Location: Field-based (Wandsworth & Richmond)
Contract: Permanent, 35 hours
Salary: £37,406 plus £3000 London Allowance
About the role
We’re looking for an experienced and passionate Advocacy Manager to lead our Wandsworth & Richmond service.
This is a fantastic opportunity to lead a high-performing team delivering independent, person-centred advocacy that makes a real difference to people's lives. You’ll shape and develop services, drive quality and performance, and ensure people experiencing mental illness have their voices heard.
You’ll be part of a supportive national network of managers—working collaboratively, sharing learning, and helping us continually improve how we deliver advocacy.
What you’ll be doing
As Advocacy Manager, you’ll take ownership of your local contracts and lead your team to deliver excellent services. You will:
- Lead, motivate and develop a team of advocates and trainees
- Deliver high-quality, issue-based advocacy aligned with legal frameworks and standards
- Oversee service performance, ensuring KPIs are met and outcomes are achieved
- Manage resources, caseloads and workforce planning effectively
- Drive service improvement, innovation and local business planning
- Ensure safeguarding, risk management and compliance are embedded in practice
- Build strong relationships with stakeholders, partners and local networks
- Lead on audits, reporting and continuous quality improvement
- Handle complaints and incidents with professionalism, ensuring learning is applied
About the service
The Wandsworth & Richmond Advocacy Service provides a broad range of statutory and community advocacy, including:
- IMCA
- IMHA
- Care Act Advocacy
- Community advocacy
You’ll lead a dedicated team of advocates, ensuring the service is responsive, effective and tailored to local community needs.
Who we’re looking for
We’re looking for someone who is:
- A qualified advocate (essential)
- An experienced people manager who can lead and develop high-performing teams
- Confident in managing performance, change, and complex situations
- Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise and respond to competing demands
- Calm under pressure and able to navigate challenging situations
- A strong communicator, both written and verbal
- Knowledgeable about safeguarding and statutory advocacy frameworks
- IT literate, with experience using case management systems
- Able to travel across the service area
What success looks like
- Your team delivers high-quality, person-centred advocacy
- Services meet performance targets and demonstrate real impact
- Staff feel supported, developed and motivated
- Strong partnerships are built across the local system
- Continuous improvement is embedded in everything you do
Important information
- This role requires an Enhanced DBS check (Adults & Children)
- This post is subject to safeguarding and compliance requirements
Ready to apply?
If you’re an experienced advocacy professional who is ready to lead, inspire and make a real difference—we’d love to hear from you.
IND1
Why Work With Rethink Mental Illness?
At Rethink Mental Illness, we believe that when you feel supported, you can make the biggest difference. That’s why we offer a range of benefits to help you thrive:
- Inclusive Culture: Join staff networks that champion diversity and inclusion.
- Wellbeing Support: Access our Wellbeing Hub, Employee Assistance Programme, and the Unmind mental health app.
- Recognition & Rewards: Enjoy discounts, cashback offers, and celebrate achievements through our PULSE platform.
- Flexible Working & Generous Leave: Starting at 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays and your birthday off), with options to buy or sell extra days.
- Learning & Development: Grow your career with structured onboarding and training opportunities.
- Financial & Family Support: Contributory pension scheme, enhanced family leave, and travel benefits like season ticket loans and cycle-to-work schemes.
- Referral Bonus: Earn up to £300 for introducing someone to our team.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Diversity is important to us, and we appreciate difference through difference, inclusiveness and belonging. It gives us a deeper understanding of the world, our society and the diverse communities we’re working with. By including everyone, we are able to draw on the unique experiences and expertise of our people to help shape and enrich our workplace and improve our services. One way we are doing is through our valued staff networks which play a critical and highly valued role in keeping us focused on creating a diverse, inclusive and engaged employer. We recognise and support staff networks and support groups for our ethnically diverse and LGBTQIA+ colleagues. We are also proud to have been awarded Disability Confident Employer status and are a signatory to the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter.
We aim for our workforce to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve; for those who work for us to feel heard, valued and feel they belong; and for our work to help tackle wider mental health inequalities. We therefore actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including applicants with lived experience of mental illness, those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual and any other gender identity not expressed here (LGBTQIA+); people who are neurodiverse, have a health condition, or a disability or hidden disability and people from an ethnically diverse background - regardless of your age, religious or spiritual belief, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, political view or socio-economic status.
Becoming a truly anti-racist organisation
We have an ambition of become a truly anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider - and in our efforts to influence policy and wider societal factors impacting on mental health set out in our anti-racist statement . We have designed a multi-year anti-racist programme of work contained in our Race Equality Action Plan which demonstrates our intention to hold ourselves accountable and be judged on our progress on becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.
