This role may be suitable for someone with a background in funeral arranging, funeral advice or bereavement support. However, it is also open to people with more limited funerals knowledge, but who have the right skills and approach. It is ideal for someone who wants to see significant change in the experience of bereaved families in Scotland.
INTRODUCING CALEDONIA FUNERAL AID CIC
Caledonia Funeral Aid CIC is a social enterprise and part of the anti-poverty charity Community Renewal Trust. Our vision is for a Scotland where everyone can afford a dignified funeral, personal to their needs. Currently we know thousands of bereaved Scottish families fall into deep funeral poverty which adds to their trauma and suffering at the worst possible time. The biggest aspect of our work is to act as a funeral directors, offering simple dignified caring direct cremations with high-quality service and an affordable price. Our funeral director service is called Caledonia Cremation and works with over 100 families per year from all over Scotland to arrange a funeral and provide wrap around practical and emotional support. This is done primarily as a telephone service and involves us collaborating with partner funeral directors and crematoria. Caledonia Funeral Aid CIC also provides advice on funeral practicalities, funerals costs and the emotional toll of a funeral through a support helpline, online resources and community events for people who have recently experienced bereavement and work with the bereaved. Increasingly we are also seeking to provide community workshops, events and meetings for people who may in future face funeral poverty to seek to reduce this.
This role is expected to deliver aspects of all the above tasks, combining funeral arranging and funeral advice. At all times we want placing people at the centre of a caring approach.
INTRODUCING COMMUNITY RENEWAL TRUST
Community Renewal Trust, the charity which runs Caledonia Funeral Aid CIC, is a dynamic and innovative organisation at the cutting-edge of work towards ending persistent poverty and inequity in Scotland. Community Renewal Trust works among deprived communities to develop, deliver and share better approaches to unlocking flourishing lives and flourishing neighbourhoods. These approaches always place people and communities in the lead: listening to them, identifying their strengths, supporting them on their terms, and building their capacity to flourish. In addition to Caledonia Funeral Aid CIC, our team is around fifty staff delivering community-based services around three key neighbourhoods: Muirhouse/West Pilton (Edinburgh), Bingham/Magdalene (Edinburgh), and Govanhill’s Roma (Glasgow).
ROLE SUMMARY
The Main aspect of this role is to support bereaved people and those who work with bereaved people in whatever aspect of help they are looking for. Compassionate listening, empathy, understanding and good communication skills are essential. Accuracy of detail for form and system completing and for handovers is necessary. You will need to provide advice through our telephone helpline, through online resources, through social media and through other enquires. This advice will be about funeral practicalities, funeral costs and providing emotional support. We increasingly also wish to use community events/workshops help prevent funeral poverty occurring and provide education. Funeral arranging is another regular task of the role, for this you will need to use email, post and telephone to listen to people’s needs, provide holistic support, take payments, arrange a formal contract and record evidence of decisions/authorisation on our secure online Management Information System. Communicating clearly, compassionately and punctually between all parties involved in the funeral at all times is absolutely vital. The majority of your role will be conducted working at home. You will need to be on a rota to respond to occasional on call out-of-hours urgent calls
(sometimes overnight) from people with an emergency situation.
There is an important role to promote the organisation and our campaigns in
press/media, social media, in communities and with partners. This will be done in collaboration with the Chair and Senior Funeral Bereavement Advisor. We intend for more of our work to be delivered with support from volunteers. This will require you to be working with and supporting volunteers.
We do not require you to bring complete knowledge about funerals and funeral poverty but rather to draw on our existing knowledge, be both thorough and caring, and quickly build connections/expertise.
OBJECTIVES AND COMPETENCIES
Applicants for this role will be expected to show understanding of the objectives and be able to evidence the extent to which they meet the competencies set out below.
Objectives:
- Deliver high quality and caring funeral advice and support to recently bereaved families and others seeking our support and funeral arranging for those customers who are seeking to arrange a funeral with Caledonia Cremation
- Consistently provide clear guidance and information on why people might or might not want to have a direct cremation.
- Undertake compassionate listening with every person seeking support
- Connect people to the support they need or offer other advice as needed around funeral practicalities or funeral costs.
- Continuously improve listening skills, connections/expertise around funerals and ability to support emotional needs.
- Deliver effective support via telephone, email, social media, online, webchat, and other media when required.
- Keep thorough and accurate notes and collaborate with team members to ensure continuity of care for those supported.
- Support bereaved families to consider how to arrange celebrations of life or create physical memorials, especially where these are able to be more affordable and/or more personalised.
- Arranging and facilitating community events, meetings or workshops to discuss death, bereavement and funerals with the aim of preventing funeral poverty.
- Avoid delivering grief counselling or creating dependency among people supported
- Work with and support volunteers to deliver aspects of this role.
- Support the promotion of Caledonia Funeral Aid and our campaigns including by supplying case studies, proactively engaging with partners and involvement in marketing, PR and social media. –
- Take reasonable steps to be available on a rota to respond to occasional out-of hours urgent calls (sometimes overnight) from people with an emergency situation.
- Arrange with 100% accuracy all payments, paperwork, formal contracting and recording of evidence of decisions/authorisation (recorded on our secure online Management Information System).
- At all times communicate clearly, compassionately and punctually between all parties involved in each funeral.
Other requirements Objectives: - Carry out other duties as reasonably requested
Competencies:
- High levels of communications skills including clarity, accuracy, compassion,
- Effective listening skills
- Good understanding of the processes around arranging funerals
- Effective skills at connecting people to the support they need (including grants/benefits available)
- Good knowledge of issues bereaved families face around funerals
- Always collaborates with others; supports other staff/volunteers
- Competent administration of records and reporting (including in databases)
- Self-confidence, and able to display an optimistic outlook whilst remaining results orientated, flexible, adaptable, with a ‘can do’ attitude
- Motivated, reliable, responsible and able to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
Essential Expereince:
- Evidence of understanding of people’s needs around funerals and bereavement Evidence of expertise from multiple environments demonstrating effective listening skills (e.g. in a coaching role or similar)
- Evidence of expertise from multiple environments demonstrating high levels of written and verbal communications skills, especially around being clear, accurate and compassionate.
- Evidence of expertise from multiple environments demonstrating competent administration of records (e.g. in databases or paperwork administration)
- Evidence showing an approach which is results orientated, flexible, adaptable, and a ‘can do’ attitude.
- Evidence showing an ability to work under pressure.
Desirable Experience:
- Evidence of expertise from multiple environments demonstrating high levels of understanding of people’s needs around funerals and bereavement.
- Evidence of expertise from multiple environments demonstrating high levels of understanding of the processes for a funeral director.
- Evidence of expertise from multiple environments demonstrating high levels of written and verbal communications skills, especially around being clear, accurate and compassionate.
- Evidence of experience forming and maintaining relationship trusting relationships with third/public sector partners and subcontractors.
Desirable Qualifications:
- Qualifications from care or funeral sector
- Qualifications related to listening
Pay: £13.60 per hour
Benefits:
- Bereavement leave
- Enhanced maternity leave
- Enhanced paternity leave
- Health & wellbeing programme
- Work from home
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Edinburgh
