Senior Legal and Policy Manager

Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights) has a vision of Scotland becoming a place where all babies, children and young people can grow up in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding. To achieve this, we work with our membership to take action to ensure that babies, children and young people growing up in Scotland have all their human rights respected, protected, and fulfilled, all the time. Our three strategic priorities reflect a holistic approach to achieving our mission, focusing on proactive measures, responsive actions, and building the strength of the children’s rights community to ensure the rights of every baby, child and young person in Scotland. Together is at the forefront of influencing policy, enhancing understanding, and ensuring the integration of children’s rights across all aspects of life in Scotland, making us a pivotal voice and authority on children’s rights.

Our values
• Courageous: We are independent, and we challenge when we need to. We always stand up for children’s human rights.
• Collaborative: We involve, engage, and consult our members, children and young people, parents and carers. We are representative, open, and transparent in all we do.
• Constructive: We do things in a respectful way. We support all those we work with and for to reach their full potential.
• Inclusive: We actively enable everyone to participate equally and with dignity, especially those babies, children and young people whose rights are most at risk.
• Creative: We bring fun and creativity to everything we do, embracing imaginative and innovative thinking.

The Senior Legal and Policy Manager leads Together’s influencing and scrutiny work and manages the legal and policy team. The postholder supports the Director and Assistant Director’s relationships with the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government, leads our annual State of Children’s Rights report and our Implementation Strategy Group, and leads our access to justice work. Through these, the role is central to holding Scotland to account for its implementation of the UNCRC and wider international human rights treaties.

The role oversees the quality of Together’s legal and policy work, including our legal analysis, consultation responses and committee submissions, and assuring the legal content of our training and consultancy. In doing so it ensures that the specialist expertise held in the legal and policy team reaches every part of Together’s work.

Working closely with the Director, and alongside the Assistant Director and the Child Rights Implementation Manager, the postholder ensures that learning from our members and from our capacity building work informs Together’s influencing, and that our influencing in turn shapes what we offer members.

Legal and policy leadership:

• Lead Together’s legal and policy agenda in line with the UNCRC, its Optional Protocols, General
Comments and wider international human rights instruments.
• Supervise the production of Together’s consultation responses and committee submissions,
allocating them between the Senior Legal and Policy Officer and the Policy Assistant.
• Lead legal quality assurance across Together, including the legal content of training and
consultancy.
• Receive the analysis and learning summaries drawn from each Community of Practice and
convert them into Together’s influencing.

Parliamentary and public affairs:

• Lead Together’s parliamentary briefings and written submissions.
• Lead Together’s parliamentary relationships, including with MSPs, committee clerks and SPICe.
• Give oral evidence to parliamentary committees as required, alongside the Director and the
Assistant Director.
• Represent Together on the Scottish Government working groups, and deputise for the Director and
Assistant Director when necessary.
• Set the influencing direction for the #RightsOnTrack campaign.

Scrutiny and accountability:

• Lead Together’s annual State of Children’s Rights report, drawing on evidence from our members
and from babies, children and young people.
• Lead the Implementation Strategy Group, including its agenda, content and chairing.
• Contribute to Together’s reporting and evidence to UN treaty bodies and the Council of Europe.
• Lead Together’s work on priority children’s rights issues liaising with the Children and Young
People’s Commissioner Scotland, the Scottish Human Rights Commission and UNICEF UK.
• Represent Together in international networks, including Eurochild, Child Rights Connect and the
Council of Europe.
• Support the Director on the NIHR funded study with the University of Edinburgh, including the co
applicant role and academic relationships, and on Together’s role within the Observatory of
Children’s Human Rights Scotland.

Access to justice:

• Lead the Rights Empowered partnership, and act as supporting manager to the Legal Policy
Manager
• Lead Together’s support for strategic litigation and build members’ capacity to use the law.
• Oversee the legal advice and casework support provided to members through Rights Empowered.

Communications:

• Lead Together’s communications strategy and oversight.
• Oversee press lines and external statements

Operational and team leadership:

• Provide line management and support to the Legal and Policy team, including supervision,
work planning and development.
• Support internal quality assurance alongside the Child Rights Implementation Manager, so that
learning drives improvement across both teams.
• Oversee project management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting for the legal and policy
programme.

Additional duties:

• Support the development and submission of funding proposals, aligning with Together’s strategic
priorities and organisational needs.
• Contribute to team cohesion through regular meetings, supporting the overall administration,
efficiency and development of Together.
• Undertake additional tasks as required, adapting to the evolving needs of Together and our
mission.

Essential:

• Passion for children’s rights and advocacy: Demonstrated commitment to advancing the rights
of babies, children and young people, underpinned by a thorough understanding of the UNCRC
and its implementation in law, policy and practice.
• Legal and policy expertise: In depth understanding of children’s human rights law and public law,
at masters level or equivalent, with the analytical skill to scrutinise legislation, policy proposals
and judgments.

• Quality assurance: Proven ability to supervise and improve the legal and policy work of others,
and to take responsibility for the positions an organisation adopts publicly.
• Parliamentary and public affairs: Understanding of Scottish and UK public policy development
and parliamentary processes, with experience of influencing them.
• External representation: Proven ability to represent an organisation with authority in
parliamentary, government and partnership settings, including giving evidence.
• Communication skills: Exceptional written and verbal communication, with the skill to articulate
complex legal arguments clearly to a non-legal audience, including members, the press, and
babies, children and young people.
• Leadership and line management: Proven experience of line managing and developing others,
and of leading programmes of work from concept through to evaluation.
• Collaborative working: Proven ability to build effective relationships and work collaboratively
across diverse groups and organisations.

Desirable:

• International human rights mechanisms: Knowledge of international and regional human rights
monitoring and enforcement bodies, including UN treaty body reporting.
• Access to justice: Understanding of strategic litigation and of how rights holders secure remedy.
• Media handling: Experience of handling media on sensitive issues.
• Membership experience: Experience working within a membership-based organisation.