Westway Trust is looking to appoint up to eight people to an Independent Panel that can provide insights into the lived experiences of the diverse racial demographics of North Kensington. The work of this panel will help us towards our journey to become a trusted anti-racist organisation at the heart of the North Kensington community. 

This is an exciting opportunity to get involved in a community-focused charity with an ambitious and exciting vision and strategy for change. For a number of years, under the leadership of a progressive Board and CEO, the Trust is being strengthened and modernised. This includes working to eliminate institutional racism and all discrimination. Our progress on this can be found in three key reports at: Progress | The Westway Review

The collective skills and experience of the panel will provide expertise in equality, diversity, inclusion, social impact and insights into what will make a seminal difference for local people. 

The Panel members will need to demonstrative a positive approach to discussing issues and supporting the Trust to seek solutions, and a deep commitment to Anti-racism, inputting into the Trust’s approach and  and monitoring progress for continuous improvement. 

TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT 

We understand that Independent Panel members may be balancing their role with other responsibilities. Meetings will be scheduled well in advance. What’s most important is your ability to engage actively and consistently. The Panel meetings will be held virtually or in hybrid form, to facilitate wider participation.  

An induction session for all Panel Members is also obligatory and will helpfully set out the requirements of Panel members. 

Your formal input will amount to approximately 5 days per year.  However, we recognise that Panel members may incur some expenses for travel and/or caring arrangements (for example, attendance at meetings). Panel members will be paid £1500 per year, in addition to expenses against receipts. 

The Trust is committed to ensuring that anyone, regardless of individual circumstances, can consider taking on such a role. We challenge ourselves to remove the barriers that may prevent people being involved, for instance due to a protected characteristic (defined as age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation).  

If you have any concerns or believe that there may be barriers to your potential participation as a Panel Member at Westway Trust, please consider sharing these concerns with us confidentially. 

The term of appointment is 1 year in the first instance. Reappointment will be based on an appraisal by the Chair who will also undertake 6 monthly mid-year feedback against agreed objectives and outcomes and a review of the member mix against the aims of the Panel. 

Commitment 

 Frequency 
Panel meetings and review of papers 

4 per year (2-3 hours each)  

2 hours of preparation per meeting 

Meetings take place in the evenings 
Contribution Panel reports 

Twice a year 

2 hours each time  
Optional: Attendance at Westway events or projects  As available 

 

ROLE DESCRIPTION 

The role of The Panel: 

The Independent Scrutiny Panel will receive, review and monitor progress of the Trust’s Anti-Racism Policy and Action Plan and report progress directly to the Trust Board every 6 months, including with recommendations for future improvements or additional actions. This includes ensuring that the Trust allocates resource sensibly to facilitate the Anti-Racism Action Plan. 

The Panel will meet four times per year, and panel members are expected to participate fully in all of these meetings.   

In addition, the Panel may attend other events at the Trust for general observation and to see particular areas of progress in their development.  

Successful Candidates will join the Panel to: 

  • Provide oversight of the monitoring and progress of the Anti-Racism Action Plan, including against the Anti-Racism Policy objectives.
  • Receive and review relevant background material. 
  • Ensure that the charity allocates resources effectively to achieve its anti-racism objectives.  
  • Identify any risks particularly in relation to the identified objectives. 
  • Ensure key performance indicators are in place to monitor progress.  

           

          CANDIDATE SPECIFICATION

          • We are looking for champions who can identify with and be motivated by our anti-racism mission, think innovatively, critically, independently, and strategically, and have a willingness to speak openly and constructively.
          • We are committed to improving diversity in the Trust and particularly encourage applications from people based within North Kensington.  We’re looking for people who can bring both professional insight and authentic lived experience, especially from the communities we support. 
          • We welcome thinkers who are passionate about the power of social impact. We’d like you to have specific experience of at least one, but ideally more, of the priority criteria that we are currently focussing on. 

          Successful candidates will ideally: 

          • Have lived experience of the challenges faced by the residents of North Kensington.
          • Contribute to the demographics that will allow the Independent Anti-Racism Scrutiny Panel to be reflective of the diversity of our defined area of benefit. 

          Skills and experience:  

          Essential:

          • Knowledge of Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives and how they align to goals.
          • Knowledge, experience and understanding of community advocacy, community development, anti-racism and social justice.  
          • Knowledge of lived experience relevant to this role. 
          • Strong communication and interpersonal skills. 
          • Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team, and to build effective relationships with other panel members and senior staff. 

          Desirable:

          • Knowledge of Governance. 
          • Experience in leadership around Anti-Racism; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; strategic planning. 
          • Lived experience relevant to this role. 

          Lived Experience 

          Westway Trust values the lived experiences of its varied communities. We acknowledge that skill, expertise and valuable and transferable knowledge are not only achieved through traditional academic education or routes of professional or full-time employment. This is particularly applicable to areas of strategic work, such as anti-racism. 

           

          HOW TO APPLY

          Before applying, please read the Applicant Pack for full details about the role. 

          Apply via the online form. You will be asked to submit the following material: 

          • A comprehensive, up-to-date CV.
          • A supporting statement explaining how you believe your skills and experience would be a good fit with the requirements and expectations as set out in this brief, including any specialist skills you have (two pages maximum).
          • Details of any business or other interests which might give rise to conflict of interest, and how you could address this should your application be successful.

          Applications will be reviewed against the criteria and a shortlist of candidates will be invited to an interview.   

          If you would like assistance on filling out the questions on the application form, please send an email to HR@westway.org or give us a call on 020 8962 5720 and ask for HR.

          Application deadline: Friday 5 September.