Sussex Pathways works with prison leavers and victims of crime. We received the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in June 2021. We seek a qualified accountant who shares our commitment to the work to join the board of trustees as Treasurer.
What difference will you make?
The role of the board is to provide the environment and support the CEO, staff and volunteers need to be able to deliver against the growth opportunities and challenges we face. New trustees strengthen Sussex Pathway's ability to tackle the challenges ahead, enabling us to support more vulnerable and disadvantaged prison leavers on their difficult life journeys, and provide reconciliation for victims and perpetrators of crime in the region.
What are we looking for?
Trustees should be committed to the work we do supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged prison leavers and victims of crime. They should be prepared to work together on the Board and with staff, sharing responsibility for the governance of a small but highly active charity working within a challenging and highly regulated sector. We anticipate a Treasurer to be a qualified accountant with relevant experience of financial management, and ideally with board experience. It is not essential to have a background within the criminal justice system. Attitude, motivation, flexibility and committment are at least as important to us as technical skills.
What will you be doing?
Sussex Pathways is an established charity which is well recognised within the criminal justice establishment and local community for its part in helping prison leavers lead better lives and in implementing Restorative Justice within Sussex. The charity's recent and continued growth results from increasing demand to provide support for prison leavers from HMP Lewes and other local prisons, from newly established programmes preparing prison leavers for release, and from the increasing importance of Sussex Pathways to the high profile Restorative Justice programme of the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner. Sussex Pathways has achieved recent success with new funding streams and has grown the staff team to manage the new projects. At the same time new board members add significant senior experience from the criminal justice and voluntary sectors under leadership of a new Chair. The growth in funding, cost base and organisational complexity has obvious implications for the support functions. The recent introduction of Xero accounting software provides the opportunity for better financial management, while the case management systems which support the projects offer the opportunity for improved visibility of the progress and impact of our work. We anticipate the Treasurer joining the board of trustees. Board members attend four meetings a year, one of which includes the Annual General Meeting. In addition, they contribute in specific ways, according to their expertise and availability, to the overall management of the charity, taking part in subcommittees or projects in accordance with the needs of the charity. The board will be looking for the newly appointed Treasurer to take a lead in making recommendations to meet the needs for current and future financial management, and working on implementation with the CEO and staff, with support of the Chair and other members of the board.