Trustees

This is an opportunity to join the Board of a growing and innovative organisation as a Trustee, striving to support more older people across the borough of Kensington and Chelsea in different and new ways.

• Location: Kensington & Chelsea, London

Who we are.

Age UK Kensington & Chelsea (£3.1 million) is a community-based charity working in the heart of Kensington and Chelsea to ensure that older people’s voices are heard, their needs are met, and their independence is supported.

We are a team of 95 staff who provide a wide range of services including advice and information, and a variety of activities which improves well-being and addresses the issues of loneliness and isolation among older people. Our services range from informal social and leisure activities through to more practical assistance, social prescribing and in light of the pandemic, delivering large-scale humanitarian response from the first day of lockdown in 2020. We are part of the fabric of Kensington and Chelsea – a diverse and vibrant borough with a need and demand for more services and innovation for older people.

Prior to the pandemic, we introduced in partnership with the NHS, My Care, My Way, which has continued to grow from strength to strength with over 40 health and social care prescribing coordinators working with over 7,000 patients to provide support to reduce hospital admissions and promote independence. Every NHS-registered GP practice in Kensington and Chelsea is now signed up to My Care, My Way.

More people are living longer lives and as an organisation, we need to be fit for the years to come and ready to deliver the services our older people tell us they need. We are developing innovative new offers such as our recent pilot to deliver an evidence-based long-term supportive intervention for people living with dementia and exploring how exciting developments in technology can best support people as they age. We are also concerned about the impact of the cost of living crisis on our older people and how we can support them.

About the role.

It is an exciting time to join our Board as we are executing our current strategy and next year will be creating our next strategic plan. We appointed a number of new Trustees to the Board over the last number of years and we are now looking to grow our Board in terms of skill sets. We are looking for a mix of people, people who have been Trustees before and those who are new to the role.

In particular, we are looking to appoint:

• A finance professional, we have appointed a new Finance Director, and we are looking for a new Trustee with finance expertise who can join our Treasurer on the Finance Committee. This person could come from a variety of sectors with experience in accountancy, financial strategy, audit and risk.
• A professional with experience of working with older people and/or health or social care. It could be someone who has delivered services in the NHS, private or charitable sectors. We would welcome anyone with experience of dementia.
• In addition to this, we are looking for a professional with expertise and/or an understanding of fundraising; this could be in philanthropy, development, major donors, and/or events.

We are open to other skill sets and experiences as we look to grow and develop our Board. In particular, we are keen to attract those with a background in HR/people management for our HR Committee.

We are committed to ensuring our Board Members have a connection and understanding of the Borough.

We are keen that our Board represents the diversity of our borough and we encourage applications from people from diverse backgrounds and experiences including LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities and people from global majority backgrounds.

We are a values-driven charity and older people are at the heart of everything we do in our community, so we are looking for someone who is committed and dedicated to supporting older people and is passionate about our Borough.

We would welcome our new Trustees throughout the year to attend our events and services for our older people, such as walking football or events such as our Valentine’s celebration which attracts over 400 older people.

Time commitment

The board meets 4 times a year in the evening for approximately three hours (twice online and twice in-person). We have 3 Board Sub-Committees, the Finance & Risk Committee, Quality, Performance & Development and HR, these meet 2 – 4 times each year for about 2 hours. Committee meetings are usually held online.

We hold an annual AGM and also meet annually for a board development/strategy review day and other ad hoc events throughout the year.

We expect the time commitment for our Trustees including reading board papers, attendance at events, ad hoc conversations with staff and Board Members to be up to a day a month on average.

Please click 'Apply’ to be redirected to the Peridot Partners website, where you can find full details of the candidate profile and register your interest to apply.

Applications for this role close Monday 1st July 2024.