Job Details:
Network Development Worker

Job Description

Justlife’s Vision

Making people's experience of temporary accommodation be short, safe and healthy.

About this role

We are looking for a motivated individual with an understanding of homelessness to fulfil this exciting role gathering people, exploring challenges and considering solutions related to temporary accommodation (TA).  The role will be responsible for pioneering, supporting and facilitating the delivery of a number of Temporary Accommodation Action Groups (TAAGs), primarily in the North West, that feed into national discussions and policy recommendations through Justlife’s campaigning work. Could this be you?

You will be comfortable leading cross-sector meetings and navigating conflicting priorities to move towards change. You will also be enthusiastic to represent an organisation which puts people with lived experience at the heart of everything they do. You will be a self-starter with great communications skills and a dedication to supporting people with current or lived experience to engage in the change making process. 

We currently run TAAGs in London, Bristol, Brighton and across Sussex but this work is new to the North West. You will need to be a strong networker with lots of initiative. You will be able to sell the benefits of TAAGs to participants, and with the persistence to see through the establishment of these groups. The role requires a flexible, pro-active and open approach to work, working within Justlife’s values - People before Programmes, Collaboration before Competition and Innovation before Institutions.

We strongly believe in the power of collaborative working, and you will be joining a small team of network development workers working across the country. We are currently growing this team in order to not just increase the amount of network work we can do, but also with the aim of offering more support, share best practice and help make this change happen on a wider scale.

This role will be based out of our Manchester office (minimum 2 days per week in office) but will also require regular travel, including some national travel and occasional overnight stays.

Why do we exist

Justlife is in existence because we know thousands of people struggle to manage in poor and unsuitable temporary accommodation. Their stay isn’t temporary, they are likely to be suffering with deteriorating mental and physical health, becoming victims of crime, losing control of their life and even dying prematurely. We are working towards making their stays as short, safe and healthy as possible.

How do we operate?

Our values guide our work and are very important to us:

• Collaboration before competition
• People before programmes
• Innovation before Institutions

What do we do?

Justlife delivers impactful services in Greater Manchester and Brighton & Hove, supporting and empowering people experiencing homelessness in temporary accommodation. We also drive positive system change across the national temporary accommodation sector, convening those with a common interest; people with lived experience, landlords, charities, local and national government, and carrying out research and gathering insights.

We aim to grow our impact and reach, supporting more people in temporary accommodation and to build a movement that brings about lasting positive change.

Why work for us?

Here at Justlife, we're committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to be an organisation that's representative of the communities we serve, which is why we strive for diversity of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity and perspective.

Perks of working at Justlife

• Great holiday package! Starting at 27 days annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays (increasing to 29 days after 5 years’ service and 30 days after 10 years’ service)
• Additional 5 days annual leave purchase scheme through salary sacrifice
• Enhanced pension contribution scheme, 5% Justlife contribution (correct at time of print)
• Cycle to work scheme
• 2 Volunteering days per year

Employment Terms and Conditions

Job Title: Network Development Worker

Hours: Full time, but open to part-time hours for the right candidate.

Contract Type/Term: Permanent.

Normal hrs. to be worked: Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. 

Location: Manchester - minimum 2 days per week in the office. This role will also require regular travel, including some national travel and occasional overnight stays.

Salary: £29,894

Closing date for applications: Midnight on Wednesday 23^rd April.

Application Process
To apply, please email a covering letter addressing how you meet the person specification, together with an up to date CV and an Equal Opportunities form to [email protected]. The Equal Opportunities form can be found at https://www.justlife.org.uk/jobs.

In-person interviews are planned to take place in Manchester on either Wednesday 30th April or Thursday 1st May. 

You will receive an automated email receipt of your submitted forms. If you do not hear from us by the end of Friday 26th April, please assume your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. Unfortunately we are unable to provide feedback on unsuccessful shortlisting.

If you have any questions about the role please email Lucy at [email protected] and she will be happy to answer or pass your enquiry on to the right person.

Job Summary

The Justlife Network Development Worker will have a desire to see systemic change for individuals and families experiencing temporary accommodation (TA) across the north and a commitment to doing so with the voice of lived experience at its heart. The TA situation across the country is acute and it is increasingly being recognised as the central issue of the housing crisis.

This role will involve working in partnership with local authorities, charities, accommodation providers and people who live in TA or have lived experience, to support and run a number of Temporary Accommodation Action Groups (TAAGs). While Justlife works in Manchester and has some existing work to build upon in Manchester, this role will be pro-actively involved in starting a TAAG in Manchester, as well as in other locations in the North-West. This role may also support and facilitate some or all the work of the Bristol TAAG. Over the contract period, the post holder will support TAAGs to test proposed solutions to local challenges of TA, continuity plan beyond Justlife’s support, and gather impact learning. 

This will include coming alongside local organisations working with people in TA, building their connections and capacity to bring about change in the sector. The role will convene regular steering group meetings bringing partners together to share learning across the TAAGs and enabling the them to feed into national discussions and policy recommendations through Justlife’s campaigning work including the Households in Temporary Accommodation All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and our Alliance.

The role will amplify the voices of those with lived experience of TA connecting them with others and enabling them to advocate, lobby and influence for meaningful change, positively impacting the circumstances of those living in TA, both in the areas where running TAAGs and nationally. This will be carried out working alongside existing lived experience forums providing a safe method of engagement, to actively promote the involvement of those with lived experience.

The role will gather good practice examples from the groups and the wider TA sector, monitor and evaluate the groups, report on their effectiveness and support continued learning within Justlife. Working alongside the wider Justlife team the role will consider solutions to the issues faced in TA that can be tested by Justlife or partner organisations.

This post is a fixed term contract, however Justlife is committed to the continued development of this work beyond June 2026, resource dependent. 

The role will include:

• Work within the network and TAAGs team to support the existing work of TAAGs, including possibly taking on a leadership/facilitation role in Bristol.
• Explore the possibility for new TAAGs across the North West and get new TAAG groups started.
• Supporting TAAGs to work with existing lived experience forums locally in order to ensure effective and safe lived experience engagement in the TAAGs.
• Developing learning around TA and building potential solutions through issues raised.

Responsible to: Head of Research, Policy & Communications

Responsible for: No direct reports

Role Description

Key Responsibilities

• Working in partnership with local authorities, charities, accommodation providers and people who live in TA or have lived experience of TA, to support and facilitate a number of TAAGs to thrive and achieve their aims.
• Supporting TAAGs to work alongside existing lived experience forums in order to ensure effective and safe lived experience engagement
• Convening and supporting regular steering group meetings bringing partners together to share learning across the TAAGs and enabling the TAAGs to feed into national discussions and policy recommendations through Justlife’s campaigning work including the Households in Temporary Accommodation All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and our Alliance.
• Proactively engaging with local organisations working with people in TA, strengthening their voice, building their connections and capacity to bring about change in the sector.
• Gathering good practice models and developing potential solutions with partners to issues relating to TA that can be tested by Justlife frontline services and partner organisations.
• Being part of Justlife’s Research, Policy & Communications team, attending weekly virtual team meetings, contributing to reports, presentations and communications to share learning.
• Contribute to the TAAGs team to support other Network Development Workers and share learning and best practice.
• Being part of and contributing to the Justlife team, attending meetings as appropriate and to be involved in appropriate staff development and training and be committed to team events 

This hybrid role will be based in Manchester, where we would ask you to work out of Justlife offices at least two days a week. It will require regular travel, including some national travel and occasional overnight stays.

This job description is intended as an outline indicator of general areas of activity and will be amended in light of the changing needs of Justlife. It is expected that the post holder will be as positive and flexible as possible in using this document as a framework, and in performing other duties commensurate with these responsibilities, the band of the post and skills and qualification of the post-holder.

Person Specification

Experience & Knowledge

• Experience of engaging with a wide variety of stakeholders in a variety of environments and across sectors
• Experience of working in multi-disciplinary environments where competing priorities are represented
• Experience of working/volunteering with, or research involving, people facing multiple disadvantage (such as those experiencing homelessness)
• Desirable: Experience of initiating networked approaches to working or pioneering innovative work that works in partnership with diverse stakeholder groups.
• Understanding of systems thinking approaches, including systems mapping and stakeholder analysis
• Understanding of co-production and other user lived experience engagement models

Skills

• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships, influence and communicate effectively with a range of people
• Ability to Interpret and analyse data to make convincing arguments and capture people’s interest
• Group Facilitation skills
• IT skills (Office suite, online cloud-based tools)
• Flexibility, adaptability and an ability to think creatively
• Excellent communication skills, verbally and written, including ability to write content and engage in social media

Personal attributes

• A strong commitment to drive change for people living in TA
• Commitment to diversity and anti-oppressive practice in all areas of work
• Self-motivation, able to prioritise workload and operate without close guidance from a manager
• Willingness to travel across North-West and, from time to time, further afield.
• Commitment to the values of Justlife:
  • Collaboration before competition
  • People before programmes
  • Innovation before Institution

• Great holiday package! Starting at 27 days annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays (increasing to 29 days after 5 years’ service and 30 days after 10 years’ service)
• Additional 5 days annual leave purchase scheme through salary sacrifice
• Enhanced pension contribution scheme, 5% Justlife contribution (correct at time of print)
• Cycle to work scheme
• 2 Volunteering days per year