Head of Influencing, Policy and Research

About the role

CUF’s new strategy has a vision of ending poverty together. Over the next three years we will be developing our relationships with our networks, partnerships, Dioceses and churches to respond, primarily, to relational poverty, recognising its place within the web of poverty. Our work will be mission and community resilience focussed, in the framework of asset based community development.

Through our work we will see more impactful, confident and mission focussed churches who are empowered to serve their local communities. We will witness greater cohesion across Dioceses, schools, Christian denominations and Christian charities as a national movement to love and serve our neighbour, and challenge unjust structures of society. We will also work more strategically with communities of different faiths

in our resilience work, facing the challenges of relational and identity poverty. We will work closely with the Church of England who have highlighted ministry in low income communities as a priority for resourcing.

We will be more confident in speaking out the truth about poverty, through a renewed influencing, policy and research team, who will take our grassroots and collaborative work to highlight unjust structures on poverty, and shape an ecclesial, political and sociological response.

In this newly created role you will develop our work on influencing and telling the truth about poverty, this is one of two objectives for the charity. You will help build relationships of influence within the Church of England, Government and other decision makers to use our stories and impact to show the difference churches and faith groups can make in ending material and relational poverty. You will develop policy positions on areas of CUF’s work in relation to poverty that will give a firm basis for our work, and that we will be able to speak out on with confidence and knowledge based on connection to grassroots churches and organisations. You will develop a robust mechanism for reporting on impact, which goes beyond just evaluating our work but demonstrates the difference that faith based social action can make on ending poverty together.

This role will report to the CEO, but work across all of CUF’s teams and departments and will be responsible for the line management of the Listening and Learning Officer.

Job Description

Location: Hybrid: Office base is in London with expectation for a minimum of one day per week in the office (The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, Vauxhall, London, SE11 5RR).

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 35 hours per week (1.0FTE)

Salary: £50,000

Annual Leave: 22 days per annum plus 3 discretionary days

Key objectives of the role

· Working with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), you will help to build:

o Relationships with the Church of England, including the Faith in Public Life team and the Lords’ Spiritual of the Church of England to influence policy decisions and work on the role of the Church.

o Relationships with other such bodies across different denominations, including Joint Public Issues Team and Caritas.

o Relationships with Government ministers, civil servants and other politicians and relevant decision makers to share the impact of churches and other faith communities with whom we partner in the creation of stronger and more resilient wider communities.

o A network of policy professionals from Christian social action organisations to share learning and speak with a joined up voice.

You will also

· Develop policy positions for CUF that enable us to speak with knowledge, confidence and depth on issues of poverty that directly relate to CUF’s work.

· Work with the CUF Communications team to disseminate our key messages that relate to ending poverty, including influencing the digital sphere.

· Work with the Together Network Manager to develop the discourse of the Together Network to be the strong and trusted voice of Christian social action in England.

· Develop pieces of research that CUF may wish to undertake.

· Provide support to the CEO and Deputy CEO in preparing briefings for meetings, speaking opportunities, and with the writing of articles.

· Develop a culture of reporting for impact at CUF, so that this is considered throughout the lifecycles of projects and programmes, and goes beyond evaluation and monitoring.

· Work to develop how we gather people’s stories and how these are used to create influence, whilst protecting the dignity of those who share their stories, and safeguarding people with lived experience from being re-traumatised.

· Help build CUF’s position and brand recognition as a significant and trusted mobiliser of church-based social action.

Specific objectives of the role:

1. Policy

· Work with the Senior Leadership Team to develop research and policy priorities for the organisation, in line with CUF’s strategy

· Agree policy positions of CUF in consultation with the SLT.

· Contribute to briefings for meetings and speaking events including writing speeches, talks and preparing articles and documents.

· Briefing SLT and other staff members on research, learning and developing policy positions that are arising from the wider sector as well as those that affect the areas of work CUF is involved in.

· Working with CEO and Deputy CEO to develop theological as well as policy responses to poverty.

· Work with colleagues on developing areas of work that they align with CUF’s strategy and policy positions.

· Monitor emerging trends which are likely to impact on – or influence – CUF’s work.

2. Influencing

· Develop relationships with the Church of England to support, challenge and influence their work on social action and justice.

· Help to provide information and research that can be used for briefings to the Lords Spiritual on matters of poverty, especially relational poverty.

· Help CUF build confidence in the influencing opportunities of the digital platform.

· Build relationships with General Synod members so that the issues of social justice can be heard more clearly in General Synod, and that the role of local churches in ending poverty can be articulated.

· Build relationships with Government departments and ministers to advocate for better resourcing of, and listening to, churches and faith groups in their experience of ending poverty.

· Advise SLT on any campaigns that they may wish to get involved with, or provide a rationale for why CUF should not support certain campaigns.

3. Impact and research

· Develop and strongly contribute to CUF’s work of telling the truth about poverty.

· Develop a culture of reporting on impact at CUF that goes beyond evaluation of programmes

· With Communications team, contribute to the annual impact report for CUF

· Amplify the impact and voice of the Together Network to demonstrate the value of Christian social action

· Lead on the re-development of the Church in Action survey, charting the impact that churches have on engagement in social action.

· Ensure impact reporting is at the heart of all of our programmes and projects and is a key part of the lifecycle of all work.

· Develop and project / contract manage pieces of research that CUF may wish to commission.

· Develop further our work on gathering stories from churches and grassroots organisations, whilst being mindful of the dignity and respect due to those with lived experience.

· Develop a robust impact framework to measure CUF’s success by.

4. Cross Team working

· Work with all teams and departments to ensure that impact and research are embedded into the lifecycles of their projects.

· Input into operational planning processes to ensure plans for impact reporting and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to ensure that workload and resources are adequately planned

· Work closely with the Communications team on dissemination of information and how we communicate key messages and policy decisions, including any work with media and press.

· Collaborate with colleagues on the continued development and improvement of CUF’s Look Up Tool.

General Responsibilities. Other duties as required including:

§ Fully engage with department activities, team environment, and organisational culture.

§ Attend external events (possible occasional evening and weekend work).

§ Support colleagues and carry out tasks to ensure the efficient running of the organisation.

§ Attend professional development activities and training as approved.

How to apply

For an informal conversation about this role and for more information, please contact our Deputy Chief Executive, Rev Adam Edwards adam.edwards@cuf.org.uk

To apply, please email an up-to-date CV and covering letter outlining your relevant skills and experience, relating to the listed responsibilities and person specification to: HR Officer, Email: hr@cuf.org.uk

Closing date: 17:00 Monday 27th October 2025, with interviews to be held on 5th November 2025 in London.

Church Urban Fund is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity.