What difference will you make?
We seek a trustee with care home or adult social care experience to strengthen the board of Embracing Age, a volunteer‑led befriending charity supporting older people in care homes across southern England. Your frontline insight will help us develop programmes that make a difference.
What are we looking for?
The most important thing is that you are a practising Christian who is comfortable with and committed to our faith. We pray together at board meetings and our Christian ethos shapes everything we do. This is not just a values statement, it is the foundation of who we are as an organisation.
Beyond that, we are looking for someone who really knows care homes. Not in a theoretical way, but from the inside. You might be a current or former care home manager, a senior care professional, someone working within CQC regulation, or a leader in adult social care. What matters most is that you understand how care homes actually work right now, because the sector is changing fast and we need someone who is living that reality.
We would love you to bring
- A current or recent working knowledge of care homes or adult social care, including the pressures, the regulatory environment and the day to day realities facing residents and staff.
- An understanding of CQC standards and how they shape the way care homes operate.
- The ability to look at how we work and ask the questions that others around the table might not think to ask.
- A willingness to challenge our thinking constructively and bring fresh perspectives to board discussions.
- Good judgement and the ability to think strategically, even if you have not served on a board before. We welcome first time trustees and will give you a full induction and ongoing support.
- We are also really keen to hear from people who bring lived experience of care home life, whether as a family member, an informal carer, or someone from a community that is closely connected to adult social care. You do not need a formal job title to have something valuable to offer.
- We are actively seeking to diversify our board and we warmly encourage applications from people from Black and Asian communities, younger adults, and anyone who feels their voice is not typically heard in charity boardrooms. We use positive action in our recruitment, which means that where candidates are equally suitable we will prioritise those from communities currently underrepresented on our board.
- The other things we ask of all our trustees are a genuine commitment to our mission, a willingness to prepare thoroughly for meetings, the ability to work collaboratively as part of a small team, and a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
Please express your interest through Reach and we will arrange an informal conversation before any formal process. We would much rather have that conversation than miss out on the right person.
Remote
This is a remote position.
What will you be doing?
We are a small but growing charity and our board of four trustees is at a really exciting point in our development. We achieved record income in 2025 and we are expanding our befriending model across Richmond‑upon‑Thames, Hampshire, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight.
We are looking for someone who really knows how care homes work. That could be someone who has managed a home, worked within one, or led within adult social care. We need someone who gets it from the inside, because the decisions we make at board level are so much better when they are rooted in how care homes actually feel and function day to day.
Our volunteers visit older people who often have very little other social contact. The relationships they build really matter. But to make good decisions about our programmes we need a trustee who understands the pressures on care home staff, the regulatory environment, and what life is genuinely like for residents.
We are looking to strengthen this area of expertise within our board and are keen to recruit someone who can really add value here.
Board meetings are online, four times a year, and we are a friendly and collaborative group. Trustees who want to get more involved between meetings, for example by advising on how we work with care providers, are very welcome to do so.
We also warmly welcome applications from people with lived experience of care home life, whether as a family member, a carer, or someone from a community closely connected to adult social care. You do not need a formal job title to have something really valuable to offer.
If care homes are your world and you want that experience to count for something, we would love to hear from you.
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