Hello team,
Here we are at the end of October, another month down and well and truly on our way to 2026! Before we look ahead to the next year, let's take a look at what has been going on this month...
Who's Who?
This month's who's who is dedicated to Jo Clark, Engagement and Support Coordinator who is part of our North Team.
What does your day to day role as a ESC look like?
One day can look different from the next but that is part of the fun. It includes supporting volunteers in training who are walking through the approval process and getting them to panel. This looks like having conversations to ensure they understand the process and what volunteering looks like, to putting them through their core training and doing their volunteer portrait, etc. My role includes attending matching meetings in order to find volunteers to support families in their area and caring for the volunteers through check in calls, anniversary cards and closure surveys. It also includes liaising with the CRC to support potential volunteers who may have more questions about volunteering before they submit an application.
What do you like about working for Safe Families and Home for Good and why did you think about applying for a role here?
I was a Safe Families volunteer before I came to work for the organisation. I heard a church presentation and loved the Christian values alongside the faith in action. I loved being able to help isolated families in my local area. When I was a volunteer, I received an email advertising the Community Volunteer Manager role in Manchester, I applied and got the job. When I joined the team, I saw a family who genuinely cared for each others and had care for the families and volunteers at the heart of everything they do.
Staff updates - New Starters
Here are the new starters from October that we would like to give a warm welcome to (from left to right)
- John Allan, Church and Community Relationships Coordinator (Scotland and NI), started 1 October
- Eleanor Patterson, CARE placement (National), started 2 October - photo to follow
- Gill Elder, PA to the CEO Office (National), started 6 October
- James Smith, Systems Developer (National), started 6 October
- Jordan Lubega, Systems Developer (National), started 6 October
- Andrew Agnew, Digital Campaign Lead (National), started 15 October
Staff updates - Leavers
In October, we are sadly saying goodbye to David Templeton, Church and Community Relationships Team Leader, Julie-Anne Alexander, Head of Family Support, Joanne Beynon, Referral Coordinator, Jemma Collins, Communications Manager, Jo Waterson, Family Support Manager and Jez Hailwood, Head of Systems. Please join us in prayer for their next steps.
Vacancies
Our current live vacancies are:
- Church and Community Relationships Coordinator (Belfast and wider NI) closing 10 November, hiring manager Rebecca Parnell
- Church and Community Relationships Coordinator (Northampton, Bedfordshire, Norfolk, Cambridge and Peterborough) closing 14 November, hiring manager Maureen Sydney
- Family Support Manager (Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire) closing 7th November, hiring manager Holly Donald
If you have any contacts in the area or know someone who may want to apply - please do pass on the job details. All information can be found here.
Policy updates
This month we have made some more updates to some of our policies and our staff handbook. You can find these latest updates here:
- Staff Handbook - updates have been made to the vision, policy information now reflecting the newest versions and some updates to wording.
- Disciplinary Procedure and Grievance Procedure - there haven't been any process updates for these procedures, updates have been around grammar and use of language.
To view any of our other policies, follow this link.
Internal Training Opportunities
Our wonderful teams have been busy the last few months pulling together some sessions to help you expand your knowledge and use some of the tools available to us even better. If you missed some the sessions around Slack and the use of AI you can CATCH UP ON THEM HERE. If you did manage to make one of the sessions please do complete this short survey to feedback to our Systems team.
Menopause Awareness month
October is Menopause Awareness Month. Why not commit to doing something in the next few weeks to increase your understanding of the menopause?
Cybersecurity Awareness month
October is also Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Stuart Main has helpfully been sharing some top tips throughout the month to help us make sure we are doing all we can to make sure we are playing our part in keeping our cyber space safe. Here are the tips if you missed them:
- Think before you click
- Lock your devices
- Think before you download
- Protect what you share
- See something, say something - including a quiz to test your awareness
Health and Wellbeing
There is a working group looking at our current health and wellbeing offer within the organisation and as part of this we want to let you know about some of the things that we have in place for staff. We have a Group Income Protection scheme which can help those who are off on long term sick, they work alongside Proclaim Care who provide support for those returning to work or to help those who may need some support to stay in work. These are opt in services and will require your consent should you choose to access this. We also have YuLife which, along with lots of fun challenges you can compete in there are a number of services on offer including GP appointments, counselling and other health and wellbeing services, some of which are also available to cohabiting partners and children.
Annual Leave Allowance
From the week beginning 3 November, our annual leave allowance for 2026/2027 will go live! This will mean that you are able to book in any holidays that you may have planned between April 2026 and March 2027. During the 26/27 year Easter occurs twice (it is in March in 2027!) and therefore those who work full time will have 38 days for the year (to account for the two extra bank holidays). In the leave year 2027/28 (we know it is a long time away) the full time equivalent will then be 34 days.
And use this as a reminder to book you bank holidays and the Christmas period off (25th December - 31st December- the allowance for this is included in your yearly figure) If you are wanting to work on a non Christmas Bank holiday or one of the Christmas closure days, please speak with your line manager to get approval for this. Remember there will be no IT / national team support on these days and no visits should be completed. Pages 11 and 12 of the Staff Handbook give you some more information about this.
Thank you so much for reading through Staff Matters, as always, please do reach out if you need any help with anything.
People and Culture Team