Big Life Group Jobs | 1 Live Vacancy

Who The Big Life Group are

The Big Life Group is a Manchester-based social business whose stated mission is to fight for equity in health, wealth and life. It grew out of community action in Hulme and Moss Side in the early 1990s, when residents set up their own needle exchange, family support, play schemes and self-help groups rather than wait for public services. Today the group is made up of a social enterprise (Big Life Company), two charities (Big Life Services and Big Issue North Trust) and a multi-academy trust (Big Life Schools), overseen by a group board of executive and non-executive directors and trustees. Its registered office is at the Zion Community Resource Centre, 339 Stretford Road, Hulme, Manchester M15 4ZY, with a head office at 463 Stretford Road, Manchester M16 9AB (0161 848 2420).

Services, including housing and homelessness

Big Life is not primarily a housing provider; it delivers a wide mix of services across the North of England covering mental and physical health, addiction, criminal justice, housing, education and family support. Within that mix the most directly relevant service for housing job seekers is Big Life Homes in Liverpool, a low-level supported accommodation provider offering single tenancies to adults aged 18 and over who have been homeless or vulnerably housed and can manage a tenancy with some housing-related support. Big Issue North, part of the group, works with magazine vendors who have no other means of income across Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield, many of whom are homeless or insecurely housed. Other services include Be Well (social prescribing and wellbeing coaching in Manchester), the Achieve drug and alcohol service for Bolton, Bury, Salford and Trafford, Living Well Rochdale, community centres such as the Kath Locke Centre and Energise Centre, family hubs and nurseries in Longsight and Ardwick, and a Wellbeing Service that includes prison link work supporting people released on licence across the ten Greater Manchester boroughs.

Where they work and who they support

Most services are in Greater Manchester (Manchester, Salford, Trafford, Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, Tameside and Glossop), with Big Issue North offices in Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield and Big Life Homes in Liverpool. The group works with people who have often been turned away from mainstream services, and describes its approach, "The Big Life Way", as standing shoulder to shoulder with people and designing services around their strengths and priorities.

What it is like to work there

Big Life's values are courage, creativity, honesty, inspiration, thoughtfulness and valuing difference. It holds Investors in People Gold and Health and Wellbeing awards, Investing in Volunteers, Mindful Employer and Disability Confident accreditations, and in 2024 received a two-star Best Companies rating, being listed as the fourth best health and social care organisation to work for in the UK. Staff benefits described on its site include wellbeing passports agreed with managers, health and wellbeing champions, trained peer supporters, a free 24/7 employee assistance programme, stop-smoking support, a cycle-to-work scheme, an annual staff awards evening and staff networks (menopause, Christian faith, neurodiversity and LGBTQI+). Recent adverts quote NJC pay points, 35-hour weeks and 25 days' leave rising to 30 after five years. Roles usually require an enhanced DBS check and CVs are not accepted; candidates apply through the group's hireful portal.

Typical roles

• Community Development Worker
• Prison Link Worker and other criminal justice support posts
• Be Well Coach and social prescribing roles
• Recovery and substance misuse workers
• Housing-related support posts at Big Life Homes when advertised

Paid vacancies are listed at thebiglifegroup.com/work-volunteer/opportunities and on biglifegroup.livevacancies.co.uk; volunteering is handled separately. HR enquiries: hr@thebiglifegroup.com.