Appointment Brief
May 2025
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
WELCOME
Dear Prospective Candidate,
Thank you for your interest in the Chief Executive Officer position at Become. This is a pivotal moment for our organisation, and we are seeking an exceptional leader to guide us through our next chapter of impact.
We’ve come a long way since we were founded over 30 years ago. We’ve helped tens of thousands of care-experienced young people navigate a fragmented system with vital advice and support. We’ve campaigned alongside them to raise awareness of problems in the care system. We’ve identified the key steps that need to be taken to fix it. Now, we need to step up our efforts, to reach more children and young people. And to drive positive and urgent change. Because young people tell us the challenges they face are growing. They don’t get the support they need. They face stigma, isolation and loneliness. And they aren’t being heard.
Our vision is simple but ambitious: a world where care-experienced children and young people have the same chances as everyone else to live happy, fulfilled lives.
We have grown significantly over the last 5 years and have plans to deliver on our strategic aims, with our new brand helping us grow our profile and extend our reach to new audiences. As CEO, you’ll lead a dedicated team committed to transforming the lives of care-experienced children and young people. Our new strategy sets out our direction, but there is lots for the incoming CEO to shape. You will expand our reach and impact, lead a passionate and dedicated team and represent Become to stakeholders across sectors.
In this role, you will be working alongside care-experienced children and young people who are using their courage, creativity, and determination to improve the care system for future generations. Their lived experience is at the heart of everything we do, and their insights will inform your leadership and decision-making.
I look forward to meeting candidates who share our commitment to creating a better future for care-experienced children and young people.
Yours sincerely,
Leslie Morphy Chair of the Board
ABOUT US
We’re the national charity that’s here to support every child and young person with experience of the care system.
They tell us what’s not working. Together, we fight to make change happen.
The system is failing young people right now:
Around 84,000 children in England live in care. 7 in 10 children experience a change in where they live, where they go to school, or who their social worker is each year.
1 in 3 care-experienced young people become homeless within 2 years of leaving care.
Care-experienced young people should have the same chances as everyone else to live happy, fulfilled lives. But today, that’s far from the reality. The care system is in crisis and there are more children in care than ever before. They aren’t getting the love, support and stability that all young people need. It’s not good enough.
A CRITICAL MOMENT TO JOIN US
We’re in a strong position to respond and it’s an exciting moment to be joining us. We’ve grown in recent years and have clear plans for the future. With a new strategy and refreshed brand we’ve strengthened our voice. We’re determined to make care better.
Our new Chief Executive will help shape our strategic direction alongside our Board and Senior Leadership Team, provide exceptional leadership for an ambitious organisation and ensure that care-experienced children and young people’s voices are at the heart of our work.
LEAD US FORWARD
We have a warm, welcoming culture with a growing team of passionate experts committed to transforming outcomes for careexperienced young people.
We’re looking for an inspirational, valuesdriven leader to deepen our impact across our services whilst ensuring our campaigning remains influential and our income remains stable and diverse.
You’ll have a proven track record in leadership, strategy and relationship building. You’ll also bring a strong commitment to workplace equity. This is a role where your leadership will genuinely change lives.
As a charity supporting children in care and care leavers, we actively encourage applications from people with care experience. We know how vital their perspectives are within our team.
We’re also committed to building a diverse team that reflects the young people we serve. We especially welcome applications from people from Black, Asian and diverse ethnic backgrounds.
We’re determined to create a truly inclusive, equitable workplace. We know this is an ongoing journey - and we’re fully committed to it.
OUR PURPOSE AND VALUES
We exist to fight for a better care experience for children and young people. Our vision is that care-experienced people have the same chances as everyone else to live happy, fulfilled lives.
Our values underpin everything we do and all aspects of our work. We are:
TOGETHER
We’re inclusive and we look out for each other. We work with young people, with supporters, with partners to bring about change.
EMPOWERING
We empower young people and make sure their voices are at the heart of everything we do.
DETERMINED
We believe care can be so much better and we are determined to make that happen.
EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT
We seek to challenge and disrupt the power systems and structures that marginalise careexperienced children and young people. Our work is led and shaped by care-experienced people from diverse backgrounds and communities, with care-experienced young people at the heart of our decision-making. We’re relentless in creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels they are valued and belong, and in breaking down barriers that stand in the way of equity, diversity and inclusion.
FINANCES
We’ve made significant progress in establishing an equity, diversity and inclusion framework and commitment. Our team are passionate about creating an inclusive culture and ensuring that care-experienced young people are valued, respected and empowered. It’s core to our purpose. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made, but we recognise that there’s much more to be done, and we’ll be relentless in our pursuit of a fairer society for all.
We’re just finalising our 2024/25 accounts which show a draft surplus of £107,000. We have a very healthy cash position with approximately £1.2m in cash and investments which allows us to resource our plans for the next three years. We’re forecasting fundraising income of £2.1m in 2025/26, increasing to £2.8m in 2029/30. More details on our financial history can be viewed on the Charity Commission website.
We have been working to diversify our income sources as can be seen from our draft breakdown of 2024/25 income:
Salaries and other staff costs
Other non-staff costs
Office and administration
ORGANISATION CHART
This organisation chart shows our Senior Leadership Team and management group (including active recruitments).
Director of Services
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Director of Policy, Campaigns and Communications
Head of Training
Services Manager (Care Advice & Wellbeing Support)
Services Manager (Education, Work & Community)
Director of Fundraising
Policy and Public Affairs Manager
Strategic Communications Manager
Campaigns and Participation Manager
As of May 2025, we have a total of 33 members of staff.
Director of Finance and People
Head of Fundraising Operations Manager
Trusts and Philanthropy Manager
ROLE DESCRIPTION
Job title: Chief Executive
Salary: £90,000 - £95,000
Location: We currently operate hybrid working.
The expectation is that our new CEO would be in London with staff and stakeholders at least once a week, as well as travelling across England as required. Our current office and meeting space is located at Shelter’s head office in Old Street EC1. Flexibility will be required to ensure the role is delivering as the organisation requires. We are open to conversations about flexible working arrangements.
Reporting to: Chair of the Board
Direct reports: Director of Fundraising
Director of Services
Director Policy, Campaigns and Communications
Director of Finance and People
Purpose: To maximise Become’s impact and advance its purpose to deliver a better care experience for children and young people across national systems.
To provide inspiring leadership in accordance with our values and to shape
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Who you are
• You are a values-led leader with a passion for Become’s mission, vision and values.
• You are an excellent relationship builder and thrive on working collaboratively with colleagues.
• You are a strategic leader who is resilient, responds well to change and combines pace and ambition with self-care and reflection.
• You have a demonstrable commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and want to help create a culture with these values at its heart.
Knowledge and experience
• Demonstrable experience of leadership at CEO or senior director level.
• Proven experience in developing and implementing strategies that successfully deliver objectives.
• A proven track record of enhancing reach, increasing impact, and growing income within the charitable sector, with additional experience in private or public sectors considered valuable.
• Experience of reviewing scope and scale of delivery at a strategic level, as well as organisational resources, to increase impact.
• Experience of acting as an ambassador and engaging with high level external stakeholders, with the proven ability to act as an effective and compelling media spokesperson.
• Experience of establishing and operating strategic partnerships with delivery organisations and policy makers.
• Ability to influence social change and public policy, through a campaigning approach.
• A strong understanding of the political environment, with the ability to build
effective relationships at a senior level across civil servants, parliamentarians, and government leaders.
• Extensive knowledge of income generation, including experience of strategically leading income growth and personally cultivating relationships with funders.
• A successful record of engaging, supporting, and motivating teams to perform at their best.
• Proven ability to create and sustain a highperformance culture.
• Experience in advancing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, with a strong track record of embedding EDI across organisational culture, policy, and practice, and driving meaningful change at all levels of the organisation.
• Experience of working with and empowering people who have faced challenges in their lives is desirable.
• Experience of operating at Board level and the ability to work closely with Board members.
• Strong financial acumen, including the ability to interpret financial reports.
• A solid understanding of the children in care system, or the ability to rapidly gain knowledge and establish credibility in a new area.
Skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills, a natural collaborator, networker, and relationshipbuilder who establishes rapport and trust quickly and is able to inspire and persuade others.
• Excellent communicator able to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders and audiences.
• Highly developed analytical, problemsolving, and report writing skills.
BENEFITS
• We pay competitive salaries – we are a Real London Living Wage employer and commit to ensuring that every member of staff in our organisation will always earn the Real London Living Wage, not just the minimum wage.
• We offer generous annual leave, starting at 28 days (plus Bank Holidays), rising to 31 days after 3 years’ service and 33 days after 5 years’ service.
• We offer flexible working from the start – many of our team members work nonstandard working patterns and we are willing to consider any reasonable request.
• We have a contributory pension scheme with Royal London, paying in 5% of annual salary as an employer contribution after your first 3 months.
• All Team Members are automatically signed up to our life insurance scheme which pays the equivalent of 3-years’ salary in the hopefully very unlikely event that you die while working for Become.
• We give all Team Members a Health Cash Plan through My Health Xtras, which allows them to claim back the costs of every day medical expenditure such as prescriptions, eye tests, physiotherapy etc.
• My Staff Shop is our rewards and benefits platform – through My Staff Shop, Team Members get access to a number of offers/ deals, and they also run competitions regularly.
• Through our life insurance scheme, Team Members have access to virtual GP appointments, mental health support, second medical opinions, an online health check, nutrition consultation and fitness programmes.
• We also have access to a Bereavement Helpline and Probate Support.
• Our Employee Assistance Programme offers a 24/7 x 365 confidential helpline that allows you to chat to a counsellor at any time.
• We are signed up to the Fostering Network’s Fostering Friendly Employer scheme, which ensures that we support our Team Members who are also Foster Carers with paid time off to attend meetings and training, as well as with settling new children into placement.
• We encourage Team Members to consider how they can support other charitable organisations as a Trustee so we offer some paid time off to attend Trustee meetings.
• All Team Members get a personal training budget – this is an allowance to use on training and development to be agreed with a line manager. This is in addition to a generous organisation-wide package of training held throughout the year.
• Octopus Money provide some free training and offer financial coaching to our staff.
• For care-experienced Team Members, we have an externally-facilitated committee for those who wish to use their experiences to shape organisational culture and work.
• We also offer external counselling and emergency emotional support for any careexperienced members of staff who need it.
Find out more about the benefits we offer all Team Members.
