Chair - Home-Start Bristol and South Gloucestershire (HSBSG)

Home-Start Bristol and South Gloucestershire (HSBSG) are seeking a new Chair of the Board

Time Commitment: c12 hrs a month

Remuneration: Voluntary, although travel and other agreed expenses may be claimed.

Home-Start UK is a national, charitable organisation with 180 local, independent Home-Starts of which HSBSG is one. Across all four nations of the United Kingdom, thousands of home visiting volunteers support over 43,000 families and 78,000 children to transform their lives.

We are now seeking a new Chair for Home-Start Bristol and South Gloucestershire. The role involves leading the board of trustees as they develop and steer a successful local charity which has a long track record of supporting families and are always seeking to reach more families and to improve their support to them

HSBSG offers group work for parents and carers as well as their unique home visiting service, all provided by carefully trained volunteers who are managed by a small team of expert staff. They are particularly proud of their new and already expanding service, Dad Matters, that provides support for new fathers in Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

Summary:

The role of the Chair of Trustees is to enable the creation and implementation of the charity’s culture, direction and strategy by leading the board and focusing it on strategic matters, oversight of the charity’s activities and maintaining high standards of governance.

Whether you have already been a chair, with experience of voluntary sector governance, or whether you have been on a board and are wanting to become a chair, you will benefit from the range of skills and experience that exists within the strong, friendly team of trustees.

General responsibilities include:

• Lead the board of trustees of Home-Start Bristol & South Gloucestershire (HSBSG), to ensure that it fulfils its governance responsibilities.
• Ensure that the trustees deploy HSBSG’s resources so as to comply with all legal requirements and in furtherance of its objects.
• Lead the board’s continuous development, ensuring planning, training, development, and evaluation is undertaken.
• Chair and facilitate meetings of HSBSG’s board, ensuring the smooth running of the board and the understanding and participation of all trustees.
• Set the agenda of board meetings with the Chief Executive; check and sign the minutes.
• Play a key role in managing the relationship between the trustees and advisers, the staff and the volunteers.
• Provide regular supervision for the Chief Executive, providing ongoing support, discussing and agreeing work priorities, preparing and agreeing supervision notes with her/him.
• Carry out an annual appraisal of the work undertaken by the Chief Executive.
• Ensure that HSBSG’s three-year Strategic Plan is reviewed annually, and ensure high-quality data is available to monitor its progress at board meetings.
• Drive trustee recruitment and succession planning and support the induction of new trustees.

Closing date for applications: midnight, Sunday 6th July 2025