Governance and Legal Assistant

Salary: £35,000 - £40,000

Hours: Full-time position, hybrid working including 2 - 3 days a week in the office

Reports to: Head of Governance  

Location: Harlow, Essex. Easily commutable from London Liverpool Street/Tottenham Hale Station. We offer a free minibus service from Harlow Town Train Station and free parking onsite.

Extra Information: There may be an occasional need to attend meetings at alternative locations.  

About the role:

You will provide support to the Head of Governance and General Counsel by carrying out corporate governance, legal and regulatory compliance tasks, ensuring Motability Foundation (MF) meets legal requirements and the expectations of the Charity Commission and other regulators.  You will work closely with Executive Support and General Counsel as part of the Governance team to ensure Motability meets its legal and regulatory obligations; this will involve regular interaction with Motability Foundation CEO and Executive team members, Governors and staff.

What you will be doing:

• Support the preparation for and smooth running of Governors meetings including preparing Agendas, checking papers, drafting and issuing Minutes.    

• Monitor the Terms of Reference for MF Governance Committees ensuring they are reviewed regularly and remain relevant, and that Agendas meet the requirements set out within.  

• Support the Head of Governance in working with the Chair, CEO and Committee Chairs in carrying out periodic governance reviews and then help to implement findings.  

• Administer the onboarding and induction of new Governors and ensure the retirement of any departing Governors is managed properly.     

• Monitor the Charity Commission in England, Office of Scottish Charities Regulator (OSCR) in Scotland, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and other regulatory and legislative developments and identify any relevant changes required to be made to MF procedures, compliance and governance arrangements. 

• Maintain the FCA Compliance Plan and ensure all FCA policies, procedures and associated controls are maintained.  

• Support the Head of Governance in reviewing and approving external communications and undertaking monitoring of FCA regulated activities 

• Prepare all regulatory returns, including the Charity Commission Code of Governance, for checking by the Head of Governance and then ensure they are submitted in good time.  

• Maintain MF’s Contracts Register and undertake quarterly reviews of contracts and suppliers, ensuring full records are maintained and, where appropriate contracts are extended and renewed on time.  

• Provide administrative support on governance and compliance matters, including maintenance of specific registers (for example: Declarations of Interest, Breaches, Gifts and Hospitality) and coordination of associated timely updates and reporting.  

• Undertake simple legal tasks such as managing NDAs, reviewing terms and conditions and reviewing contracts in Luminance AI tool.  

• Maintain governance and compliance records, information and archive material for MF and Motability Enterprises Limited (MEL) ie AGM records, records of Patrons, Members and Governors and internal annual reviews and Returns.  

Your experience:

The position is ideal for individuals looking to develop skills in compliance and corporate governance, with a focus on maintaining effective corporate governance arrangements and supporting regulatory compliance. 

• Previous experience in a legal, compliance, corporate governance or regulatory environment.  

• Good understanding of corporate governance principles and compliance requirements.   

• Experience of taking formal meeting Minutes. 

• Strong organisational skills, with a high attention to detail 

• Ability to work independently and organise own workload. The position is comprised of a wide range of duties so the ability to organise tasks, prioritise and deliver tasks on time is vital  

• Excellent literacy skills, including accurate use of language and grammar. 

• Excellent oral communication skills 

• IT literate with up-to-date experience of standard IT applications with a particular focus on the Microsoft 365 platform 

• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion 
• Knowledge of company secretarial software (such as Diligent) is a plus 

• Familiarity with company secretarial processes and corporate governance arrangements or a Legal degree would be an advantage

Benefits

⭐️ WHAT MOTABILITY CAN OFFER YOU ⭐️

A career with Motability can offer you so much more than earning potential. We pride ourselves in offering some fantastic benefits and a culture to match, some of which includes;

🌞 Holiday – 26 Days + 8 Bank Holidays, increasing to 28 days after 5 years’ service

❤️ Health and Wellbeing – We offer private health care with BUPA alongside an Employee Assistance Programme, eye tests, flu vaccinations, enhanced sick pay and discounted corporate gym membership. We take your physical AND Mental Health seriously, with our dedicated mental health first aiders you will have support and understanding from your colleagues.

🏡 Family Friendly – We offer enhanced Parental Leave inclusive of Adoption Pay and we understand that families require flexibility, we provide time off for dependants, flexible working hours and the option to work from home. Life Assurance is 4 x your salary.

🌈 Diversity and Inclusion - We value everyone’s unique qualities and celebrate having a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone feels safe to be their authentic selves, no matter their age, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, neurodiversity or otherwise. This is embedded in to our values and we celebrate our differences and create awareness throughout the year.

🎉 Celebrating Success – We love to recognise people that go above and beyond with our Spotlight Award as well as having team celebrations and social events throughout the year.

☕️ Our culture - In the Motability office we “dress for our day”, it’s an incredibly welcoming and inclusive environment where we look to support your career, we offer a mini bus service from Harlow Town centre and station for those using public transport to reach us and there are plenty of free hot beverages for when you arrive.

💰 Pension – Up to 15%, inclusive of a 10% non-contributory addition and Motability matching your contributions up to 5%.

How to find out more?

To find out more regarding the vacancy and for the full job description, please contact our Talent Team at: recruitment@motabilityfoundation.org.uk

Here at Motability Foundation, we embrace and value Equity, Diversity and Inclusion which means bringing your full self to work. We encourage and welcome all applications, regardless of age, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

We are a disability confident employer, so please do make us aware of any reasonable adjustments you might need throughout both the recruitment process and to work with us.

We are committed to offering to interview every applicant with a disability who meets the minimum criteria for the role. Please tick the relevant box when filling out your application.