Advisory Committee Members (Central, North West, North East) - BBC Children in Need

Overview

Advisory Committee Members (Central, North West, North East) – BBC Children in Need

About BBC Children in Need: BBC Children in Need believe every child and young person deserves the opportunity to thrive and be the best they can be. We are local to people in all corners of the UK, supporting small and large organisations. Thanks to the support of the public, we currently fund around 1,300 local charities and projects across the UK working with children and young people facing disadvantage.

The BBC Children in Need Appeal started in 1927 on BBC radio when it raised £1,143. Since 1980 it has been an annual live television and radio appeal. In the 1980s the charity was established as a grant-making trust to distribute funds raised by the annual appeal throughout the UK. Since then, BBC Children in Need, working in partnership with the BBC, has raised and distributed over £800 million to projects working with disadvantaged children and young people across the UK.

The Committee Member Role

BBC Children in Need are particularly keen to appoint Committee Members from the following areas: Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, East Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Shropshire, Suffolk, and the North East of England.

Advisory Committees advise the Trustees of BBC Children in Need on grant awards across the UK. Committee members are highly valued, help to maintain the integrity of the Charity and help to achieve a balanced portfolio of grants, based on our strategic priorities, policies, guidelines and criteria.

Each Advisory Committee member is part of a small team, who collectively bring a range of skills, knowledge and experience including: working with children and young people; the voluntary sector; disability; social services; equal opportunities; business planning and finance; the rights of the child, and lived experience of some of the challenges we seek to address.

An Advisory Committee Member must be able to work as part of a team, communicate effectively and evaluate the merits of a grant application in an objective manner. Grant applications are reviewed by local Children in Need staff and assessed by a team of assessors. They then go to the Committee who review and discuss the applications with staff representatives during the Grant Allocation meeting. Recommendations on those to be funded are then made to the BBC Children in Need Trustees who make the final decisions on applications.

In addition to the Grant Allocation meetings, two Planning and Portfolio meetings will be held each year for Advisory Committee members to collectively review the National or Regional grant portfolio and plan.

Time Commitment

At present, Committee Members are expected to attend at least two Grant Allocation meetings and a minimum of one of the Planning and Portfolio meetings each year. The total time commitment for this will be around 3-5 days per year. This includes time spent reading and absorbing the overview summary of all applications in readiness for participating in the discussion and decision-making process as part of the Grant Allocation meeting and the Planning and Portfolio meetings.

It is expected that the Grant Allocation meetings will be a mix of Teams or face-to-face and take around three hours. Where held face to face, this will usually be at a BBC location within the region you are a member, and travel, overnight and other related expenses will be recompensed. Planning and Portfolio meetings will ideally be held face-to-face usually at a BBC location in the region, and travel, overnight and any other related expenses will be covered. Provision for the meeting to be held over Teams will be made, if required.

Committee members are also expected to take part in a minimum of one additional meeting during the year to undertake relevant training and development activities. Appointments are of a voluntary nature and would be for an initial three-year term, starting in Winter/Spring 2026.

Candidate Profile

BBC Children in Need requires Committee Members from the following areas: Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, East Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Shropshire, Suffolk.

We are keen to receive applications from people with knowledge/experience of any of the issues facing children and young people, and / or knowledge of the voluntary sector. We welcome applications from anyone regardless of their age, disability, ethnicity, heritage, sexuality, gender and socio-economic background. For these roles we are particularly encouraging applications from those from the Black, Asian or other minority ethnic communities and / or LGBTQ+ community and / or people with disabilities as these groups are underrepresented within our Committee.

Appointments are subject to satisfactory references and an ID check. In addition to this Committee members are required to sign up to Terms of Reference and a Code of Conduct, BBC Children in Need Personal Disclosure Form, a Fit and Proper Persons Declaration and an annual Declaration of Interest. Committee members are expected to strictly observe confidentiality on matters relating to grant applications.

How to apply

Please provide an up-to-date CV and a covering statement (no more than 2 pages of A4) explaining why this role is of interest, and the knowledge, expertise, insight and experience you will bring to the role.

Please submit this by email to cin.central@bbc.co.uk with the subject line of Impact Committee Application.

• Salary: Voluntary
• Commitment: 3 – 5 days per year
• Deadline: 11.59pm Sunday 16th November 2025
• Provisional date for interviews: w/c 8th & 15th December 2025

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