Centre for Adults’ Social Care – Advice, Information and Dispute Resolution (CASCAIDr CIC)

Project Overview 

CASCAIDr is a Community Interest Company with expertise in the legal principles that are supposed to govern how adult social services operate in England and Wales, and which intertwine with rights to NHS services. 

There’s no ‘appeal’ against social work or clinical decisions in these sectors – only complaints and litigation, but public law is still relevant to those processes, which is used by the Ombudsman within complaints work, and that’s what a knowledge of judicial review grounds helps to explain.  

We have two available roles with CASCAIDr CIC. The first is for an ‘Administrative Assistant’ position which is open to first year students. This position will offer you the opportunity to become familiar with legal analysis, information organisation, and CASCAIDr’s workflow management systems. The second role is a ‘Student Writing Assistant’ position, where you will use your existing research and analytical skills to make legal developments accessible to the public. 

About the Roles 

Administrative Assistant (Year 1 Students) 

This role encompasses a range of tasks and responsibilities: 

• Contributing to outreach and engagement projects.  

• Social media and marketing work. 

• Fundraising. 

• Administrative support for management. 

• Website & Information Technology (IT) upkeep. 

• Database & Intellectual Property (IP) management. 

Student Writing Assistant (Year 2, 3, 4, and LLM Students) 

This role encompasses a range of tasks and responsibilities: 

• Legal research to support CASCAIDr CIC’s free output 

• Legal writing up and editing of Ombudsman complaint reports, case law reports 

• Drafting Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests  

Training and Supervision: 

All students volunteering on a CAJ pro bono placement undertake mandatory training which covers the following:  

• GDPR Training 

• Safeguarding  

• Working in a Third Sector Environment  

• Data Protection and Confidentiality  

• Working with Vulnerable Clients  

• Professional Conduct and Regulation  

• Self-Care and Resilience 

For Student Writing Assistants, CASCAIDr CIC will provide 10 hours of training on community care law from their own resources. 

All volunteers will receive IT training on how to access CASCAIDr CIC’s work systems (including Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, Workjoy, etc).  

Pro Bono Skills Development Framework  

The Centre for Access to Justice now offers all students engaged in voluntary pro bono the opportunity to participate in the Pro Bono Skills Development Framework . This framework allows you to reflect on the skills gained during your placement, aligned with the Aurora Competence Framework. Completing it earns you a Certificate of Commitment to Pro Bono, acknowledging your dedication and skill development. Your participation will help you document and showcase the valuable competencies you've developed, however, please note that participation in the PBSDF scheme is entirely voluntary and will not affect your placement in any way.  

Eligibility and How to Apply: 

Applications for this opportunity are open. The deadline is 9 October 2024 at 11:59PM. Interviews will begin on the week commencing 14th October 2024. Please apply via the online application form. 

When applying, please make sure you have completed the CAJ Equality and Diversity Monitoring Questionnaire. You only need to complete this once per academic year.     

Should you have any questions, please contact Annika Melwani at annika.melwani@ucl.ac.uk.