Stay Safe East Advocacy Volunteer

Applications for this opportunity are closed.

About this project

Stay Safe East is an organisation run by disabled people, providing specialist and holistic advocacy and support services to disabled people from diverse communities in London who are victims/survivors of domestic or sexual violence, hate crime, harassment and other forms of abuse.

Founded in 2010 as a local East London service, in 2018 we extended our services across London, as partners in the London Victims and Witnesses Service (LVWS) led by Victim Support, and in Ascent Plus led by Solace. We are also part of the CATCH partnership, a London-wide alliance of the key organisations working on hate crime.

Our aims:
To support deaf and disabled people who experience or have experienced violence and abuse, hate crime, domestic or sexual violence, carer abuse and others forms of human rights abuses
To ensure that disabled and deaf people get the justice they deserve
To provide an independent, accessible, third party reporting site for hate crime and domestic violence
To inform disabled and Deaf people of their rights to be safe, and to encourage them to report incidents and crimes
To build the capacity of our partner organisations (police, voluntary sector, housing, local authority, Crown prosecution service) to provide an inclusive, appropriate service and to deliver justice to disabled and deaf people
To bring about change in national and other policies on supporting victims of crime
To act as a model for good practice

The role

Providing support to disabled victims of hate crime and/or other forms of crime by:

Conducting legal research on behalf of advocates
Attending events on behalf of Stay Safe East
Supporting with Stay Safe East's organisational communications
Gathering feedback from clients

Volunteers begin with the above tasks, and as they build confidence and demonstrate reliability, their skills and interests will be assessed by the development officer. From there, suitable volunteers can be invited to take on more complex roles. These might involve the following tasks:

Listening to the person’s experiences and offering access to emotional support 
Informing the client about their rights 
Advocating on behalf of each client or supporting them to advocate for themselves with statutory and voluntary agencies 
Understand clients’ access and communication needs and find solutions for ensuring those needs are met, both internally and externally with other agencies
Arranging meetings with clients as necessary
Keeping in regular contact with each client to provide reassurance and updates on progress 
Referring the client for support relating to benefits/entitlements 
Supporting client to identify social care or mental health support, equipment and other support 
Supporting the client to make or attend appointments with solicitors, health, housing, adult social care etc. 
Linking in with advocates to ensure they are aware of client’s desired support plan action e.g. support to liaise with statutory agencies
To work in partnership with other agencies and where appropriate refer disabled people to other voluntary agencies, disability and other specialist support services 
To support clients to speak out for themselves
Any other reasonable tasks as required

Please note that when a volunteer progresses to the established volunteer stage and is due to take on direct client support work, they will be expected to undergo a DBS check. CAJ will support you with this check, but you will need to have documents ready before the Enhanced check is requested. The three documents you will need are listed under 'Section 3: Documents Required' of the CAJ DBS Guidance.

Training and Supervision Provided

Training will be provided on disability awareness, understanding hate crime, safeguarding practice, domestic abuse, and potentially civil and criminal legal remedies training.
In addition, all students will receive the CAJ Mandatory Volunteer training, which covers data protection and confidentiality, working with vulnerable clients, professional conduct and regulation, self-care, and our expectations of CAJ volunteers. Students will need to be available on October 29th or November 12th for this training.

Time commitment

1 day per week, for four hours of the day.
This will include one full day, in addition to virtual attendance at SSE's weekly team meeting, from 11:30 - 1PM on Wednesdays.
Students will volunteer from November 2025 to June 2026, with a break for exams.

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.

Who can apply

All LLB and LLM students
Stay Safe East is a Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation. We actively encourage applications from those who are disabled or have a strong interest in disability rights. Stay Safe East can provide support with access needs.

How to apply

Applications close on October 26, 11:59PM.

Interviews will take place remotely on the 4th of November.

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.

Key Information and Deadlines

Deadline: October 26th, 11:59PM

Interviews: 4th November (remote)

Eligibility: All LLB and LLM Students

How to apply: 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.

Time commitment: One day at SSE per week (4 hours per week)

This opportunity will be hybrid.