Chief Executive

Women in Prison

Full time, permanent

London/Flexible

£70,000

Women in Prison is a national charity that delivers support for women affected by the criminal justice system in prisons, within the community and through our Women's Centres. We campaign to end the harm caused to women, their families and our communities by imprisonment. We are an organisation centred on womens experiences and one that is ambitious for radical change.

Our vision is for a new system of justice that addresses the root causes of offending (including poverty, mental ill-health, harmful substance use, homelessness and experiences of trauma and abuse) in communities through a network of Womens Centres, with specialist services available to every woman who requires support.

Our Mission is to persuade decision-makers to radically reduce the womens prison population, by demonstrating how a focus on human rights, social justice, health and investment in specialist community support services, including Womens Centres, enables women to move forward with their lives.

Women are at the centre of our model of support and our voice calling for change. What we do works - we enable women to make the changes they want in their lives and move forward in a way that works for them and their families. Our strength and ability to influence lies in our combination of working on the frontline, facilitating opportunities for women to speak 'truth to power' and campaigning together for a new system of justice.

We are looking for a new Chief Executive to ensure that the charity upholds its vision, mission and values by developing and sustaining high quality services to support and promote the needs of women affected by the criminal justice system, to lead on campaigning and lobbying work to maintain and develop our position at the cutting edge of penal reform, and income generation.

Women in Prison is committed to building and valuing diverse teams and taking positive action to promote equality and challenge unfair and unlawful discrimination. We recognise that women may experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination based on their sex and additional, real or perceived characteristics, including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion, sexual orientation, social-economic background, immigration status, caring responsibilities, spent convictions or trade union membership.

WIP works to tackle discrimination and the structural inequalities women experience. We are committed to embedding diversity and inclusion in all areas of our work, including recruitment, and aim to reflect the diversity and excellence of the women that we work with. We actively encourage applications from women from a variety of backgrounds, and with a range of skills and experiences. We are particularly interested to hear from women from Black, Asian and minoritised communities and women with lived experience of the criminal justice system who are under represented in leadership positions in our sector.

This role is only open to women, in accordance with the sex-based exemptions of the Equality Act 2010 pursuant to Schedule 9, Part 1.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975. Due to the nature of our work it will be necessary for an enhanced disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service for details of any previous criminal convictions which are not protected under the Act.

How to apply

Application is by way of CV with a Supporting Statement that should set out your motivations for applying and how your work experience to date meets the scope of the responsibilities. As a general guide, your Supporting Statement should be around two sides of A4.

If you would like an informal conversation about the role, please contact our recruitment partner, Carroll Lloyd, Director, NFP Consulting on 07765 001 033 or email carroll.lloyd@nfpconsulting.co.uk

To recruit the most appropriate candidate, a number of pre-employment due diligence checks will be undertaken in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018. These checks will help determine the character and suitability of the individual to carry out this particular role.

Closing date: Monday 31st January 2022