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Hundreds of school children from across Leicester West took part in a competition to design Liz Kendall’s official Christmas card for 2018 and last Friday, Liz visited Glebelands Primary School to announce the winner of the competition.

Jagoda Mikolajczak aged 8 from Glebelands Primary School created the winning design of a snowy winter’s night Christmas scene and will receive tickets to see Peter Pan at De Montfort Hall along with a Waterstones Book Token and the winning design enlarged to keep as a souvenir.

Liz also picked a runner up, Ellie from Folville Junior School, who will receive two tickets to see White Christmas at the Curve.

Liz Kendall said: “It was so hard to pick a winner from the hundreds of entries that were received, but Jagoda’s design depicted such a lovely winter’s evening.

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the children who took part in the competition, to all the infant, junior and primary schools in Leicester West and to all the sponsors for supporting my competition this year.”

Jagoda’s card has been printed on the front cover of all the cards that Liz is sending to people across Leicester West and Westminster.

Since the rollout of Universal Credit began in Leicester, the number of people going to foodbanks has gone up by 20%. With Christmas just around the corner, many people will really struggle. So please, if you can, donate to your local foodbank – not just over Christmas but throughout the year.

To find out where your nearest foodbank is, ask your local councillor at leicester.gov.uk/councillors or get in touch with me and my office at 42 Narborough Road on liz.kendall.mp {at} parliament(.)uk.

You can also read more about the work done by Action Homeless Leicester here.

On 30th November, I marked Carers Rights Day. This is the annual event to raise awareness about the needs of the UK’s six and a half million unpaid carers.

I’ve been backing Carers UK’s calls for 10 days of paid leave for carers who are also holding down paid work.

Visit Carers UK for information on carers rights and to get advice and support.

The Government’s Brexit agreement is not what people were promised, it’s a worse deal than we have now, and the uncertainty will go on for years to come.

You can watch my question to the Prime Minister about her agreement here.

You can also watch my interview on BBC news about why I’ll be voting against the Government’s Withdrawal Agreement here.

An opportunity has arisen to join my busy team as a constituency caseworker. Based in the constituency office of Leicester West, this important role will assist in providing an excellent service to Liz’s constituents and the ideal candidate will have substantial experience within casework, advocacy or advice and guidance role, bags of enthusiasm and an excellent standard of customer service.

Good written English and a professional telephone manner are essential. A driving licence is desirable and this position may involve some evening and weekend work.

Duties will include:

• Dealing with correspondence, telephone enquiries and emails and provide timely responses
• Attending surgeries and other meetings and taking notes
• Gathering information relevant to assist cases
• Liaising with various agencies and organisations to resolve constituents’ problems
• Log all cases, monitor progress and ensure all actions are taken
• Retain records and information confidentially and in line with Data Protection Act
• Draft responses to constituents
• Produce casework reports

Skills required include:

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Ability to prioritise, manage own workload and project management skills
• Good IT skills – knowledge of and use of casework and customer relationshipmanagement databases be helpful
• Good customer service skills – ability to deal with constituents and community interest groups in a helpful and sympathetic manner
• Able to work well individually and as part of a team
• Experience of advising on subjects such as housing, welfare benefits or immigration issues or community advocacy work would be beneficial

Upon appointment you will be required to comply with the Baseline Personnel Security Standard, undertaken by the Members’ Staff Verification Office (MSVO). See Members’Staff Verification Office (MSVO)page for further info. MPs generally pay staff in accordance with IPSAguidelines.

Closing Date: Friday 14^th December 2018

Interview/Start Dates

The interviews for this position will be held in the New Year

Application Details

Please send your CV and a covering letter setting out why you think you would suit this job to Vicky Street, Office Manager to Liz Kendall MP, at vicky.street {at} parliament(.)uk