Long-term Volunteering in Great Britain – Independent Living Alternatives

Nov 202017

We offer you a great opportunity to volunteer from 4 to up to 12 months in Great Britain and work in Independent Living Alternatives, which enables disabled people to live independently by providing a range of support including personal care such as going to the toilet or bathing and practical support such as shopping and cooking. Volunteering with ILA is an opportunity to:

– Gain a unique perspective on disability issues

– learn more about independent living

– Experience living in London

– Meet new people and make new friends from across the world

Work: Volunteers support a disabled person to live independently. This will include personal care: toilet, bath/wash; dressing; feeding; and practical sup- port: cooking, cleaning, shopping; reading; writing plus activities such as going to the cinema; theatre; galleries; etc. A volunteer usually works a rota of : week one: Monday Tuesday Friday Saturday Sunday week two Wednesday Thursday.

When working the volunteer will eat and go to bed and have down time but is on call just in case the disabled person needs them. Some placements the volunteer might be expected to come and go that is on their shift they work from 7am-1pm and 5pm-9pm and 1am-3am. The volunteer will have an opportunity to read the disabled persons profile before they agree to work on the placement (before we issue a COS) and this information is communicated to each PA so they know what to expect before they come.

Requirements: You need to have:

A willingness to learn
Common sense
4 months+ to spare
NO experience is necessary

Volunteers are great communicators, have lots of patience, excellent listening skills and are able to follow instructions to do what the disabled person asks them to.

Food: When working food is often provided to the volunteer but they also re- ceive a food allowance for when they are not working. We can cater for most diets.

Accommodation: When working the volunteers live in the home of the disabled person for the whole shift & then spends their time off in volunteer accommodation.The accommodation is either a shared house or flat with other volunteers.They usually have their own room.

Pocket money: 68 GBP per month

Insurance: VOLUNTEERS MUST HAVE APPROPRIATE HEALTH INSURANCE, ARRANGED EITHER THROUGH THE SCI SENDING ORGANISATION OR INDEPENDENTLY. PROOF IS REQUIRED: WITHOUT THIS VOLUNTEERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Separate travel insurance will be also required.

Fees: None

Visa: IVS will issue a certificate of sponsorship for anyone living outside the EEU and who requires an entry visa. Details of how to do this are given to each volunteer by IVS. Please check your countries requirements for living and working in the UK.

Others: ILA will provide up to GBP 100 as a travel allowance to the UK and from the UK. PAs are entitled to a holiday of 1 week at 4 months (if staying for 6 months); 4 and 8 months (if staying 10 months) and 4, 8 and 10 (if staying 12 months). Volunteers receive on-site training with the disabled person; they undertake ILAs training online (often before they come to the UK) and also the Care Certificate and first aid training.

If you are interested in applying for the project, please fill-in the application form and send it to Natalia longterm@cvs-bg.org!

Good luck!

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