NEW: Vacancy – Policy and Engagement Officer

Collective Voice is seeking a policy and engagement officer to work alongside our chief executive officer to improve England’s drug and alcohol treatment and recovery system.

You will be motivated and values driven with a strong interest in making the world a better place, as well as analytical with good understanding of policy development and how to influence national and local decision-making. This is a varied role with the opportunity for professional development across a range of charity functions.

Purpose of the role
The policy and engagement officer will play an integral role in engaging with charities and other organisations across the substance misuse field to support Collective Voice to influence decision makers to improve England’s drug and alcohol treatment and recovery system and to champion the role of charities in delivering it. In a typical week you might draft a response to a government consultation on national policy, support a meeting to convene and collate the views of the field on a key issue, write our weekly ebulletin to engage and inform stakeholders, brief the chief executive officer on a policy issue before they meet officials in Whitehall, take minutes at a board meeting, or write a blog analysing and explaining policy developments.

Forming, with the chief executive officer, a team of just two, the post holder will work closely with the chief executive across all functions of the organisation. This represents, therefore, a significant opportunity for professional development.

For the full job description, please see the Application Pack.

About Collective Voice
Collective Voice is the national charity working to improve England’s drug and alcohol treatment and recovery system. We advocate for a system that reduces harm and nurtures recovery and the vital role of charities in delivering this.

Treatment and recovery hold transformative power for people with drug and alcohol problems – and their families and communities. Anyone in England with a substance use problem should be able to access evidence based and person centred support to keep them safe and enable them to make the change they want to see in their lives.  The voluntary sector is the cornerstone of this support.

We work in partnership with a range of organisations to:

• Advocate for treatment and recovery by influencing policy at a national level and championing the voluntary sector’s role in treatment and recovery
• Build the field by informing, connecting and innovating
• Strengthen our collective voice by renewing our governance, growing and diversifying our membership, and leading through collaboration

This is an exciting time to join Collective Voice. We are a young charity; originally created as an alliance of treatment and recovery charities in 2015 and constituted as an independent charity in 2019. We have built a strong reputation across the field and with decision makers and we are ambitious to build upon our foundations to seize the opportunity presented to the substance misuse treatment and recovery field by the government’s Drug Strategy and to deliver the final year of our 2022-25 organisational strategy and develop plans for our next strategic period.

We share a friendly office space in Bethnal Green, London with some other small charities. We currently work across the office and home working in a flexible, hybrid model with a minimum of 1-2 days a week in the office together, to facilitate collaboration, and other days at home, as fits our individual needs.

How to apply for the job

To apply please refer to the job description and person specification in the application pack and submit a CV (max. four sides) and covering letter (max. two sides) outlining why you would like the job and how your, experience, skills and knowledge meet the person specification for the role via the charity job website.