Educational Placement Volunteer (Refugee Support - Sheffield)

Our placements students will gain insight into the daily internal workings of the world's largest humanitarian organisation. They will have access to relevant training and development opportunities and will be responsible for achieving specific agreed objectives in a set length of time within one of our various departments.

Are you passionate about supporting people in crisis? We are looking for empathetic and professional placement volunteers to help people access the vital services and opportunities they need. You will enjoy being part of a supportive team, working to a high level of accuracy and attention to detail and dealing with complex and personal information. Due to the intensity and complexity of parts of our services, it is essential that our placement volunteers work to the highest standards so that we can provide a safe, high quality and effective service.

The expected start date for this placement is 17 June 2025 and the placement will run for 12 weeks. We would like you to be available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and between 9am and 5pm preferably.

You will need to be able to attend the British Red Cross office in Sheffield (S9 2RX) Tuesdays and Thursdays and alternate Wednesdays attend the Refugee Support drop-in service in Sheffield (S1 2JB).

The British Red Cross is a volunteer-led humanitarian organisation that helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. We enable vulnerable people at home and overseas to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their own communities. And when the crisis is over, we help people recover and move on with their lives.

We're looking for placement volunteers to help us support asylum seekers and refugees. We are looking for empathetic and professional placement volunteers to help people access the vital services and opportunities they need.

Placement Volunteers at the British Red Cross are highly valued for the skills and energy they bring. We aim to provide our placement volunteers with an insight into the daily workings of the world’s largest humanitarian organisation. The successful candidate will have access to relevant in-house training and development opportunities during their placement. There may be some ad hoc opportunities to get involved in other areas of activity.

Your role as a placement volunteer will help make a great contribution to the work of the British Red Cross. You will take responsibility for achieving specific objectives that are agreed with you within one of the various departments across the UK. You will have a real responsibility and place in the department, bringing some of your skills and experience to the role; you will also have the chance to develop workplace skills.

While we don’t offer voluntary internships, we are happy for you to describe yourself as an intern on your CV, if you feel that would be helpful.

About the role:

We are looking for a placement volunteer who will be able to volunteer for 3 days per week for 3 months. You will be part of our South Yorkshire refugee support team based in Sheffield. You will be providing support to vulnerable migrants through effective triage, casework and advocacy.

Our casework placement volunteers work one-to-one with refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants at a time which many will find difficult and distressing. We help to make sure people have choices and opportunities available to them to move forward with their lives in a new country.

We are looking for empathetic placement Volunteers to help people access the vital services and opportunities they need. Volunteers will be supporting vulnerable clients over the phone, via email and in person at our fortnightly Sheffield based drop in and office based face to face appointments. You will enjoy being part of a supportive team, who will guide and train you to develop the skills you need to become one of our Casework Volunteers. You will start by shadowing and supporting experienced Caseworkers to develop your learning and understanding of how to provide appropriate support to service users, for example this may include; advice on asylum support, destitution, accommodation, accessing legal support, education and healthcare, signposting where appropriate and agreeing a plan of action to help people access their rights and entitlements.

Typical tasks may include:

• Giving one to one support to people e.g. advice on asylum support, accommodation and healthcare
• Attending our outreach drop-in session on alternate Wednesdays at Victoria Hall,
• Leading sensitive conversations and interviews with people to assess their needs as part of triage and comprehensive casework appointments,
• Agreeing a plan of action to help people access their rights and entitlements,
• Using your Red Cross training to give emotional support to adults and children,
• Maintaining client databases
• Referring people to other support services e.g. mental health and loneliness support,
• Working effectively with interpreters as well as people from the Home Office and other charities,
• Identifying and responding appropriately to safeguarding and protection issues.

We would like you to have/be:

• Good communication skills
• Good interpersonal skills
• Reliable and organised
• See advert description for further skills requirements.

Bursary Scheme

The British Red Cross offers a bursary scheme to those placement volunteers from low-income households. Eligibility will be determined through a separate application process open to all short-listed candidates. All British Red Cross volunteers are entitled to out-of-pocket reasonable expenses.

For this scheme we are defining low-income households as:

Inside London:

Living with family or partner £25,000 or under. Living independently £22.500 or under

Outside London:

Living with family or partner £18,500 or under. Living independently £16,500 or under

Diversity

We welcome applications from people of different backgrounds, experience and circumstances. We seek to ensure that our organisation and our services are relevant and accessible to all, with equality, diversity and fairness at the core of what we do. We invite applications from individuals regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or political belief and are committed to promoting fair participation and equality of opportunity for all of our applicants.

The British Red Cross is committed to being inclusive, with a diverse workforce. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible diversity of backgrounds, cultures and experiences – including disabled and ethnic minority candidates. We value fresh perspectives and insights gained by involving and welcoming people from the widest possible diversity of background, culture and experience. This is to contribute to the breadth of experience we need to respond to people in crisis.