by any financial remuneration, although expenses for travel may be claimed.

Do you have expertise in the role described below and a belief that your skills will contribute to the strong and effective governance of an innovative medium-sized charity? We are looking to appoint up to four new Trustees to the Board with skills specifically focused on Safeguarding Adults & Children

This post is open to female applicants only as this is deemed a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

Advance is committed to equality and diversity and aims to have a board of trustees that reflects the communities we work with. We strongly encourage applications from women with diverse backgrounds, including those with disabilities, BAME and LBT communities.

About Us

Advance is a women’s organisation, delivering systems change, and trauma and gender-informed community-based support for women and girls affected by domestic abuse, including those in contact with the criminal justice system. We work nationally through our innovative, best-practice approach and systems change initiatives. We deliver wraparound frontline services across the South and East of England, including Greater London. Our expertise lies in decades of providing specialist support by women and for women and girls, to achieve safety, justice and equality at the intersection of domestic abuse and the criminal justice system.

Our whole-system approach is aligned with our values of collaboration and innovation, partnering with other statutory and non-statutory providers, to deliver a coordinated community and gendered response, improving access to services across the whole system, enabling consistency and continuity of support throughout a woman’s journey. Through our advocacy and awareness-raising work, we focus on systemic change and sustainable impact to meet women’s needs and improve their outcomes.

This is an exciting opportunity for you to join our experienced and committed Board.

You will join a dedicated and skilled group of Trustees and support the charity through a significant period of growth. Our staff team now includes over 150 skilled and passionate women across our programmes and our 10 womens’ centres in London and the South and East of England.

Time commitment

• Five Board meetings per year (in person in Hammersmith west London), plus membership of at least one board sub-committee (four meetings a year online)
• Ad hoc availability as matters arise (by telephone)
• Participate in one strategy away day each year (on a Saturday, usually held in January)
• Commit to the Board of Trustees for at least three years
• Note - the Chair of the Fundraising, Business Development and Communications Committee will be expected to chair a committee meeting four times a year (online) in addition to the Board meetings

The statutory duties of a trustee

• To ensure the organisation complies with its governing document in the articles of association
• To ensure that the organisation pursues its objectives as defined in its governing document
• To ensure the organisation applies its resources exclusively in pursuance of its objectives - the charity must not spend money on activities which are not included in its own objectives, no matter how charitable and worthwhile those activities are
• To contribute actively to the Board of Trustees' role in giving firm strategic direction to the organisation, setting overall policy, defining goals and setting targets and evaluating performance against agreed targets
• To safeguard the good name and values of the organisation
• To ensure the effective and efficient administration of the organisation
• To ensure the financial stability of the organisation
• To protect and manage the property of the organisation and to ensure the proper investment of the organisation's funds
• To appoint the Chief Executive and monitor their performance

In addition with other trustees to hold the charity in trust for current and future beneficiaries by:

• Ensuring that Advance has a clear vision, mission and strategic direction and is focused on achieving these
• Being responsible for the performance of the charity and for its corporate behaviour; ensuring that the charity complies with all legal and regulatory requirements
• Acting as guardians of the charity’s assets, both tangible and intangible, taking all due care over their security, deployment and proper application
• Ensuring that the charity’s governance is of the highest possible standard

As well as the various statutory duties, any trustee should make full use of any specific skills, knowledge or experience to help the board make good decisions. The above list of duties is indicative only and not exhaustive. The Trustee will be expected to perform all such additional duties as are reasonably commensurate with the role.

Process
Please download the job specification below, complete the application form and equality monitoring survey
Closing date for applications: 31 August 2025
Interviews: Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a first round interview week commencing 5 October via Teams. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an in person interview in Hammersmith west London.

You can find more information on our website: www.advancecharity.org.uk

To learn more about the role and duties of Trustees, please click here.

We would love to hear from you.