Job Description

Neighbourhood Watch Network (NWN) is the national umbrella organisation of the largest voluntary movement for crime prevention in England and Wales, and we support people to prevent and reduce crime by coming together with their neighbours to create safer, stronger and active communities.

We estimate that our 93,000 Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) schemes engage with over two million people in a spirit of local activism that can address the issues that often give rise to crime and anti-social behaviour and help prevent them from becoming more serious.

In the past year we have partnered with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to provide training on being an “active bystander” and our “Are You OK?” campaign that showed how to respond in the event of witnessing aggression aimed at women, racial minorities or LGBTQ+ people. During 2022/23 we also launched a Community Safety Charter which has been endorsed more than 2500 times by Police Forces, local authorities and many different public and commercial organisations as well as by individuals and local communities.

With a small central support team of around 9 people who facilitate and co-ordinate the work of our local associations and volunteers, the charity punches above its weight. Our annual income has been consistent at around £400,000 - £500,000 for the past few years, of which a large part is a grant from the Home Office. We have invested in fundraising from trusts and foundations and also commercial partnerships, where we have established relationships with home security and cyber-security businesses. Currently we are expanding our work with young people with funding from City Bridge Trust and the National Lottery and have also been commissioned by BT to support vulnerable consumers through the telephone network switchover from analogue to digital. As a result, turnover will rise to around £900,000 for 2024/25 and we hope to sustain it closer to this level for future years.

Our Treasurer is keen to hand over the reins of this role as soon as possible but would stay on the board for a while so there would be a managed transition. He is a finance professional but is also heavily involved in NHW activities in the West Midlands and, more generally, in developing our work with faith groups which he would like to focus on.

Our Chair has been in post for nearly four years and would look to hand over to a successor over the next two years. We would like to ensure that the next chair has the opportunity to learn about the organisation and build relationships with trustees, staff and other stakeholders before taking on the role formally.