Appointment Brief June 2021

Chair Welcome letter

Thank you for your interest in becoming the Chair of Trustees for Rights UK (DR UK).

Since its foundation in 2012 DR UK has significantly grown in profile, influence and reputation. In 2022 we celebrate 10 years of our organisation working together with Disabled People leading change. Our organisation is rooted in the Social Model of Disability and takes a rights-based approach. It is made up of individual Disabled members and member organisations led by and for Disabled People. Disabled People’s lived experience drives us to speak truth to power. We are looking for an individual who shares our ambitions and values to lead the Board into the next exciting period for DR UK and further grow the organisation’s impact. This is at a time when we need to tackle the inequality faced by all Disabled People in the UK. The pandemic has shown how our hard- won rights can be easily swept away by new legislation.

The Board is currently made up of eleven people with varied professional experience and lived experience of disability. Board members have personal experience in areas such as Social Care, the benefits system, grassroots activism, advocacy, charity governance, marketing, equality and diversity and finance. Our current Chair is due to step down from the Board after four years. In that time he has worked to create a robust governance structure, a stable financial platform for the future. Over the past three years, he has been working to ensure that diversity and inclusion are embedded into organisational culture.

2 Chair | June 2021 The role is for someone passionate about equality and our human rights, someone who understands the importance of the Social Model of Disability as the driving force for change. The role will be challenging, Disabled People are a broad church with differing views and opinions requiring DR UK to have consideration and care when driving a path to the inclusive society we want. The role is rewarding and brings with it public recognition, and you will be supported by a committed and skillful Board, CEO and staff team. We campaign for the rights of all Disabled People to be included in every aspect of life. We bring the lived experiences of Disabled People to everything we do. We challenge policymakers, institutions and individuals to remove the barriers that exist for us. As Chair, you will be at the heart of this aim and should be willing to defend and promote our role publicly.

We are a small organisation but we punch far above our weight. In 2020/21 the Board set a new refreshed strategy which is based on delivering our recently created theory of change.

We look forward to receiving your application.

Kamran Mallick Chief Executive Office Disability Rights UK

Appointment Brief 3 4 Chair | June 2021 Who we are

Disability Rights UK is the leading charity of its kind in the UK. We are run by and for people with lived experience of disability or health conditions. We are Disabled people leading change, working for equal participation for all. We are: • Committed to The Social Model of Disability. • Led by people with lived experience of disability or long-term health conditions. 85% of our trustees have personal experience – our constitution ensures this will never fall below 75%. • A member-led charity, with Disabled people and organisations led by Disabled people having the controlling vote. • Committed to working with and for people with all types of impairment and health conditions.

Our vision, mission and values

To create a society where Disabled people have equal power, rights and equality of opportunity.

Our Mission We campaign for the rights of all Disabled people to be included in every aspect of life. We bring the lived experiences of Disabled people to everything we do. We challenge policy makers, institutions and individuals to remove the barriers that exist for us.

The values that drive us All our work is guided by 4 values: 1. Strength in difference 2. Sharing power 3. Connecting 4. Innovating

Appointment Brief 5 Our impact

In 2019/20 we reached more than and research carried out by the four 1.2 million people with information nation partners was published in the developed by and for Disabled people. year. DR UK focused on young Disabled people as our contribution to the four Our free factsheets attracted 1.8 million nations research. downloads and over 90% of users said our factsheets were useful to their Get Yourself Active (GYA) is a purposes. programme led by DR UK and funded by Sport England to develop, test and We had 10,000 contacts with individuals scale user led approaches to tackling through events and our independent inactivity. It is delivered through living advice line, student and members Disabled Peoples User Led Organisations helpline and information line. (DPULOs), social care, health and sport sectors. We entered into a new strategic We ran the successful EnAble Fund partnership with Sport England to build to support Disabled people looking to on the project’s achievements. stand for local elections. In partnership with UCL, Global Disability Innovation During the year we successfully Hub and Plexal we secured funding from delivered the EnAble. The fund Research England to launch the first supported individual Disabled people Innovation and Enterprise zone in the who wanted to stand for local elections Olympic Park. in England. Similar in principle to the Access to Work scheme, the fund was The 2019/20 edition of our Disability flexible in providing a wide range of Rights Handbook was very successful. support from leaflet distribution to Written by benefits specialists, this providing one of bits of equipment to guide to benefits provided explanations over come barriers. The project was and answers for both claimants and ended in March 2020 when the local advisors. elections were postponed to 2021, and we will be working to ensure the fund Delivering projects, working with is available and becomes a permanent local Disabled People’s Organisations offer to Disabled people. (DPOs) and others, to demonstrate new approaches to Disabled people’s Influencing policy and practice on the participation. basis of lived experience and good practice led by Disabled people. DRILL is now in its final year and has established an extensive body of We completed our ‘I Can Make It’ Disabled led research available online. campaign, run by and for young Projects from the final year have begun Disabled people to smash barriers to to publish and promote their findings employment.

6 Chair | June 2021 We worked to influence existing We increased our social media presence spending in local government and - up to 61,100 twitter followers. We large businesses by engaging with their exceeded our media targets for the procurement teams and supply chain year, saw our profile increase markedly managers to raise awareness of the and are progressively becoming the benefits of employing young Disabled ‘go to’ pan-disability organisation. people. Readership of our e-newsletter has doubled over the year and it now We are working with Shaping Our Lives, reaches over 19,000 people weekly. CHANGE and the National Survivor and User Network (known collectively DR UK was invited to speak to the new as the Lived Experience Alliance) to Unit of the Cabinet Office. bring the lived experience of Disabled The new unit has been established after people to the NHS and its system years of campaigning by DR UK and partners. Some of the issues the other organisation that there must be a group has raised recently include: lack overarching strategy to support Disabled of public health information in easy people. The launch this year of the read or BSL; outbreaks of the virus in Disability Strategy comes from this Unit. mental health units and supported We have built connections to enable living accommodation; PAs entering us to influence their thinking and learn numerous people’s homes without PPE/ from the lived experience of Disabled strict hygiene protocols. people.

Our fifth cohort of Disabled people During the last 12 months Covid-19 and completed our Leadership Academy its impact on Disabled people has been programme this year. 80% achieved the top priority for our policy work. This their career goals, including promotions, period has seen a dramatic reduction new jobs and opportunities to lead. One of rights to care and of the benefits of this programme is that and we have raised this through every it is peer led and often gives Disabled route possible. Our fundamental policy employees the first opportunity to meet position has been to ask national and other Disabled people at work. local government to include Disabled people in policy development. Our We provide the Secretariat to the work at this time has benefited from influential All Party Parliamentary the years of building relationships with Disability Group (APPDG), which government officials and ministers and brings Disabled people’s voices into through building our links to Disabled Parliament. We also devised and co- Peoples Organisations and individual wrote the APPDG Inquiry into halving Disabled people. This has allowed us to the disability employment gap, which influence and bring the voice of lived is now influencing Government’s experience in to government. Industrial Strategy. Appointment Brief 7 Equal participation for all - Strategic priorities 2020-2023

1. Building a Movement employment and enterprise. To ensure To achieve an equal society, we will they have the money they need to meet build a movement, which strengthens the additional costs of disability, we will the collective and individual voices of campaign for a benefits system that Disabled people’s organisations and enables dignity and equality. Disabled people to achieve change. 4. Influencing Public Attitudes and 2. Independent Living Behaviours To enable us to live with choice and To create a narrative about Disabled control, we will campaign for Equality people which reflects our intrinsic value in everyday life and for the support that - we matter because we are human, we Disabled people need to lead the lives matter because we are here. We will we choose. increase the visibility of Disabled people and challenge negative perceptions. 3. Inclusive economic opportunities The full strategy can be found here: To ensure that Disabled people have https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/ opportunities to work and to thrive in about-us/our-strategy

8 Chair | June 2021 Our governance

Our key decisions are made through As our Chair Martin Stevens, OBE our members who elect the Board steps down, we are seeking to appoint of Trustees: and by our Leadership a new chair. Team (LT). We work with our members to influence national policy on Disability Rights UK is a membership independent living, benefits, education, organisation. employment, transport, human rights and other issues - shaping policy The successful candidate in our process through direct experience and expertise. will stand for election as Chair and be We also work with our individual and endorsed at the 24 November 2021 organisation members to empower and AGM as Chair Designate. to influence local policy and services. At the AGM, the Members shall have 85% of our Trustees are Disabled the right to approve the proposed Chair people; as are the majority of our staff. nominated by the DR UK board prior Our Articles of Association state that at to the AGM, for an initial term of three least 75% of our Trustees will always years to be extended by another term be Disabled people. Our Trustees and of three years. Upon appointment, staff between them have a wide range the Chair will (if not already a Trustee) of personal experiences of disability automatically becomes a Trustee. including mental health issues, autistic spectrum, learning difficulties, sensory impairments, long-term health Pleased find a link to Trustees profiles conditions and mobility impairments. here: https://www.disabilityrightsuk. We work hard to be inclusive and to org/about-us/our-team/trustees understand and reflect the interests of everyone living with disability/health conditions. Our staff and Trustees come from a range of communities and backgrounds, including different faiths and minority ethnic communities.

Appointment Brief 9 DR UK Chair of Trustees

DR UK’s vision is to create a society where Disabled people have equal power, rights and equality of opportunity, and where all Disabled people are included in every aspect of life. To help us to achieve this ambition we are pledged to build a movement which strengthens the collective and individual voices of Disabled people’s organisations and Disabled people to achieve change.

Purpose of role • To lead and inspire the Board of Trustees, working closely with the Chief Executive to ensure that DR UK is strong, effective and able to achieve our goals.

The person

You will be a Disabled person who has: skills, able to unite and inspire • An understanding of and people around an agenda, with the commitment to the social model of ability and authority to represent disability. the organisation and influence • A track record of commitment to and debate with a wide range of critical delivery on equality, diversity and audiences including supporters, inclusion. commissioners, funders and • An understanding of the value of politicians. Disabled People’s Organisations and • A willingness to devote time, energy of the challenges they face. and enthusiasm to the duties and responsibilities of the Board and the In addition, you will have: promotion of DR UK’s mission, vision and values. • Experience of business management • A track record of delivery of strategic and income generation. and sustainable change within an • Well developed, effective and agile innovative organisational setting, chairing skills, using a collaborative, including a proven track record of partnership-focused approach strategic analysis and high-quality to organisational and Board decision-making. development, with the resilience • An understanding of governance and empathy to oversee purposeful and acceptance of the legal duties, strategic change. responsibilities and liabilities of • Strong influencing and engagement trusteeship.

10 Chair | June 2021 The task that DR UK’s resources are effectively deployed to enable these.

• Ensure that trustees fulfil their Strategy responsibilities for the overall • Ensure that the organisation has governance and strategic direction of a clear and bold strategic plan for the charity. meeting our aims. • Work closely with the Chief Executive • With support from the Board, inspire, to ensure the organisation is support and hold the Chief Executive achieving its aims and objectives. to account for the implementation of the strategy, organisational plan and This includes: achievement of budgets. • Help the Chief Executive and Governance leadership team develop ethical sustainable income generation, • Enable the Board to discharge its encouraging a commercial mind- responsibilities effectively, meeting set that delivers growing funds to the legal and regulatory guidelines execute our charitable purpose. and applying best practice to the • Support the Chief Executive in management of the organisation’s representing DR UK, influencing people, resources, assurance, partnering, fund-raising and risk, diversity, succession planning, service provision and support its safeguarding and stakeholder mission and Disabled-led ethos, engagement. developing DR UK’s external presence • Enable the board to function and recognition. effectively, through encourage the • Ensuring that our plans and our effective and positive participation success criteria reflect our Disabled- of all trustees at Board meetings, led ethos and draw on insights and developing a strong sense of input from Disabled people and active engagement and cabinet DPULO. responsibility, chairing meetings • Understand the dynamics of the effectively to reach clear, consensual disability world, the voluntary sector, decisions. the Disabled people’s movement and • Ensure a strong, diverse Board other areas relevant to DR UK’s work, through identifying the skills anticipating new developments and and experience required, leading their potential impact on DR UK. recruitment of new trustees, and ensuring that effective Board development is in place including Working with CEO comprehensive trustee induction and • The Chair will manage the Chief Board and trustee appraisal. Executive’s performance, including • Providing support and challenge conducting an annual appraisal. to the Chief Executive and the • Should the need arise, the Chair will executive team to ensure that the lead the appointment of a new Chief organisation is run in accordance Executive. with the decisions of the Board and Appointment Brief 11 The time commitment

The Chair will need to: • Chair up to four Board meetings, including one away day a year; • Participate in committee meetings on four days a year; • Have regular meeting with the Chief Executive at least every month; • Participate in regular calls as required with trustees.

This will mean a time commitment of around two days a month, although this may vary.

The position is not remunerated. We will meet all reasonable expenses in connection with carrying out the duties of the Chair.

12 Chair | June 2021 How to apply

Please submit your CV together with a supporting statement (maximum 800- 1000 words). Please ensure that you have included mobile, work and home telephone numbers, as well as any dates when you will not be available or might have difficulty with the recruitment timetable.

At Prospectus we believe passionately that a truly inclusive workplace leads to increased social impact. We are committed to supporting our clients build more inclusive teams. To understand how we are performing, we ask that you kindly complete the brief equal opportunities questionnaire when you submit your application via our website.

Please be assured that your responses are kept confidential, separate from your candidate record, are not part of any application you make, and that the consultants never see individual responses to the questionnaire.

Applications should be made via the Prospectus website at: jobs.prospect-us.co.uk/jobs/details/hq00178368

Recruitment Timetable

Deadline for applications: Monday 26 July

Interviews with Prospectus: w/c 09 August

Discussion with staff and CEO: w/c 06 September w/c 13 September Final panel interviews with DR UK: (face to face where possible) DR UK AGM - Chair Designate endorsed: 24 November

Queries If you wish to have an informal discussion about the opportunity, please contact our retained advisor Jess Stockford at Prospectus on: 020 7691 1920, or via email: [email protected]

Appointment Brief 13 Prospectus Ltd 020 7691 1925 www.prospect-us.co.uk

Created by the Prospectus Advertising & Design team 14 Chair | June 2021