Job title: Admiralty Governor (Trustee)
Location: South East
Salary: Expenses
Closing Date: 1 Aug ‘16
Company: Royal Naval Benevolent Trust
Type: Part-time
Admiralty Governor – Royal Naval Benevolent Trust – Portsmouth
The Royal Naval Benevolent Trust (RNBT) is the largest of the Naval benevolence charities. It was formally established under Royal Charter in 1922 and traces its roots back to 1916 when the Commander of the Grand (Home) Fleet, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe (as he was then) established the Grand Fleet Fund to relieve the effects of poverty suffered by many of his sailors, marines and their families. The founding principles remain the same today in that the RNBT helps those who are serving or have served as Warrant Officers and below in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, and their dependants, who find themselves in need or distress. This help is in the form of:
- Grants to individuals to meet a wide range of needs
- Regular charitable payments to those on especially low incomes
- Care of the elderly through a residential home in Gillingham, Kent and a 6-unit almshouse in Hornchurch, Essex
- Advice on welfare and related matters
The RNBT deals with in excess of 3,000 applications for assistance every year and makes grants to individuals totalling nearly £2.3 million per annum. There is a staff of 7.3 full-time equivalents at its Portsmouth based headquarters and about 60 full time equivalents at its care home in Kent.
The governance of the Trust is delivered through the 17 strong Central Committee (CC) – the Board of Trustees. The role of the Board of Trustees is to provide strategic direction to the charity, exercise high level oversight of its operations and provide appropriate support to the executive. The trustee body comprises a mixture of backgrounds and competences and all trustees serve for 3 years, a term renewable through re-election. One of the trustee positions carries the historical title of Admiralty Governor and dates back to an earlier time when the Royal Charter allowed for the Admiralty Board to appoint a retired senior officer onto the CC. This process no longer happens but the trustees decided to retain the title recognising it as part of the RNBT’s history/heritage.
The current incumbent’s term of office expires 20 August (2016) and the Trust is looking to recruit a successor. The Trust’s Royal Charter requires that the volunteer be a retired senior officer of the Naval Service i.e. a Captain Royal Navy or Colonel Royal Marines or above. The commitment is to attend three CC meetings per annum plus a further 3 meetings of the Finance and General purposes committee. All meetings are held in Portsmouth other than one CC gathering that is held at the Trust’s care home in Kent (Gillingham). There are additional representational activities in support of the Trust that the Admiralty Governor along with other trustees may attend from time to time.
The post is non-stipendiary other than expenses.
Skills Experience and Personal Qualities
In order to carry out the role, the right candidate must have the following demonstrable skills, experience and personal characteristics (this list is not exhaustive):
Essential.
- The desire to contribute to the welfare of serving and retired non-commissioned Naval Service personnel through the work of the RNBT.
- To be a retired officer of the rank of Captain, Royal Navy or Colonel Royal Marines or above.
- The experience and interpersonal skills to contribute to the good governance of the Trust in a collegiate fashion with the other trustees.
- The credibility and experience to assist the Chairman, in concert with the other trustees and the executive in ensuring that the Trust continues to deliver against its strategic and charitable objectives.
- An aptitude for strategic thought, planning and the ability rapidly to grasp complex issues.
- Strong oral and written communication skills including the ability to influence others and represent the Trust within the Naval charitable sector and occasionally across the wider charitable sector – military and civilian.
- An understanding of the legal aspects of charity trusteeship.
- The commitment and time the role demands.
Highly Desirable. One or more of the following are highly desirable:
- Experience or knowledge of trusteeship in other organisations.
- Knowledge of the sector
- The RNBT would be especially pleased to recruit a retired Royal Marines Officer with the right mix of enthusiasm and competences into this role given that over 20% of the Trust’s beneficiaries are Royal Marines and the Corps is currently underrepresented within the trustee body.
Application. Expressions of interest should be submitted, on line, to the Chief Executive – stephenfarrington@rnbt.org.uk who will respond with an application pack. More details of the Trust may be found on the web-site www.rnbt.org.uk The closing date for applications is close of business, Monday, 1 August 2016.
