Trustee for unique SEND Project

What will you be doing?

Our immediate priorities are acquiring the Dennis F8 — the vehicle that makes our entire service model possible — and securing a suitable Cambridgeshire base. New trustees will help us navigate these challenges, stress-test our financial planning, and bring connections and credibility that open doors.

We are looking for trustees who will engage actively rather than passively — attending board meetings, contributing to strategic decisions, and being willing to use their networks on our behalf. One trustee will ideally take on oversight responsibility for financial governance, helping us manage our accounts, review our funding pipeline, and ensure we remain on a sustainable footing as we move from pre-launch into operational delivery.

Every person we work with — whether an adult with a learning disability, an autistic young person, or a care leaver building independence — benefits directly from a well-governed, financially stable organisation behind them. Commissioners, funders, and referrers trust providers with strong boards. Our new trustees will be a direct reason those relationships are built and sustained.

This is a rare opportunity to join a project at founding stage, shape its direction, and see the direct results of your contribution — not years down the line, but in the first sessions we deliver. If you have ever wanted your governance experience to matter in a way you can actually see and feel, this is that opportunity.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for trustees who bring genuine commitment to community-based inclusion and a practical understanding of how small social enterprises operate. Project Fire Engine CIC sits at the intersection of adult social care, SEND education, heritage, and community engagement — so we value breadth of perspective over narrow specialism.

Most important:

A trustee with knowledge of adult social care or SEND commissioning — ideally with direct experience of how Personal Budgets, Direct Payments, or EHCP funding works in practice, whether as a commissioner, practitioner, family member, or advocate. Understanding this landscape from the inside will help us build credible referral relationships and navigate local authority frameworks as we grow.

A trustee with financial oversight experience — someone comfortable reading management accounts, stress-testing a budget, and asking hard questions about sustainability — is equally important given that our immediate priorities include vehicle acquisition and premises.

Also welcome:

Experience in any of the following would strengthen the board: community engagement or co-production with disabled adults or young people with SEND; heritage, arts, or therapeutic provision; social enterprise or CIC governance; fundraising, grant-making, or trust and foundation relationships; or property and operational management.

Lived experience:

We particularly welcome applications from disabled adults, autistic people, people with learning disabilities, and family carers who have navigated adult social care or the SEND system. Their perspective directly sharpens our service design and our credibility with the communities we exist to serve.

Above all, we want people energised by an unconventional idea, willing to engage hands-on at an early and exciting stage, and who believe that a heritage fire engine can be a genuinely transformative tool for the people we work with.

What difference will you make?

Bringing two additional trustees onto our board at this stage will directly determine whether Project Fire Engine CIC launches successfully or stalls before it begins.

We have the service model, the professional credibility, the statutory commissioning framework, and some policies in place. What we need now is governance depth — people who can hold us to account, strengthen our financial oversight, and lend their experience and networks to the practical challenges of early-stage growth.

A trustee with financial or business experience will help us make sound decisions about vehicle acquisition, premises, and cash flow during our Cambridgeshire phase and ahead of our planned relocation to Powys. Without that oversight, even a well-designed service can make avoidable mistakes at precisely the moment it can least afford them.

A trustee with knowledge of adult social care, SEND commissioning, or the voluntary sector will help us build relationships with local authorities, referrers, and funders more quickly and more credibly than we could alone. Commissioners place significant weight on the governance structures behind a provider — a strong, experienced board signals that we are here for the long term.

More broadly, diverse trustee perspectives will sharpen our service design, challenge our assumptions, and ensure that the people we exist to serve — disabled adults, young people with SEND, and their families — remain genuinely central to every decision we make.

For the right people, this role offers something increasingly rare: the chance to join something at the very beginning, to see your contribution reflected directly in the organisation's direction, and to know that the sessions delivered, the outcomes recorded, and the lives genuinely improved are partly the result of your time and judgement.

We are a small team with a big idea and a clear plan. Two good trustees will make the difference between a promising project and a properly resilient organisation.

Additional information

You can download the following documents:

Before you apply

When you apply through Reach, please include a brief note — alongside your CV or LinkedIn profile — telling us which aspect of our work connects most with your own experience, and what you feel you would bring to the board at this stage.

We will review all applications and aim to respond within two weeks of the closing date. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an informal conversation by video call with our Service Lead, Les Rudkin. There is no formal panel interview — we want this to feel like a genuine two-way conversation about whether the role and the project are the right fit for you.

We are particularly keen to hear from people with experience in adult social care or SEND commissioning, financial governance, or fundraising — but we welcome approaches from anyone who feels strongly connected to what we are building.

If you would like an informal conversation before applying, you are very welcome to get in touch directly via the Reach messaging system.