Recruitment PackYoung Trustee

Severn Wye Energy Agency LtdUnit 15 Highnam Business Centre Highnam Gloucestershire GL2 8DN

01452 835060

info@severnwye.org.uk www.severnwye.org.uk @Severn_Wye

Company No: 03830608 Charity No: 1083812

About this pack

This document provides information on Severn Wye’s charitable objectives and activities, a brief overview of the skills and qualities that we seek from our Young Trustee and what we will offer you. Guidelines and dates on how to apply can be found in the advertisement at severnwye.org.uk/jobs.

The general role of a Trustee is described very well by the Charity Commission Guidance document. You can also learn about what makes a great Board from the Charity Governance Code Framework, which we review our own performance against annually, so that we are always learning and improving.

To familiarise yourself more deeply with Severn Wye, we also recommend you read our Annual Report and Financial Statements, our Impact Report, and view both our main website and some of our project websites by clicking the links below. And you are always welcome to give us a call, of course!

Severn Wye

Warm & Well

Llandrindod Wells Working Together

Target 2030

RE-DIRECT

Keep Herefordshire Warm

Rural Futures

Sustainable Communities Wales

Your Green Future

Contents

About Severn Wye

Welcome from the CEO

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Desired experience / background

How to apply

Main duties and responsibilities

Purpose of the Young Trustee Role

Terms of appointment

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Thank you for your interest in becoming a Young Trustee of Severn Wye Energy Agency.

Severn Wye is one of the country’s most successful and respected ‘Energy Agencies’, providing a broad range of energy and sustainable services and activities across Wales and the English border counties.

We live in a society where people now seek a way to practically take action on climate change and reach those Net Carbon Zero targets. In this context the ‘Energy Agency’ model – whilst not widely known in the UK – offers a solution. Climate Change and the Energy Transition have been core to our purpose since our creation. Over the years, our understanding of how regional and local energy, communities and policies are woven together has deepened. This has enabled us to develop tailored and award-winning programmes in the fields of Energy Education and Awareness, Affordable Warmth, Energy Efficiency and Retrofit, Renewable Energy, Community Energy, Carbon Sequestration and Sustainable Community Development. .

We have taken our organisation through a period of major change and development in recent years, culminating in the launch of a new strategy, reorganisation and rebrand. Severn Wye is excited for the future, committed to improving the quality and consistency of our impact, alongside the confidence to grow and develop new projects. Severn Wye is also in a strong financial position.

We are now looking for some new Board members to strengthen our existing Board and add some new skills.

As an organisation, we are committed to increasing diversity throughout all aspects of our organisation, our staff, governance and the reach of the projects we deliver. We are recruiting a Young Director to our Board to provide us with a fresh view of our organisation, a wider perspective of our organisation and insights into how we can improve and stay current. In return, we are excited to be able to offer the opportunity for our Young Trustee to gain experience, be mentored by experienced professionals and have the opportunity to learn about our area of expertise, the role of governance and the challenges and opportunities of working in the third sector.

This is a particularly exciting time to join us. Working in close partnership with the Chief Executive, Senior Leadership Team, wider colleagues and increasingly the people we seek to support, we are further building on our significant values and resources. If you believe you offer the skills and qualities we are seeking for this appointment, or a passionate enthusiasm for what we do and a desire to help and learn, we very much look forward to hearing from you.

In return for your time and commitment, we offer you an opportunity to make a difference, to people’s lives, health and wellbeing. You will

Purpose of the RoleThe purpose of the Young Trustee role is to support the Board in establishing and maintaining a well-connected and respected organisation through the leadership, policy and good governance functions of the Board, both collectively and individually. Our Young Trustee also adds some unique value to the Board of Trustees, contributing new perspectives, adding a millennial voice to the organisation at Board level and ensuring that we align our plans to the emerging needs of future generations.

In addition, as this is a training role, the intention is to develop good practice in developing young leaders through a role on our Board.

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be contributing towards the protection of our environment through tackling climate change and promoting sustainable energy and the sustainable use of our natural resources. We would welcome you as part of our team, offering the opportunity to get involved and support our projects, learn more about what we do and our sector. We offer training and support to our Board members and we hope that you would find being a Trustee of Severn Wye a rewarding and valuable experience.

If you believe you offer the skills and qualities we are seeking for this appointment, or even a passionate enthusiasm for what we do and a desire to help and learn about the role of a Trustee, we very much look forward to hearing from you. SimoneDr Simone Lowthe-Thomas

CEO, Severn Wye Energy Agency

Now is a great time to join Severn Wye, our plans are big and bold.

This is the beginning of an exciting new era. Public awareness of Climate Change, and the commitment to Net Carbon Zero is at all an all-time high. We experience increased demand for our services in support of retrofit, renewables, energy management, carbon accounting, community energy models and carbon capture technologies.

At the same time, demand for our Fuel Poverty programmes has increased. The link between cold homes and poor health is clear and exacerbated by increased unemployment and the impact of Covid-19. Our sustainable communities teams are co-producing projects with communities across Wales and England to tackle rural poverty issues and promote the sustainable use of natural resources by local communities to improve quality of life and wellbeing.

Our Strategy, based around the concept of Acting now for the Future, identifies four key pillars of work:

Our ‘Energy Solutions’ and ‘Community Empowerment’ teams work to codesign and deliver solutions for householders, businesses and communities that tackle climate change,

About Severn Wye

Our charitable objectives

Severn Wye’s activities seek to meet the following charitable objectives:

1. The relief of fuel poverty and the preservation and protection of health, by promoting the efficient use of energy and use of renewable sources of energy.

2. The advancement of education for the public benefit in relation to energy conservation, energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources of energy.

3. To promote sustainable development* for the benefit of the public by:

• The preservation, conservation and the protection of the environment and the prudent use of resources;

• The relief of poverty and the improvement of the conditions of life for those socially and economically disadvantaged;

• The promotion of sustainable means of achieving economic growth and regeneration.

* Sustainable Development means: “Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of Future Generations to meet their own needs.”

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Ways of Working

poverty and promote sustainable development. We used the learning from these programmes to inform our ‘Making Technology work for People’ workstreams that explore how technology can be implemented to particularly meet the challenges faced by rural communities and those in fuel poverty, we also deliver pioneering research work in the fields of AD, Biogas and Biochar developing sustainable agriculture and land use solutions. Our role as an advocate for the sector is championed by our ‘Putting People at the Heart of Policy’ approach which motivates us to share our learning, contribute our knowledge and provide a voice, where we have influence, for those who don’t but are most affected by the inequalities of poverty, climate change and environmental degradation.

All that we do at Severn Wye is reflected in our ways of working – our WOWs – People-Centred, Long-lasting, Asset-based, Innovative, Cooperative and Evidence-Based. Involving people and working in partnership are core principles of all our work.

The delivery of our strategy is supported by our Strategic Enablers, these are eight areas in which we seek to grow, invest and develop and include, for the next few years, diversifying our services, investing in our staff through training and improving our digital infrastructure, improving our marketing and communications, fundraising and seeking to establish new partnerships.

Details of our current Board can be found on our website. We also invite you to review our audited accounts which can be found on the Charity Commission website, and most importantly of all, we recommend you read our 2020 Impact Report which tells the story of our impact this year and some of the highlights of Severn Wye throughout our 20 year history – hopefully you will recognise our influence as pioneering sector leaders, making a really positive difference to the environment and people’s lives.

Severn Wye works across Wales and the English border counties, with its registered office in Highnam, Gloucestershire.

Energy solutions for sustainability and wellbeingnow, and for the future

StrategicEnablers

Sustaining Severn Wye

Empowering communitiesnow, and for the future

People at the heart of policynow, and for the future

Making technology work for people now, and for the future

I N C R E A S I N G O U R S T R A T E G I C P A R T N E R S H I P S

M A K I N G S E V E R N W Y E A G R E A T P L A C E T O W O R K

M A R K E T I N G A N D C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

F I N A N C E , G O V E R N A N C E A N D C O M P L I A N C E

D I V E R S I F I E D S E R V I C E S : C O N S U L T A N C Y , E V A L U A T I O N & P A I D - F O R

I N V E S T I N G I N O U R D I G I T A L F U T U R E

C A P A C I T Y B U I L D I N G , S K I L L S & T R A I N I N G

P A R T N E R S H I P S I N E U R O P E A N D B E Y O N D

Main duties and responsibilitiesYoung Trustee

Leadership – promoting and achieving the Severn Wye vision

• Support in developing and maintaining the vision, mission and values of the company

• Represent Severn Wye to external organisations in order to influence others, such as recruitment of new members

• Identify and secure new resources and opportunities for the delivery of the business

• Contribute fresh ideas and vision to the organisation

• Ensure that Severn Wye maintains a cross-generational approach to its work

Policy – Strategy, Delivery and Results

• Provide advice to the Board drawn from other stakeholders, networks, and knowledge

• Develop and monitor the delivery of the business plan, including key performance indicators and risk register

• Evaluate results and impacts and ensure these are reported on, and inform continuous improvement

Governance Process – People, Finance, Systems

• Ensure clear processes and procedures in place, including HR, Companies House, Charity and Company Law requirements

• Ensure appropriate financial systems are developed and maintained to reflect good practice, including annual audited accounts

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Desired experience / backgroundYoung Trustee

Essential

• Passionate about tackling fuel poverty and climate change so that we can improve quality of life and wellbeing in our communities whilst protecting and restoring our environment now and for the future

• Awareness of or interest in one or more knowledge areas required to inform Severn Wye policy, such as sustainable energy, carbon, environment, regeneration, economy, natural environment, health, communities, sustainable development, climate change

• Demonstrate a desire and track record to learn, work with and help others to improve their environment and community wellbeing

• Have leadership potential, but not yet qualified nor had the opportunity to benefit from leadership programmes within their organisation or community

• Ideally under the age of 30, but candidates just over this age will be considered if they meet the other criteria.

• Have not served on a Board before

• Are engaged with organisations and people that they can draw knowledge from and which would potentially support the delivery of the Severn Wye purpose and mission

Desirable

• A local knowledge of one of our regions – Wales or its border counties, or the specific challenges of living in poverty or in a rural community

• A desire to develop one of the skills required to help the strategic support for Severn Wye such as leadership, presentations, business development, finance, organisational development, project management or marketing/communications

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Terms of Appointment

Remuneration

This appointment is offered on a voluntary basis. All reasonable expenses incurred on Severn Wye business will be reimbursed.

Time commitment

A minimum time commitment of 24 hours per annum is required, constituting approx. 16 hours to attend our 4 full Board meetings (2 hour meeting and 2 hours of preparation for each) and you will be invited to join at least one of our Sub-Committees (Remuneration, Audit and Governance Code) which meet twice per year with a total of 8 hours commitment for each committee.

In addition, you could be invited – depending on your skills, interest and availability – to attend the occasional task-and-finish group meeting, and training or mentoring sessions. You will also be invited to our annual staff away day and also to get involved with some of projects first-hand should you wish.

Term of appointment

The appointment will last for 1 year, starting at our AGM and Board meeting in December.

Location

Severn Wye’s office is at Highnam Business Centre, Highnam, Gloucester and we operate across the whole of Wales and its English border counties. Currently at least one meeting per annum is held in Wales. We offer the opportunity for all meetings to be attended remotely but would pay travel expenses for our Young Trustee to attend in person, once we resume in-person meetings.

How to apply

We hope you will consider making an application. If you have questions about the appointment and would find it helpful to have an informal conversation, please contact our Company Secretary, Hugh Boyes, and we will be happy to arrange a call with Simone (the CEO of Severn Wye) or one of our Board members.

To apply please submit to recruitment@severnwye.org.uk:

• your CV (no more than 3 sides)

• a supporting statement that sets out why you are interested in this appointment and the experiences and qualities you believe you can bring in order to be successful in post

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© 2020 Severn Wye Energy Agency Ltd

All rights reserved. Company No: 03830608. Charity No: 1083812.

Unit 15 Highnam Business Centre, Highnam GL2 8DN.

01452 835060 severnwye.org.uk @Severn_Wye info@severnwye.org.uk