Disability Information Scotland

We provide reliable and accessible information for disabled people in Scotland.

We offer training courses designed to help you ensure your online information is accessible to everyone and deliver disability awareness training.

We host the Scottish Disability Directory on our website at Home – Disability Information Scotland

Centre Administration and Communications Officer – Maternity cover

We’re looking for a Centre Administration and Communications Officer to join the team at Cerebral Palsy Scotland to provide maternity cover.

In this role, you will support the delivery of our work by being the welcoming face for everyone who visits the centre or contacts us by phone or email. You’ll provide administrative support to the whole team, assist with planning and organising events, support individuals and families who get in touch, and help create and share content on our social media channels.

Hours

Full time 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday

Reporting to

Centre Manager

Job purpose

The post holder will support the delivery of Cerebral Palsy Scotland’s work by being the welcoming face to everyone who comes into the centre or contacts the centre by phone or email. They will work closely with the Centre Manager and provide administration support to all teams to ensure the smooth running of the work of the centre. They will be specifically responsible for keeping up to date with communications with supporters and beneficiaries, including thanking donors, posting updates on social media and will assist colleagues with the planning and administration of events.

Main duties and responsibilities

General Administration
To work with administration, therapy and fundraising colleagues to ensure the smooth running of all operations in the centre
To provide admin support to the senior management team
To contribute to maintaining the centre’s filing, record keeping and data base systems
To ensure all centre information is kept accurate, relevant and up to date

Reception
To welcome visitors to the centre
To operate the telephones during centre opening hours – taking messages and passing on calls
To ensure that all incoming and outgoing mail is sorted and franked as appropriate
To take mail to local post office when required

Information and Communication

Building Cerebral Palsy Scotland’s communication channels to remain connected with supporters, the cerebral palsy community and other audiences
To support development and delivery of our digital and print communications offer
Manage and produce content for Cerebral Palsy Scotland platforms
To assist with the dissemination and distribution of information about Cerebral Palsy Scotland projects and services to professionals and non-professionals across Scotland
To work alongside colleagues and outside agencies to develop information about cerebral palsy for children and adults with cerebral palsy, in print and online
To work alongside colleagues to play a vital role in the planning of the exhibition and programme at the annual Cerebral Palsy Scotland conference

Facilities Management

To run the meeting rooms booking diaries and to ensure meeting rooms are set up as required for colleagues
To assist with the running of courses, including advertising, sending out information and taking bookings, invoicing, payment confirmation, catering and passing information on to other staff members as required
To be the nominated fire warden for the building and keep paper work up to date and to carry out weekly fire alarm tests and test evacuations as required
To be responsible for general stock control in the centre, particularly with regard to stationery, cleaning equipment and refreshments
To be the point of contact for any building issues and work with Centre Manager to liaise with contractors in booking appointments and scheduling work.
To assist in cleaning duties as required

Financial

Purchase orders – to operate the purchase order system, to issue purchase order numbers, ensure that they are signed, approved and logged on the system
Invoices – to match invoices with purchase orders and distribute for payment to the CEO and to issue invoices when appropriate and to chase unpaid invoices
Payments – to keep a log of payments received and ensure accountant receives monthly copies of all PO’s and invoices.

General

Have an understanding and awareness of cerebral palsy
To carry out all reasonable tasks as may be required
Maintain a confidential, sensitive and discrete approach to personal, sensitive and organisational information
Contribute to a culture of equality and demonstrate a commitment to creating a genuinely inclusive organisation
Represent the organisation in a positive manner
Adhere to and uphold Cerebral Palsy Scotland’s mission, vision, social purpose, strategic aims and values
Act with integrity and maintain the highest professional standards at all times
Compliance with Cerebral Palsy Scotland policies

This job description is not necessarily an exhaustive list of duties but is intended to reflect a range of duties the post-holder will perform. The job description will be reviewed regularly and may be changed in the light of experience and in consultation with the post holder.

Please apply with CV and covering letter by email to recruitment@cpscot.org.uk

We’re keen to fill this role as soon as we find the right person, so we may close applications early. Early applications are encouraged.

Cerebral Palsy Scotland partners with Slater and Gordon

To help sustain our vital services, Cerebral Palsy Scotland has secured new funding for our support work through a new partnership with Slater and Gordon. The law firm works widely with families across Scotland who live with Cerebral Palsy, and also is a longstanding partner of Cerebral Palsy Scotland’s sister charity in Wales, CP Cymru.

“Support services are absolutely vital for people living with Cerebral Palsy and our ambition is to help as many people as we possibly can,” says Stephanie Fraser, CEO of Cerebral Palsy Scotland.

“We want to be the lynchpin for people and families across Scotland to access what they need, and our support service is hugely important in us delivering this. We are committed to raising awareness around Cerebral Palsy, both in terms of generally in society, and also in educating and supporting families. It’s lovely to see them developing their skills and knowledge of the condition, so they can be confident parents to their child despite the additional challenges they face.

“Through this fantastic partnership with Slater and Gordon, we are able to sustain our support service, and will look to develop it further as we grow as a charity. The services families want and need continue to evolve, and we want to be in a position to deliver what they need.”

Derek Couper, head of clinical negligence in Scotland for Slater and Gordon, says: “Cerebral Palsy Scotland plays an outstanding role in helping people across the country affected by the condition, and without them, tailored support would be very hard to come by. Their own research shows the struggle that people experience in finding the resources and understanding they need to navigate their lives – which makes the work of this charity absolutely invaluable.

“We are very pleased to partner with Cerebral Palsy Scotland and to help to sustain its support service, which plays such a vital role in the lives of so many individuals and families. We look forward to working with Stephanie and her team going forward to maximise support for people across the country living with this condition.”

Key insights from the Cerebral Palsy Scotland community survey 2025

Between January-March 2025, Cerebral Palsy Scotland ran a survey to get insight into the key challenges facing the cerebral palsy community, as well as feedback on the charity’s services.

Some of the key insights are below.

Read the full survey summary

Outside of Cerebral Palsy Scotland, support for people with cerebral palsy is limited

The survey highlighted that you are struggling to access a range of condition-specific support. Outside of Cerebral Palsy Scotland:
91% are not able to access psychological support for their cerebral palsy
81% are not able to access groups for people with cerebral palsy
45% are not able to access individual therapy

Raising awareness about cerebral palsy is very important to you

The survey showed that respondents greatly valued all of Cerebral Palsy Scotland’s services, and that you want Cerebral Palsy Scotland to offer a wide range of services.

The ‘top five’ services that respondents said were ‘extremely important’ or ‘important’ to them were:

Awareness raising about cerebral palsy (96%)
Information about cerebral palsy (92%)
General advice/support from our Cerebral Palsy Support Coordinator (92%)
Training and webinars for professionals that support people with cerebral palsy (92%)
In-person therapy (90%)

When asked the question, ’What are the things you wish other people knew about cerebral palsy?’ the most common theme that emerged was a desire for people across society to be more educated about cerebral palsy, and how it impacts those who live with the condition.

Lack of health care services and therapy support is a key concern

When asked, ‘What would be the most important issue for Cerebral Palsy Scotland to campaign and/or raise awareness on?’ the most common theme that emerged was the lack of health care services and therapy support, including the need for more funding so there can be better access to specialist services.

Thank you and next steps

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to the survey.

Cerebral Palsy Scotland is committed to listening to feedback from the community. We will continue to work to develop our services to ensure they meet people’s needs, and to reflect the community’s views in our policy and campaigning work.

Read the full survey summary

My university experience so far

My name is Rachel Collie, and I am 20 years old. I have Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy. For me this means that I am a full-time wheelchair user, unable to walk as well as a milder impact on my arms and hands. I have been a Cerebral Palsy Scotland service user for nearly 18 years.

I am currently a third year student studying Business Management at Glasgow Caledonian University. This Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month I thought it was important for me to share what my university experience with cerebral palsy has been like so far, both the good and the bad.

There are a lot of worries that come with starting university and living with CP. My main worries were wheelchair access, space in lecture and seminar halls, fire exits and the location of toilets, and support arrangements.

I love the university experience overall! I really enjoy lectures because they allow you to gain the basic knowledge around a broad topic, which then allows me to carry out my own research to gain a deeper understanding of the topic I have a specific interest in or that will benefit me in my future coursework as well as my career.

I enjoy seminars because they have, and still do allow me to meet new friends as well as learning about different points of view on a certain topic through having really interesting conversations with people from all walks of life.

If I am being totally honest, I was very anxious about starting university which is totally normal for anyone but not least for someone with cerebral palsy with all the extra worries that it comes with. Certainly, part of the reason for my worry about starting was about support. At school I was used to one-to-one support which was fully organised for me with no say from me. A lot of people will view that as a negative which I also did at the time by the way! However, I was yet to realise how difficult it can be to find a personal assistant (PA) that could meet my needs as well as both of us getting along really well.

At university you have a disability advisor who supports you with recruiting someone to support you along with completing the application for funding for your PAs and any equipment needed. They also liaise with the funding body if there are any additional items needed.

One of the main difficulties in my experience of finding a PA is that most PAs are either self-employed or employed by an agency. Why can this be a problem you may ask? It can be hard because of their employment status – they have the opportunity to pick exactly what ‘shifts’ they would like to do meaning if there is a ‘shift’ they don’t want to work they have no obligation to! This can mean needing more than one PA may be much more likely, to be able to make sure that all your university timetable can be covered.

Another difficulty is the university timetable itself. This is because every trimester when you are given a new timetable there is not much advance notice of the timetable before the new term begins. This is difficult because it means both me and my PAs have no ability to plan our lives as I can’t give them advance notice of the hours I require them to work. This may mean that I lose out because my PAs have already booked other work as they are self-employed and need to make sure they have enough work to maintain a good income. If this happens, I have to use an agency to find a PA who is able to support me at university. This may sound scary, but I have found a reliable agency who have always supported me to the best of their ability. It’s not as scary as you think, if you are at university and need to use an agency. To find support my advice would be to use one which is well known as having a large number of staff because this will mean it is more likely that they will have a member of staff who is able to meet your needs and who you get along well with. If you don’t get on with someone don’t feel pressure to keep working with them. Let the agency know and they will help you to find someone more suited to you.

Although it may seem that my university experience has been mostly negative that is definitely not the case! There are, and have been, lots of positives. One of the main positives is that I have found two amazing PAs who I get on with so well and who have made a positive difference to my whole university experience! Another positive is that my PAs allow me to be more independent and experience things I would not have been able to without them. And my final positive that I feel I need to share with you comes from my university experience is the friends that I have made. I have made friends for life! Its amazing to have great friends who have the same passion as you.

Even though there have been negatives with my university journey overall university has been both a positive and exciting experience! So go ahead and don’t be put off by thinking it will be difficult because you happen to have a disability.

What would make the move to university easier for disabled students would be a proper transition programme to allow the items I have mentioned to be sorted/explored before university begins. This would make the move much more enjoyable and increase the excitement to going to university.

I hope this article helps you realise that you can attend and enjoy university with cerebral palsy.